The Abrahamic Family House, the United Arab Emirates’ new interfaith complex, opens to the public in Abu Dhabi
The Abrahamic Family House, a trio of cubic buildings, stands proudly erect on Saadiyat Island, the cultural district of the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi. Beside the waters of the Arabian Gulf, the three edifices comprise a Jewish synagogue, an Islamic mosque and a Catholic church, all designed by British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye.
Yet there are clear differences in each building’s design, symbolic of the faith represented. Each house, for example, is orientated differently owing to its particular seating needs and direction of prayer. The church faces towards the east and the rising sun, as light here is symbolic of divinity. The Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, on the other hand, is looking towards Jerusalem, while the Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque faces Makkah.
The façade of the synagogue encompasses three layers of V-shaped columns that reference palm fronds on the– a traditional shelter for prayer used during the Jewish festival Sukkot. The columns are situated on each side of the edifice and include seven points that touch the ground and eight points that touch the roof of the structure. According to Adjaye, the number seven was chosen as symbolic of man, and the number eight as symbolic of God.
Inside the mosque is a four-column interior grid with nine ascending vaults, orienting visitors towards the mihrab, a niche that indicates the direction of Makkah. The mosque also includes two external ablution rooms – one for male and one for female worshippers. The male ablution room is in the shape of an inverted pyramid while the female space has the shape of an inverted sphere.
The interfaith complex reflects the UAE’s push towards cultural and inter-religious tolerance. The Abrahamic Family House, which was announced in 2019 during the country’s 'Year of Tolerance', welcomed its first worshippers on 17 February 2023, with the inaugural Friday prayer at the Imam Al-Tayed Mosque. On 19 February, the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue and His Holiness Francis Church held their first services.
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