Ramadan strengthens family bonds,

Says Shaikha Fatima
14 September 2007

ABU DHABI — Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak expressed greetings to the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Their Highnesses the Members of the Supreme Council and Rulers of the Emirates, General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, other shaikhs, citizens and all residents in the country, on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.

In a message, she expressed her hope that the holy month will bring divine blessings to the Arab and Muslim nations across the world and will create an opportunity for every Muslim to earn God’s satisfaction through piety, worship and practice of religious teachings.

She said that the sublime spiritual atmosphere brought about by the holy month of Ramadan will give the Muslim nation enough sustenance for a renaissance, after a prolonged period of lethargy and passiveness. The month will create enough opportunity for the Muslim nation for contemplation and empowerment, shedding away the cloak of retardness and ignorance. In this process they will draw their strength from the religious teachings of forgiveness, tolerance, virtues and cooperation for everything good and beneficial for humanity, Shaikha Fatima added.

The supreme chairperson of Family Development Foundation and chairperson of the UAE Women’s Federation also said: “ We need to strive, more than ever before, to correct the perceptions and eradicate the misunderstandings about our faith brought about by the wrongdoings of some people, as well as by the vicious attempts by some others to distort the image of the religion by accusing it of violence and terrorism.”

Shaikha Fatima stressed that the religion of Islam is free from any form of violence and terrorism.

She expressed her hope that the month of Ramadan will create an opportunity to enliven the real teachings of Islam, enabling us to present to the world a true model of the Muslim community. This spiritual month will give us a valuable chance to live the true faith and thus wipe out the misunderstandings about our religion.

“Islam is the religion of love, forgiveness and fraternity for the entire humanity,” she stressed.

Describing Ramadan as the month of family, Shaikha Fatima said, “I consider it a month of family as it asks us to organize our works and commitments in such a way that we sit with our family members at the time of Iftar. The leader of the family sits at the Iftar-table with his wife, children and grandchildren around him. This is an inspiring and creative sight of family union which we normally miss during other months of the year.

This unique opportunity to strengthen the family bond is one of the many bounties God has endowed upon us during this blessed month,” said the mother of the nation.

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