MUSCAT : The Turkish Anatolia News Agency has lauded the Sultanate of Oman to be an ideal model of coexistence and harmony. It is not only among the religious sects that live on its land, but in terms of the harmony and neutrality it conducts with its neighbours and the broader regional environment.
The report published on Tuesday stated, “This sectarian tolerance would not have been available in particular, had it not been for the solid ground on which it was founded more than a thousand years ago, and which succeeded in sparing the Gulf state, located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, from many of the temptations and crises that the region has been witnessing throughout. During that period, the Omani society came out of it safely every time, preserving unity among its sects.”
In an interview, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Shahri, the preacher at the Sultan Qaboos Center for Culture and Science, stressed that the trait of tolerance is not transient or alien to Omani society, and it is rooted since the entry of Islam into the country, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, praised the tolerance of the people of Oman.
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He said, “Tolerance is the trait that has succeeded in preserving this society, and tolerance is not weakness or refraction, and it is not to accept what the other has or to be subject to it, but in return, it is not for me to reject the other and not listen to him, and that when I do not accept the other nor do I accept or agree with him.. I attack him.”
He mentioned that the trait of tolerance and understanding that characterised the Omani society was beneficial to it at all levels, and he listed historical examples of this, including the arrival of the Omanis to China more than a thousand years ago during commercial trips, and the Chinese fascination with the morals of the Omanis to the extent that the emperor at that time gave one of them a medal he called “The Moral”.
Al-Shahri described the Sultanate as the most beautiful model throughout history in coexistence. When we read history from a thousand years ago and then go back to the contemporary time, we find that society has not lost this characteristic, and it was present, as we as Muslims are commanded to be tolerant with each other. The Qur’anic description is clear. Believers are brothers.”
