THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 21 September 2020 Towards tolerance (Indian Express)

Towards tolerance (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: Israel and Gulf countries relations 
Mains level: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora

Context:

  • As the world’s Jewish communities celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the traditional New Year, over the weekend, greetings came from an unexpected quarter — the Arab Gulf.
  • The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — which recently normalised ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords — tweeted their best wishes in Hebrew and English.
  • This simple gesturemarks an important moment in the Middle East.

Definitive change:

  • The region’s tolerance of non-Islamic faiths has seen a sharp decline in recent decades amidst the rise of radical political Islam that threatenedthe Arab Gulf kingdoms.
  • Many Gulf rulers appeased the Islamists by adopting part of their agenda at home, letting them export extremist ideology to the rest of the world.
  • It adopted an uncompromising attitude towards Israel and lending a religious dimension to conflicts around the world involving Muslims.
  • The Arab Gulf, however, has begun to send a very different message.
  • Since the signing of the Abraham Accords last week in Washington, official Gulf media has been recalling the history of peaceful coexistence through the millennia between the Arabs and Jews.
  • One of the most significant recent statements on religious tolerance came from the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
  • Earlier this month, Imam Abdul Rahman al-Sudais offered a discourse on the Islamic teachings that emphasizedrespect towards non-Muslims and dwelton Prophet Mohammed’s positive engagement with the Jews.
  • Many have read this sermonas signalling Saudi rethink on ties with Israel. Restrictions on religious freedom are the strongest in Saudi Arabia.
  • A definitive change in Saudi Arabia may be some distance away, but the signs are more hopeful than at any time in recent memory.
  • The slow but certain shift towards religious tolerance had indeed preceded the Abraham Accords.

State policy:

  • Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, for example, has taken small steps at home to reduce the hold of religious orthodoxy.
  • The most visible expression of the new thinking was in the UAE, where promoting religious tolerance has become an active state policy.
  • It has allowed the construction of a Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, hosted the Pope, and is now letting the Jews practise their culture and faith.
  • The UAE is constructing a complex in Abu Dhabi called the House of Abraham that will host a synagoguealong with a church and a mosque.
  • In recent decades, few regions have been as damaged by the extremist ideologies emanatingout of Arabia as the Subcontinent.
  • Once the exemplar of peaceful religious coexistence, the Subcontinent is now itself torn by religious and sectarian intolerance.
  • Supporting the Arab turn to tolerance will hopefully help South Asia to reclaim its own tradition of religious coexistence and harmony.

Conclusion:

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Prem Bhatia award for outstanding journalism, consider the following statements:

1. The trust had instituted the awards in 1995 in the memory of journalist Prem Bhatia. 
2. Dipankar Ghose and the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), a non-profit journalism website dedicated to reporting on rural India, has won this year’s Prem Bhatia award for outstanding journalism.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1)How the recent UAE-Israel peace deal will impact the region and India?Analyse it. 

UPSC 2020
Civil Services EXAM
Civil Services Preliminary
Civil Services Mains
UPSC
IAS PRE GS
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