Sharjah Media Centre unveiled details of Ramadan Majlis

Sharjah Media Centre has unveiled details of its third Ramadan Majlis, which will commence tomorrow (Monday) under the slogan “in the Culture of Dialogue”, in the presence of a group of prominent figures from both regional and international cultural, intellectual, religious and sporting circles.
Sharjah Media Centre’s Ramadan Majlis will, for the first time, address important topics related to the culture of dialogue, in general, and will also tackle various topics in special sessions titled “Interfaith Dialogue”, “Intercultural Dialogue”, “Dialogue of Rhymes”, “Direct Dialogue”, “Cross Spaces Dialogue”, “Returning to FIFA World Cup Dialogue” and “Freej (Neighborhood) Dialogue”.
Commenting on the occasion, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre, said: “Organizing the Ramadan Majlis under the slogan “In the Culture of Dialogue” is part of our vision at Sharjah Media Centre to deliver Sharjah’s message, which translates the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah to strengthen dialogue, accept others and establish a culture of harmony, respect and tolerance, with deliberation and culture.”
The Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre added: “We decided to make use of the atmosphere of the holy month to make our third Ramadan Majlis a space for the exchange of meaningful and constructive cultural and intellectual dialogue based on the emirate's overarching approach of building and boosting the culture of dialogue”.
Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi noted that dialogue with others is an Islamic notion and is, according to Islamic culture, a cornerstone not only for human and cultural communication, but also a prerequisite for achieving co-existence and exchanging knowledge”.
HE Osama Samra, Director of Sharjah Media Centre, said: “Ramadan Majlis has, since its inception three years ago, become an annual tradition for the Sharjah Media Centre. Its aim is to enhance social solidarity, to strengthen relations and to exchange views within sessions that address various important topics.”  
The Director of Sharjah Media Centre added that this year's Ramadan Majlis is unique as it will take place alongside Sharjah’s Capital of Islamic Culture 2014 celebrations. As such, the topics and speakers were carefully selected to reflect the importance of this event, to achieve solidarity and convergence, and to enrich the Ramadan sessions with useful and valuable topics.
Interfaith Dialogue:
Sharjah Media Centre’s Ramadan Majlis will commence tomorrow (Monday) with a session on Interfaith Dialogue as a main principle shared by all monotheistic religions. The session will discuss ways to turn the religious teachings of tolerance into a social culture and code of conduct to increase acceptance of others and to create inter-religious harmony.
The Interfaith Dialogue session will discuss the Covenant of Omar, which serves as one of the oldest and most important historic documents to reveal interfaith relationships and the importance of self-respect and acceptance of others to build a culture of interfaith dialogue.
A hot topic of conversation in the Interfaith Dialogue session during the Ramadan Majlis will be the open-mindedness of the media and its role in championing the notion of religious tolerance and raising social awareness of accepting others to foster interfaith and intercultural dialogue.
The Interfaith Dialogue session will feature scholar and intellectual Mukhtar Aziz, Director of the Islamic World Studies Centre and President of European Forum for Development and Dialogue; Dr Al Arabi Kashat, dean and founder of Al Dawah Mosque in Paris and co-founder of the Muslim Council for Cooperation in Europe; and Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Ramadan session will be moderated by scholar and intellectual Mohammed Al Kubaisi.
Intercultural Dialogue:
Speakers taking part in the Intercultural Dialogue session will include HE Dr Lana Mamkegh, Jordan’s Minister of Culture and HE Zeyad Baroud, Lebanese Minister of Interior and Municipalities. The session will be moderated by the prominent Saudi media figure Turki Al Dakhil.
The cultural experiences of various countries will be presented in this Ramadan Majlis. Speakers will highlight cultural environments and how these are shaped, and will present cultural support programs developed by the public and private sectors; their instruments and outcomes and the role they play in consolidating the cultural identity of these communities.
This session will touch upon the role of translation in facilitating intercultural dialogue between the East and West, and will highlight issues related to cultural identity, how it is formed, and how one culture absorbs the aspects of another culture, in addition to the role of dialogue in developing cultural identity.
The Intercultural Dialogue Ramadan session will discuss the role of intercultural dialogue in establishing intellectual and social harmony and will look at the role of the ministries of culture in supporting the cultural sector and promoting the cultural concepts among community members. In addition, it will look at how to enhance intercultural dialogue and establish a culture of dialogue in the community.  Ways to achieve cultural security and how protect it against any negative cultural penetration will also be discussed,.    
