OPINION:
When meeting with His Majesty King Hamad of Bahrain, the first thing one notices is his warm and welcoming smile. This genuine predisposition to welcome his guests as fellow human beings irrespective of their ethnic or religious background helps explain why this American ally of over 60 years punches above its weight regarding religious freedom and tolerance. President Trump can find no better ally in the Middle East than King Hamad when it comes to championing the human right to religious freedom.
Take, for example, how members of the Bahai Faith are treated in Bahrain. This Faith, whose followers have been persecuted since the inception of the Islamic Republic in Iran, enjoys the full respect and protection of King Hamad and the people of Bahrain. The core teachings of the Bahai Faith, such as the importance of educating women, the oneness of mankind, the need for harmony between science and religion and the importance of having a direct relationship with one’s creator, all resonate with King Hamad’s enlightened worldview.
The Bahai community has made major contributions since settling in Bahrain in the 1950s, especially in the fields of education and community building. With encouragement from the Government of Bahrain last year, the Bahai community organized a meeting on the importance of family as a setting for fostering moral development. Again, this important message is championed by King Hama,d who views the family as a vital setting to foster spiritual growth and teach lessons such as eliminating prejudice of any kind.
The essence of King Hamad’s stance toward his fellow citizens who practice the Bahai Faith can be captured by the words of the Chairman of the Board of the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence at a ceremony honoring Abdulbaha, son of the founder of the Bahai Faith: “We thank the Bahais for bringing us together, alongside our Bahai brothers and sisters in all different parts of the world, to celebrate a unique and significant figure who called for peace and dedicated his life and all his efforts to serving humanity.”
When King Hamad personally appointed Houda Ezra Nonoo to be Bahrain’s Ambassador to the United States in 2008 (she served until 2013), he sent a powerful message of religious tolerance and deep respect for Bahrain’s small but vibrant Jewish community members. By appointing the first Jewish woman in the Arab world to serve as an Ambassador, King Hamad sent a powerful message of the need to be respectful of other faiths, including the Jewish Faith, to his fellow Muslims and Arab leaders across the world.
It is, therefore, not surprising that when President Donald Trump invited Bahrain to join the Abraham Accords, King Hamad did not hesitate and responded openly to this initiative from the American President. Why? Because this U.S.-educated enlightened monarch truly believes in what is written in the preamble of the Abraham Accords Declaration: “We, the undersigned, recognize the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace in the Middle East ….based on mutual understanding and coexistence, as well as respect for human dignity and freedom, including religious freedom. We encourage efforts to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue.”
This thoughtful leader shows the same respect he does for the Bahai and Jewish communities to Christian community members. Indeed, King Hamad strongly supports the American Mission Hospital, which was established in 1892, and the American Mission School, which was established in 1898 by American missionaries. Thanks to King Hamad, Christians on this island nation of one-and-a-half million can attend church on Sundays and practice their faith openly. The fact that Pope Francis chose Bahrain, an Arab Muslim country, for his 39th apostolic visit is a testament to King Hamad’s unique role as a global champion of religious tolerance.
As a devoted Muslim, King Hamad’s dedication to religious tolerance is on display when one visits the Beit Al-Quran museum (House of the Koran), which reveals some of the world’s most renowned Korans in various sizes created by artists from across the Muslim world. King Hamad’s patronage of this Islamic treasure is yet another indication of not only his acceptance of other religious beliefs but also those within the various branches of Islam.
Although Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which allows for the uninterrupted flow of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf to consumers across the globe, it is also home to something more fundamental. Thanks to its courageous monarch, Bahrain champions the human right of each individual to practice their faith openly and without any harassment and persecution.
Earlier this year, when President Trump signed his Executive Order on Religious Freedom, he stated: “Let us bring God back into our lives.” President Trump cannot find a stronger partner than King Hamad, who not only believes that God is our partner and center of our lives, but that His children, whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian or Bahai, are all children of God. President Trump should invite King Hamad to the White House to celebrate this fundamental human right of religious freedom.
• Rob Sobhani, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University
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