The Abrahamic House in Abu Dhabi will foster interfaith reconciliation

The site is set to be completed in 2022 on Saadiyat Island, and will contain houses of worship for the three Abrahamic faiths, meaning there will be a synagogue, mosque and church.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The spectacular Abu Dhabi skyline (photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
The spectacular Abu Dhabi skyline
(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
The Abraham Accords are not the only recent peace treaty to originate in the UAE. Beginning in 2019 in Abu Dhabi, the similarly named Abraham Family House began construction, aimed at being a major center for interfaith reconciliation.
The site is set to be completed in 2022 on Saadiyat Island, and will contain houses of worship for the three Abrahamic faiths, meaning there will be a synagogue, mosque and church.
According to Euronews, each house of worship will be carefully designed, incorporating traditional materials and architecture used in all three faiths. Even the smaller details will not go unnoticed, with the church's alter pointing east, the mosque pointed towards the Kaabaa in Mecca and the synagogue's bimah and Torah scrolls set to face Jerusalem.
And this level of detail is something the architect, Sir David Adjaye, is very proud of, making it distinctly different from other buildings seen in Abu Dhabi.
“We also realized that in each of the faiths there had been very unique details,” he told Rebecca McLaughlin-Eastham of Inspire Middle East, Euronews reported.
“The domes, vaults and arches of mosques, ideas of enclosure in Jewish tradition and the idea of deliverance and ecstasy in Christian churches, for example. So, they became the details that started to be amplified.”
The project will also see the first official construction of a synagogue in the UAE, with the country's small Jewish community currently using a private residence for worship. As a result, it represents a major step forward in interfaith reconciliation. And this is only furthered due to the ties established between the UAE and Israel, as residents of the Jewish state can now travel to the Abrahamic House.
And for some, this is the real opportunity presented by the Abrahamic House, as it allows Jews in Israel to foster interfaith bonds with their newest allies in the region.
This is perhaps best exemplified by the hip-hop duo Lines of Faith, consisting of Rabbi Daniel Silverstein and Muslim educator-turned-rapper Mohammed Yahya, Euronews reported. The duo work to challenge prejudice and foster interfaith bonds through music.

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Silverstein, who is based in Israel and runs an online learning platform called Applied Jewish Spirituality, and found that he has more inquiries for his platform due to both the coronavirus pandemic and the normalizing of relations between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.
“I received a surprise email where this woman said, “Hi, I'm from the UAE and I would like to learn about Judaism and Jewish spirituality,” he told Inspire, according to Euronews.
“I was just blown away. It just touched me so much that what was happening between politicians was already affecting us. This woman could reach out to me now, whereas she couldn't before. She was so excited to learn and I'm so happy to share with her."
Reuters contributed to this report.


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