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DUBAI: A rabbi, a bishop, and an imam walk into a room. Sounds like the start of a good joke. In fact, it represents a historic moment for interfaith relations that occurred with the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity in February 2019.

Signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb, the document calls on the followers of the three Abrahamic religions to create ties of peace and dialogue. This led to the establishment of the Abrahamic Family House, which opened in Abu Dhabi in March.

Featuring a synagogue, a church, and a mosque, each decorated with variations on the same pillars—zigzag, straight, and arched—the house gives each place of worship its own distinctive visual identity, while hinting at their many similarities. .

The idea was to provide followers of all three religions with a single place where they could worship separately on the same site. And thanks to its rooftop garden, visitors of all faiths can also mingle freely and share ideas.

The intimate place is a new concept for interfaith relations and is being closely watched by governments and religious leaders around the world. If successful, the idea could be successful elsewhere.

It is not the intention of the founders of the facility to in any way merge the three religions. However, Mahmoud Nagah, the imam of the house’s Eminence Ahmed El-Tayeb Mosque, said many people were initially confused about its purpose.

“When the Abrahamic Family House was first established and inaugurated, a lot of misconceptions arose, suggesting that there was a call for a religion, the creation of a religion, which is the Abrahamic religion,” Nagah told Arab News.

It was an idea that was “entrenched in the hearts of the people,” he added. However, such misconceptions were quickly corrected, she explained, when people had the chance to visit the house and experience it for themselves.

“When people come to the mosque, I mean Muslims, they say, ‘It’s a normal mosque like other mosques in the United Arab Emirates,’” Nagah said.

He is correct. And the design of the three houses of worship is equal; each is contained within a space equal in size to the others.

“Here we are acting completely independently of the church and the synagogue,” Nagah said. “This does not mean that we should not come together or engage in interfaith dialogue to find common ground, not divide us.”

In fact, despite these clearly delimited spaces, the house collectively acts as a symbol of religious tolerance and a place where all religions can learn to understand each other in harmony.

“We shouldn’t use religions as something that divides people or puts people in conflict with each other,” Nagah said. At the very least, he said, religious beliefs should unite communities.

“Remove the barriers of ignorance that, from my personal point of view, are considered the strongest enemy of people,” he said. “Ignorance makes people unable to communicate with each other.”

Muslims make up about three-quarters of the population of the United Arab Emirates, while the various Christian sects make up about 10 percent. The remaining 15 percent includes a number of other religions, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jews, according to figures released by the Washington Post.

It is worth noting that Emiratis, full citizens of the UAE, make up only 11 percent of the country’s total population.

The country’s constitution guarantees freedom of worship, as long as doing so is not contrary to public policy. Islam is the official religion and there are laws prohibiting blasphemy, proselytizing by non-Muslims, and conversion from Islam.

As of September 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco normalized relations with Israel when they signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords, thus opening the door for mutual trade, diplomatic relations, and security cooperation. It also cleared the way for people of the Jewish faith to visit and immigrate to the United Arab Emirates.

There remains much skepticism about the Abraham Accords and their role in the Middle East peace process, especially as the Israeli authorities continue to occupy Palestinian territories and support settlement construction.

But such differences with Israel on political issues have not stopped the growth of the United Arab Emirates’ Jewish population. The Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue in the Abrahamic Family House is the first purpose-built synagogue in the Gulf in nearly 100 years and its chief rabbi, Yehuda Sarna, said the Jewish population continues to grow “organically.”

“It grew because people felt safe. They felt that there was a high quality of life. They felt that they could be themselves. That’s what got me hooked,” Sarna, originally from Canada, told Arab News.

“I’ve been coming here since 2010. What got me hooked was the mystery of why Jews would pick up and drop the countries they were born in and decide to move here. And it’s because they feel welcome.”

Hostility toward Jewish populations remains a very real problem in countries around the world, but not in the United Arab Emirates, Sarna said.

“There are times, at different points, where there have been spikes in anti-Semitic actions around the world,” he said. “What is interesting is to see that (Jewish) people here in the United Arab Emirates are the ones now calling their friends and family in other countries to see how they are doing. But here they felt safe.”

The design of the synagogue was chosen by the Jewish community without any outside intervention, he explained.

“There was not a point in which something was imposed, architecturally. This was emblematic of the approach as a whole,” Sarna said.

“There are Jews who were the children of Holocaust survivors who have come here. There are people who were imprisoned by the Houthis in Yemen because of their religion. There are people who escaped the threats of Saddam Hussein and his regime (in Iraq) who have come here. There are people who escaped only with their brothers from Iran. We have come here and now we are part of this Jewish community.”

Given the initial success of the Abrahamic Family House, Sarna said he can definitely see a bright future for similar projects in other parts of the world, which could help create cohesive bonds among followers of all faiths, despite their differences. differences.

Such differences, according to Sarna and Nagah, should not stand in the way of peaceful coexistence, which is the ultimate goal of the Abrahamic Family House.

Paulo Martinelli shares his point of view. The vicar of the Apostolic Vicariate of South Arabia and senior pastor of the Church of Saint Francis, he was appointed by Pope Francis to lead the Catholic prayer in the House of the Abrahamic Family. He also leads the Catholic communities in Yemen and Oman. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, this combined community in the three countries numbered 1 million people, concentrated mainly in the United Arab Emirates.

“It is so beautiful to gather here to celebrate Mass, to pray together,” Martinelli told Arab News.

“Also here, of course, there is a particularly interesting place because it is not only a Catholic church, but it is a Catholic church in the House of the Abrahamic Family, in which we have three different places of worship.

“We (the three religions) are clearly different but we are also together. So that we can share our experiences and show the world that it is possible to work together, even if we are different.”

Martinelli believes there is great potential for similar interfaith sites to succeed in other parts of the world.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to have a place like this and show that it’s possible to be different and be, at the same time, together to share values,” he said.

The Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi opened to the public in March. Since then, a rabbi, a bishop and an imam have regularly been seen entering the same building. Although they pray in separate spaces, they share a common dream of peaceful religious coexistence.

And such a goal is certainly not a joke.