Dialogue of Rhymes:
This Ramadan session will discuss a number of issues related to modern poetry. It will look at the impact of social media on poetry, as well as at the impact major changes in the cultural landscape have on the structure and inference of poems.
The session will touch upon the features of modern poetry and will compare contemporary poetry with traditional poetry. Issues such as poetic alienation and the impact of cultural openness on the structure of poems will also be discussed.
The Dialogue of Rhymes Ramadan session will host Palestinian poet Dr Tamim Al Barghouti, consultant to the United Nations Economic and Social Committee for West Asia. The session will be moderated by journalist Barakat Al Wegyan.
Returning to FIFA World Cup Dialogue:
To mark the FIFA World Cup, Sharjah Media Centre will host a session under titled Returning to FIFA World Cup Dialogue, in which various topics related to UAE football will be discussed. The hot topic of discussion during this session will be the UAE national squad's inability to qualify for the World Cup, despite the fact that government spending on football is among the highest in the world.
The session will look at a number of achievements made by UAE football and will present the most important highlights in the history of UAE football. The session will be moderated by Adnan Hamad, Deputy Chairman of Sharjah Consultative Council, and will feature Yousef Al Serkal, President of the UAE Football Association; Ahmed Nasser Al Fardan, Secretary General of Sharjah Sports Council; UAE national team and Al Nasser Club former player Khalid Ismael; Muhsen Musabah, former UAE national team goalkeeper and analyst for Abu Dhabi Sport Channel; and Ali Thani Jumaa, UAE national and Sharjah Club player.
Cross Spaces Dialogue:
One of Sharjah Media Centre’s Ramadan sessions will discuss Clusters of Light, the world’s greatest story of Islam, and will present the importance of this work and its role in portraying the true image of moderate Islam in the post-Clusters of Light period.  
The Cross Spaces Dialogue session will discuss how far the work has achieved its objectives and the challenges it has encountered, and will highlight the new theatrical concept of combining East with West in Clusters of Light.
Moderated by Lebanese media personality Dr Nadin Al Assaad, the session will host stars of the epic story, including Khalid Al Sheikh, Lutfi BuShnak and Ali Al Hajjar.
Direct Line:
The Direct Line Ramadan session will discuss the importance of the Direct Line programme, which is broadcast daily and which addresses people’s various issues while seeking solutions with officials. The session will highlight the role of this programme in demonstrating the true function of the media in decision-making and contributing to the establishment of sustainable development in communities.
Direct Line will deal with many aspects, including how people are in need of direct line programmes, how officials adopt the solutions introduced through the program, which steps are taken to implement solutions after the programme, how feedback is evaluated, and how topics are chosen.
The Direct Line Ramadan session will host Mohammed Khalaf, manager of Sharjah Radio and TV, Mohammed Ghanim Mustafa, manager of RAK Radio, as well as journalists Abdullah bin Khasif, Rashid Al Kharaji and Ahmed Al Muhaini.
The Freej (Neighborhood) Dialogue:
Authentic stories of the past will be brought back through the Freej (Neighborhood) Dialogue session in the Heart of Sharjah, a place that, with its antique houses and traditional souks, remains vibrant with the life and memories of the past.
The Freej Dialogue session will discuss the cultural, intellectual and heritage landscape that reflects Sharjah’s cultural identity, as well as its various historical and cultural treasures.
The session will highlight the memories of Ramadan from the past, the emirate’s old houses, the culture of shops in the Islamic belief, and the culture of neighborhood and how codes of conduct are established.
Moderated by Abdul Aziz Al Musallam, Director of Heritage and Cultural Affairs at the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information, the session will host Dr Fatima Al Saegh, professor of History at the United Arab Emirates University; Dr Hamad bin Sarai, professor of Old History at the United Arab Emirates University; and Nasser Al Kass.
The organization of the third Ramadan Majlis by Sharjah Media Centre forms part of its core mission of communicating with the community. Hosting these sessions translates the Centre’s belief in the importance of reviving the Ramadan Majlis - a social ritual established by ancestors as a meeting point which played a great cultural and awareness role - as an essential part of the UAE’s history and culture.    
Sharjah Media Centre has organized two previous editions of the Ramadan Majlis, which featured celebrated local and international intellectuals, scholars and academics who enriched the Ramadan sessions with meaningful discussions that drew the attention of not only the local community, but which also received local and international media coverage.
These sessions, which demonstrated the glorious image of the emirate and its achievements under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, also received stellar feedback for showing initiatives by His Highness which helps support the local and Arab cultural, intellectual, educational and theatrical development while maintaining the UAE’s heritage and strengthening its cultural identity.