First
published by the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United
Nations.
29 January, 2021
The Abrahamic Family House, a Symbol of Religious Inclusion
Inspired by
the visit of Pope Francis to the UAE in 2019 the Abrahamic Family House in Abu
Dhabi will serve as a global beacon of religious tolerance, co-existence, and
inclusion. This project of religious inclusion and interfaith dialogue was
announced at a time when religious communities around the world were reeling from
horrific attacks on houses of worship – the shootings at the Tree of Life
Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood
Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand.
With more
than 200 nationalities and over 9,000 mosques and musallas, dozens of Christian
churches, two Hindu temples, a Jewish synagogue, a Sikh temple, and a Buddhist
monastery, the UAE embraces a tradition of diversity and inclusion. Even before
the founding of the federation in 1971, leaders of the UAE sought to nurture a
culture of religious inclusion. In 1965, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church opened in
Abu Dhabi, followed closely by St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, which opened in
1968.
“The one country in the world, in that moment
of violence against the sacred, to announce that it was going to build a
complex which understood sacredness in inclusive terms, that emphasized
sacredness as the magic that happens when you bring people together…knocked me
over.”
-
Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish
Community of the United Arab Emirates
Since then dozens of different houses of worship have come to call the UAE home, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which announced in April 2020 its plan to build a temple in the UAE, its first in the Middle East. What is arguably the most impressive demonstration of interfaith participation in the country is set to open in 2022, the Abrahamic Family House.
The
inspiration for the Abrahamic Family House – a complex of houses of worship for
the three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism – came after
the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living
Together by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence Dr. Ahmed El-Tayeb, the
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in February 2019. The visit by Pope Francis to the
Arabian Peninsula was the first ever by the head of the Roman Catholic Church,
a testament to the concerted efforts by the UAE to advance religious inclusion.
During his
trip, Pope Francis met with the Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand
Mosque, signed the Human Fraternity Document, and held mass for 180,000 people
in Abu Dhabi.
The visit
by Pope Francis in 2019 coincided with what His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, declared as “The Year of Tolerance” – a
year to champion the UAE as a hub for religious and cultural inclusion and
tolerance, and to underscore these values as universal concepts that create
peaceful societies. The announcement of the Abrahamic Family House is, in part,
a demonstration of that vision.
“The Pope’s visit [sends] a strong signal
across the region and world: People with different beliefs can live, work, and
worship together.”
-
Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the US
The Abrahamic
Family House, to be built on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, includes three
houses of worship and an education center. Designed by the renowned
architectural firm Adjaye Associates, the synagogue, mosque, and church, while
distinct, are aligned and unified through each silhouette and connected by a
common garden. The video rendering at the end of this article illustrates how
each structure retains unique elements of the faith it represents but also
embraces the look and feel of its sister houses of worship.
“I saw the garden as a powerful metaphor, this
safe space where community, connection and civility combine—this space exists
between the three chambers, the three faiths. The podium allows you to interact
with each space, there’s no preventative threshold, and this way you dissolve
the perceptions of not being included and encourage the celebration of this
collective history and collective identity.”
-
Sir David Adjaye, Abrahamic Family House
architect
This symbol
of religious tolerance certainly reflects the principle of religious inclusion,
but what is more, it reflects the action of religious inclusion and advocacy
for interfaith dialogue.
One example
of that is not only the size, but the diversity of the Christian community in
the UAE. The UAE is home to more than 40 centers of Christian worship, the
largest number by far in the Arabian Peninsula. Reverend Andrew Thompson, the
Vicar of St. Andrew’s Church estimates that “between 10 and 15,000 worshipers
come to the compound each week,” including Ethiopian Orthodox Christians,
Indian Pentecostal Christians, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian
Catholics, and Anglicans – to name a few.
“It’s been an extraordinary journey looking at how an Islamic nation is wholeheartedly embracing the concept of tolerance…to experience an Islamic nation [that] not only permits for church to exist, but actively promotes it, is just an incredible experience.”
-
Rev. Andrew Thompson, St. Andrew’s Church
Chaplaincy of Abu Dhabi
Rabbi
Yehuda Sarna echoes a similar sentiment about what the Abrahamic Family House
represents in the context of religious inclusion, not only in the UAE but
around the world: “In my mind it was a mark of global leadership in the face of
hate. In the most dramatic of ways, in the most permanent of ways, in the most
ambitious of ways.”
“In a way, almost every sacred site has been
defined in the past by conflict, and the idea of having a sacred place, an
interconnected sacred place, to be that very site is nothing short of
visionary.”
-
RABBI YEHUDA SARNA, CHIEF RABBI OF THE JEWISH
COMMUNITY OF THE EMIRATES
The
Abrahamic Family House, in conjunction with the recently signed Abraham
Accords, signifies the UAE’s commitment to promote compassion and tolerance
among all people. These efforts again reflect not only the principle of
inclusion, but the action of inclusion. Rabbi Sarna believes that these efforts
represent the process of a “family reunion.”
The
choreography of this global reconciliation of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity
needed a venue. In the announcement of the Abrahamic Family House, Rabbi Sarna
believes that will soon exist.
Advancing
inclusion and encouraging religious tolerance and diversity are key tenets of
the UAE’s candidacy for a seat on the Security Council in 2022-2023. If
elected, the UAE will also work on the Council to promote the values of
compassion, co-existence, tolerance, and diversity among peoples, as well as
understanding between religions and cultures. Spreading these values is crucial
to the maintenance of international peace and security.
For more
information on the history of tolerance and inclusion in the UAE, including
more information on the Year of Tolerance and the historic visit by Pope Francis,
please visit the website of the UAE Embassy to the United States.
Watch -
David Adjaye designs trio of temples for multifaith complex in Abu Dhabi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O_ws_NCo2U
