Widely hailed as a positive move in a region where Islamic radicalism is spiralling, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan in July passed a new law that outlaws ‘all forms of discrimination based on religion, caste, creed, doctrine, race, colour or ethnic origin’.
Announced on 20 July, the law makes takfir an offence. Takfir is the pronouncement and labelling of Muslim individuals or communities as apostates and infidels (kafirs), deserving the death sentence, thus making them legitimate targets for jihad. Under the new law, takfir is a crime which carries a death sentence if the discrimination leads to murder.
Christians and Jews do not carry this label and are instead granted dhimmi status in Islamic territory. However, labelling other Muslims as apostates or infidels worthy of jihad the death sentence and has now become commonplace among radical organisations, including Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliates. They use it to justify their jihad against Muslim regimes, movements and individuals whom they consider insufficiently Islamic.
