However, being a Muslim, I had the advantage of claiming ignorance and using either one with the expectation that my friends at the receiving end would understand it and appreciate such initiative coming from a Muslim. Either way it was a win-win situation for me.

The situation is, however, different between Christian-born Americans where the two sides of the religious divide pelt each other on how to celebrate the country's traditional holiday season. Do they have to wish each other Merry Christmas or send greetings on more secular lines? It is indeed a very difficult time for the well-meaning American citizens who have to go through a long and torturous journey of soul-searching in order to convey their best wishes to each other.

Would they just continue with the tradition, claim innocence and say "Merry Christmas," come what may, or would they opt for the secular and politically correct "Seasons Greetings," and take the risk of offending their die-hard traditionalist friends? It is not an easy choice.

While things are that hard and discomforting in the homeland of Christian traditions, things are quite different in the Muslim countries of the Arab Gulf countries, particularly the UAE where different cultures and religions thrive under the ideal tolerance of Islam.

Contrary to the general belief of the people in the West and certainly to the surprise of many of them, Christmas is celebrated here in the most traditional way with the all the commercial bombast that goes with it. Three-floor-high Christmas trees, decorated with replicas of ice flakes and snowy weathers, adorn most of the shopping malls. Huge figures of Santa Claus greet shoppers at every alley and corridor and children take pictures with hired human Santa Claus or Santa statutes mounting his conventional reindeer driven chariot.

Advertisements of Christmas and New Year festivities are everywhere, while Westerners and other Christians are spoiled with the most traditional and most exotic creative gift items, mountains of greeting cards and Christmas decorations. Dazzling traditional lightings and multi-colored tinsel compete for shoppers' attention. Churches prepare for Christmas masses and hotels promise the most exciting parties for Christmas and New Year revelers.

It is only with the occasional Adhan, Muslim's prayer call, reverberating throughout the cities five times a day that remind the unsuspecting shoppers that they are indeed in a Muslim country.

This is the UAE, an ideal place for multi-cultural harmony and religious tolerance. Being home to tens of thousands of foreign workers from all around the world since the start of the oil boom in early seventies, the UAE is an example for a world where religions, races and cultures can live and thrive together in bliss of understanding and brotherhood.

It is a place where Christmas and Indian Diwali are celebrated along with Muslim Eids, a place where ladies dressed in latest tell-tale western trends rub shoulders with local and other Muslim women clad in full traditional Muslim gear and Indian women wrapped in conventional saris.

Islam in the UAE is deep-rooted in the people's hearts and minds, an integral part of the people's cultural soul and collective memory and a God-given sublime truth that can neither be distorted nor be diluted by ephemeral commercialisms or imported cultures.

The UAE is a model for the true spirit of Islam where the rule of thumb is "You have your religion and I have mine" and we are destined to live together and respect each other as human beings. This is a country where the doom prophets of the clash of civilizations could see their arm-chair theories dashed to history's gutter and where the good part of the human soul and genuine adherence to the real teachings of Islam hold the torch.