What Is the Secret Behind Saudi Arabia–UAE Dispute Over the Abrahamic Family House?

A fatwa from the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta in Saudi Arabia considered the so-called Abrahamic House as “nonbelief, misguidance, and apostasy.”

The house, built by the UAE, implicitly calls for the unity of religions through the construction of a mosque, church, and synagogue next to each other.

The UAE opened this place on February 16, 2023. It includes the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, Imam al-Tayeb Mosque, and St. Francis Church. Abu Dhabi claimed that the move aims to enhance interfaith dialogue in the Gulf state.

 

Fatwa Reflections

According to Al-Estiklal’s monitoring, the first and most prominent of those who promoted the fatwa on social media were Saudi activists.

They published the fatwa under a semi-unified title saying, “Saudi Arabia resolves the story of the Abrahamic House,” which may reflect the ongoing dispute between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

In February 2023, a Saudi–Emirati dispute broke out between writers affiliated with the two countries over who has the right to lead a new Arab axis in the region after the decline of the Egyptian role. Emirates or Saudi Arabia?

Promoting the official Saudi fatwa, at this time, and only two weeks after the UAE opened the so-called “Abrahamic Family House,” does not seem arbitrary.

The most dangerous thing is that the fatwa accuses the UAE of ruining Islam; this destroys the UAE image through which the Gulf state seeks to present itself to the world today as the leader of the Arab world instead of Egypt, and the Islamic world instead of Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb was absent from attending the opening of the Abrahamic House; Egyptian activists attacked him nonetheless and said that he had sent a representative on his behalf, the former president of al-Azhar University, Sheikh Muhammad al-Mahrasawi.

The fatwa’s text, published on social media websites on February 27, 2023, called for unity of religions, under No. (19402), but after the Al-Estiklal review on the Fatwa Presidency website, it was found that it is old and dates back to 1997.

It was issued by the Department of Academic Research and Ifta (General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars) in Saudi Arabia with the signature of the General President and former Grand Mufti of the kingdom, Sheikh Abd al-Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz (died May 14, 1999), whereas the current chairman of the authority is Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Sheikh since 2003.

But the re-publishing of the fatwa on a large scale by Saudi accounts in particular, and Arab accounts in general, raised questions about the reason for invoking it now and whether the matter has anything to do with the Saudi-Emirati dispute about the religious role as the center of the Two Holy Mosques.

Activists praised the statement of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta and said that it exposes Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed, even if the promotion of the old fatwa came again “on-demand” in light of the bad relations between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

The Saudi fatwa issued by the General Presidency for Scholarly Research and Ifta in 1997 says that the call for “unity of religions” and rapprochement between them and their melting into one mold is a malicious call, and that its purpose is to mix truth with falsehood, destroy Islam and undermine its foundations, and drag its people into a comprehensive apostasy.

It also affirms that the call to the unity of religions, if issued by a Muslim, is considered an explicit apostasy from the religion of Islam, because it contradicts the foundations of belief, so it accepts disbelief in Allah and invalidates the sincerity of the Qur’an and its copies of all previous laws and religions.

Accordingly, it is an idea rejected by Sharia and absolutely prohibited by all the evidence of legislation in Islam from the Qur’an, Sunnah, and consensus, according to the fatwa.

It pointed out that it is not permissible for a Muslim to respond to the call to build a mosque, church, and synagogue in one complex because that involves recognizing a religion in which Allah is worshiped other than the religion of Islam and denying its prevalence over all religions.

 

Emirati Anger

Because of the implications of the Saudi fatwa, which implicitly accuses the UAE of promoting disbelief and misguidance through the Abrahamic House, the Abu Dhabi trumpets and committees were quick to comment angrily and deny that they were calling for a new Abrahamic religion instead of Islam.

The Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla commented on the Saudi fatwa, denying that his country called Muslims to adopt “a new Abrahamic religion, but rather the house of the Abrahamic Family, which calls for dialogue and coexistence between the three religions.”

The academic, close to the country’s president, Mohammed bin Zayed, described those attacking the UAE as having “sick and malicious minds.”

Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federal National Council and one of the most prominent advocates of normalization between “Israel” and the Arab world, also rushed to defend the UAE’s position.

