By Stefan Morkis

THE PRINCIPAL of Dundee’s Al-Maktoum Institute has said Muslims in the Arab world must engage more with other cultures in order to combat religious extremism.

Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi, also vice-chancellor of the Al-Maktoum Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, spoke at the 2007 International Academic Symposium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The success of the Dundee centre since it was established nearly five years ago led delegates to agree to plans for a new cultural centre in the region, using the Al-Maktoum institute as a model.

It is hoped that the centre, likely to be based in Abu Dhabi, would set the agenda for cultural engagement in the Arab Muslim world and help prevent the spread of extremism.

Professor El-Awaisi told delegates that education was key to helping people “rise above extremism and fundamentalism” and that a cultural centre run along the same lines as Al-Maktoum would provide a key role in providing that education.

He said, “Such an institute would enhance two-way traffic between and within people, cultures and religions.

It should lay the foundations for a new agenda of cultural engagement through higher education with a mission to educate the next generation of scholars and practitioners, locally, regionally and nationally.

“As a research-led centre of excellence like Al-Maktoum, it would promote intelligent debate and understanding on cultural engagement and Islam and the role of Muslims in the contemporary world.

“It should also generate an atmosphere in which constructive dialogue and engagement will take place,” he declared.

In his speech, Professor El-Awaisi said “us and them” attitudes between different communities could no longer be allowed to fester.

“Although we have been successful for setting the new agenda for cultural engagement in Scotland through Al-Maktoum Institute in Dundee at both academic and cultural levels, we urgently need to establish this new agenda in cultural engagement in the Muslim world,” he said.

“Better understanding through education and reform of religious education is the essential way to beat extremists and to achieve mutual respect and peaceful co-existence.”

The Al-Maktoum Institute was established in Dundee nearly five years ago.

It is a research-led institution that offers postgraduate programmes with degrees validated by Aberdeen University.