Nations throughout the Middle East have pursued efforts that seek to institute domestic Islamic reform. These initiatives, however, are not always as transparent as they may seem. For example, in countries such as Iran and Turkey, Islamic reform programs have been used to augment and cement their authoritarian regimes’ power and influence. This has yielded concerning results, including the imprisonment of dissidents and political enemies in the name of Islamic reform ideals. As Middle Eastern nations continue to explore how to implement Islamic reforms in their countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as a positive role model. The UAE’s leadership has successfully moved past the Gulf state’s conservative past and adopted reforms that yield positive societal, economic, and political progress.
The UAE of today is starkly different from the UAE the world knew in the earlier part of the century. During this period, the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE, also known as al-Islah or the Association for Reform and Guidance, held significant power. The group was established as a non-governmental organization in 1974, and during the 1980s, its influence expanded throughout the country, including in the education and justice spaces. While the Muslim Brotherhood’s UAE branch shared its ideology with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, it denied that it maintained direct links with the Islamist movement. As the organization gained traction in the UAE, it advocated for and implemented stringent religious laws that significantly impacted students and women. During this same period, the UAE’s justice system was also heavily influenced by Sharia law. This encouraged discriminatory and harmful practices that especially affected women, including child and forced marriages and domestic violence. Although the UAE has implemented numerous pro-female reforms since then, these policies’ legacies are still visible in Emirati society.
Today, the UAE has adopted a more moderate approach to integrating and applying Islam in its society. While the country still strongly embraces the religion, its attempts at Islamic reform have yielded numerous positive socio-political results. For example, over the past several years, the country has emphasized its commitment to fighting regional terrorism and extremism. In 1994, the UAE formally dissolved al-Islah after the Egyptian government revealed that the group had been financially supporting the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant group.
Despite this, the group remained resilient and maintained some influence in the UAE. In 2012, reports revealed that al-Islah had deepened its relationship with the greater Muslim Brotherhood branch. The UAE government responded by arresting dozens of al-Islah leaders for violating article 180 of the penal code, which prohibits creating an organization that poses a threat to national security, among other charges, and designated the group as a terrorist organization. In addition, following the September 11 attacks, the UAE produced a comprehensive strategy to combating terrorism in the Middle East. In June 2017, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar to retaliate against the country’s ongoing support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other regional extremist groups. The Gulf nation also sent troops to Afghanistan in support of U.S. efforts in the country. In this way, the UAE’s dedication to eradicating terrorism in the region has made it a vital ally of the West. The Emirates has also aligned itself with Western ideals of modernity, its legal system has seen a drastic change.
The UAE radically transformed its legal system to loosen restrictive laws that impact women and students and afford them greater freedoms. Today, women in the UAE have the same constitutional rights as men, and hold numerous influential positions in society, including in government and business. The government has also introduced a spate of new policies that encourage female participation in the labor force. Undoubtedly, this has contributed to the nation’s economic success. For example, in 2012, the government ruled that every company and government agency in the country must appoint a female board member. This has had some positive ripple effects–recent estimates suggest that women comprise 10% of business owners in the UAE’s private sector and hold 15% of seats in the boards of chambers of commerce and industry. The UAE also ranks first in the world for treating women with respect, a title unexpected of a country that continues to embody some conservative Islamic roots.
Despite its conservative history, the UAE has emerged as a positive role model of a Middle Eastern nation that has embraced and implemented Islamic reform. Rather than introducing Islamic reform policies to cement authoritarian rule and crackdown on dissidents, the Emirates has used it to institute a range of impactful political, social, and economic policies that have helped the country prosper. In applying these initiatives, the UAE has managed to maintain strong ties to its religious roots while also modernizing and encouraging progress.