Al-Nuaimi tried to undermine the fatwa by claiming that it was issued 26 years ago concerning the so-called Abrahamic religion.

He described linking the fatwa of misguidance and apostasy to the Abrahamic House, which was inaugurated by the Emirates, as a lie and fraud to deceive the nation and hijack the minds of future generations.

Al-Nuaimi relied on Emirati justification, saying that “the Abrahamic Family House is our message to the world to promote the values of coexistence and maintain social peace.”

Observers considered the new Saudi–Emirati quarrel over the Abrahamic religion and the Abrahamic House as an extension of the dispute that broke out between the two countries in early February 2023.

A professor at al-Azhar University, who preferred not to be named, explained to Al-Estiklal that during the last period, there were signs of dispute between the UAE and Saudi Arabia over the leadership of the Islamic world, and who is the leader of the modern Islamic world.

He referred to the efforts of both current regimes, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, are competing to gain the approval of the West to be the international regime to lead what the West calls “moderate Islam,” which means: Islam without Sharia.

Egyptian political and media expert Ahmed Jaafar believes that the matter is related to the fundamental dispute between Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and the so-called “Council of Muslim Elders” that Abu Dhabi launched earlier in an attempt to lead the Islamic world and compete with the kingdom’s scholars.

He explained to Al-Estiklal that Saudi Arabia’s promotion of the old fatwa is not a spontaneous matter but rather intentional on the part of “its committees on social media in order to convey a message to the Emirates that the kingdom is the source of protection for this religion.”

He noted that the issue is a “struggle over influence,” but this time around religious influence and about who will lead the world in the name of “moderate Islam.”

Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, describes the “new Abrahamic religion” that the UAE is calling for as “a political project used as a cover to justify normalization with Israel and has nothing to do with intentions to reduce religious conflicts,” according to the Emirati claim.

 

The Causes of the Crisis

In early February 2023, another media clash broke out between Saudi writers and officials with their Emirati counterparts about who leads the Arab world.

The Emirati Abdulkhaleq Abdulla announced on Twitter on February 5, 2023, the end of the quadruple axis between Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the UAE and the establishment of a new axis led by Abu Dhabi while excluding Riyadh.

Following a Saudi attack led mainly by the editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper, al-Watan, Sulaiman al-Oqeliy, on what Abdulkhaleq said, the latter deleted the tweet he wrote.

It seems, after Abdulkhaleq deleted his tweet, that the UAE is seeking to form an axis with Egypt to confront Saudi Arabia.

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla mourned what he called the quadruple axis (which was formed against Qatar in 2017) and considered it part of the past, announcing the establishment of a new axis by excluding Saudi Arabia from the first and adding Jordan, Qatar, and Oman to the new one.

Abdulla’s tweet was widely attacked by social media activists, accusing him of trying to cause discord by ignoring Saudi Arabia and portraying the UAE as the leader of the Arab nation.

Sulaiman al-Oqeliy warned clearly that any axis against Riyadh would be a disaster for its companions, saying: “The formation of axes against us is old and tragic.”

He tweeted that all the axes “failed to shake the solidity of the kingdom, but rather dwarfed its owners and brought them down from their thrones.” He concluded his tweet by saying in a direct message addressed to the UAE: “We warn of the danger of repeating the tragic experiences.”

After Abdulkhaleq deleted the tweet, Anwar Gargash, the political advisor to the Emirati president, tried to cool the crisis, criticizing what he called “the attraction on social media about the axes and changes of Arab politics.”

He considered it “an unhealthy situation that opens the door to division” and stressed that Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the focus of his country’s orientations and positions.

Writer Khaled al-Jabri explained the clash between Saudi Arabia and the UAE by saying that in Washington, many whisper about “the cracking” of the Emirati–Saudi relations based on convenience due to the conflict of interests (Yemen, OPEC) and the zero-sum mentality in economic and political competition.

He made it clear that the latest manifestation of “this rift” is the absence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in the Gulf–Chinese Summit (December 2022 in Riyadh). He indicated that even the visits of the head of the Emirati National Security Council, Tahnoon bin Zayed to pressure the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had become useless.