A top official in the United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry has explained to Nigel Farage how her country has laid down the law on Islamist radical extremism.
Back in 2014, the UAE, along with the likes of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, banned the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organisation, after they suspected its Islamist ideology directly threatened the stability of their nations.
In 2015, a UK Government review found membership or links with the group could indicate a level of extremism.
Nevertheless, Parliament is yet to declare it to be a proscribed group despite growing demand for the lawmakers to do so.
Reem Al Hashimy, who serves as Minister of State for International Cooperation in the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, explained how extremist language and rhetoric are “absolutely abhorred” in her country, driving the ban into action.
“You proscribed, banned, declared a terrorist organisation, the Muslim Brotherhood, back in 2014,” Nigel said.
The controversial organisation operates under the mantra that “Islam is the solution” with the self-stated aim of establishing states ruled by sharia.
“From what I can see, you’ve been very, very strict on radical extremism,” he noted.
Ms Hashimy agreed, saying: “There’s a real difference, in our view, between the faith and the religion, which is a private relationship one has with the divine and between any attempt to politicise that religion.
Reem Al Hashimy spoke to Nigel Farage
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GB NEWS
“Whether it’s the Muslim faith through Islamist organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood or, frankly, Nigel, any faith and in some cases…
“Just extremist language or extremist rhetoric is something that we absolutely abhor in the UAE.
“It’s not something that we accept in any way, shape or form. And for us, we see the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamist organisation that is very far away from Muslim values and Muslim principles…
“We develop a serious allergic reaction to that because we know that the end objective of these organisations is manipulation and control…
The GB News star marvelled at the UAE’s ability to stamp out extremism
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GB NEWS
“We have 200 different nationalities from all over the world.
“Muslim faith celebrates differences as opposed to maligns the differences, and Islamist tendencies can be really, really rotten in that way.”
The debate to ban the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK reared its head once again after fears the organisation had infiltrated British universities to stoke the flames of radicalisation.
The group was believed to be using student organisations to invite Islamist speakers to campuses to deliver lectures that could foster extremism.
Last year, the Government, on Sir Keir Starmer’s watch, insisted the matter remains under “close review”, but no ban has materialised as of yet.
As concerns mount over the influence of the organisation in Britain’s top colleges, Emirati officials have removed British universities from their official list of institutions eligible for state-funded scholarships.
Official UK figures show, over the course of the 2023-24 academic year, 70 university students were flagged for potential referral to the Prevent deradicalisation programme over Islamist radicalisation concerns.
The figure was nearly double the preceding year’s total, drawn from a student population approaching three million.
