La Casa della Famiglia di Abramo negli Emirati Arabi Uniti

Following Pope Francis' visit to Abu Dhabi in February 2019, and the signing of the Document on Human Brotherhood for World Peace and Common Coexistence, the United Arab Emirates launched the project of a "House of the Abrahamic Family" (Bayt al-ʿâ'ila al-ibrâhîmiyya) in the capital. A project announced the very day after the signing of the Document, whose construction is underway under the supervision of the "Higher Committee for Human Brotherhood" (HCHF) established in order to achieve the objectives of the signatories; its inauguration is scheduled for 2022. A grandiose project, as much in its architectural proportions as in its cultural intentions, which brings together in a single space the places of worship of the three monotheistic religions: the mosque, dedicated to Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib, Imam of al-Azhar and signatory of the Document; the church, dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi; and the synagogue, dedicated to the Andalusian philosopher and theologian Moses Maimonides. Its inauguration is scheduled for 2022. The article considers the voices opposed to the project and observes, among other things, that naming the Abrahamic Family House by dropping the Qur'anic expression "Âl Ibrâhîm" is a quiet but clear signal that should not be ignored: it means invoking the shared Abraham and not the one referred to the indigenous tradition of faith; one way among others to testify to the real desire for openness of the United Arab Emirates.