Mandir befits UAE’s inclusive landscape

Navdeep Suri

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing visit to the UAE, during which he will inaugurate the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi today, marks a key milestone in a journey that began less than nine years ago. It was in August 2015 that he made his first visit to the Gulf nation, the first by an Indian Prime Minister since Indira Gandhi in 1981. The bilateral agenda was wide-ranging and set the foundation for a truly remarkable transformation in India’s ties with the UAE. Modi also used the opportunity to put in a request for the allocation of land for a Hindu temple that would meet the long-standing religious and spiritual needs of a large section of the 3.5 million-strong Indian community in the UAE.

The Document of Human Fraternity paved the way for the House of Abrahamic Family — an impressive new complex in Abu Dhabi that houses a mosque, a church and a synagogue.

This is Modi’s seventh visit to the UAE in the past nine years. The time and effort that he has invested in this relationship and the deep bond he has established with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed are reflected across multiple dimensions. If the UAE’s support for India following the abrogation of Article 370 and conferring its highest award on Modi had a clear political dimension, sharing of sensitive intelligence and the crackdown on gangsters and terrorists has a vital security element. The finalisation of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement within a record 88 days and the investments by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala, ADQ and other UAE-based sovereign wealth funds carry a strong economic message. Collaboration between space agencies, the establishment of an IIT-Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi, the permissions for UPI and RuPay card and the willingness to start trading in national currencies are only a few of the myriad manifestations of a special relationship.

Built on 27 acres, the grand mandir, reaching a height of 108 ft and located just off the busy Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway, will become a strong visual metaphor for this relationship. But its very existence in what was until recently a fairly conservative Muslim nation is also indicative of a more profound change that has taken place within the UAE. A small anecdote is perhaps in order.

It had been decided that during his visit to the UAE in February 2018, Modi would unveil a replica of the proposed mandir. The BAPS leadership was asked to prepare the replica, but it was not sure of the kind of temple architecture that the hosts would permit. Two models were prepared and in view of the limited time before the visit, I was asked to seek the views of the UAE leadership. The first model was a classical design with seven shikhars, while the second proposed a more discreet temple that was recessed within a rectangular building. In a departure from the protocol, Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed had come for the reception that I was hosting to celebrate India’s 69th Republic Day; as he was leaving, he told me that he had good news with regard to the temple design. He had consulted his elder brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and his response was categorical: “We agreed to have a Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi and it should look like a Hindu temple.”

The clarity of that response stems from a steady evolution in the UAE’s position on matters of religious tolerance and interfaith harmony. The journey started under the country’s founder-President Sheikh Zayed and has accelerated following the 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001, when the UAE participated in the US-led coalition to target al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It gathered further momentum after the abortive ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011, when UAE coordinated with Saudi Arabia and other allies to stop the Muslim Brotherhood-led government in Egypt in its tracks. It proceeded to ban the Brotherhood, declared it a terrorist organisation and took active steps to weed out its influence in mosques, madrasas and educational institutions around the country. The Sawab Centre was set up as a think tank to combat terrorism and extremism that are based on the misuse of religion. Hedayah was established as an International Centre for Excellence to counter violent extremism.

The strong stance against extremism has been accompanied by positive steps like appointing Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, a senior member of the royal family, as Minister for Tolerance and organising high-profile conferences with the participation of religious leaders from around the world to promote interfaith harmony. As the Ambassador, I met more Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Jain leaders from India in my three years in Abu Dhabi than I had met in my previous 30 years in service.

The UAE also hosted Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, in Abu Dhabi in 2019 to produce the Document of Human Fraternity — an unprecedented joint declaration on behalf of the Catholics and Islam to provide a blueprint for dialogue and collaboration between the faiths. The document paved the way for the House of Abrahamic Family — an impressive new complex in Abu Dhabi that houses a mosque, a church and a synagogue within the same compound in the Saadiyat Island cultural district.

The decision to sign the Abraham Accords and establish full diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020 were other steps in the same direction. There is now a Chief Rabbi in Dubai and the diligence with which textbooks have been systematically cleansed of anti-Semitic references are examples of the earnestness with which the government is trying to create a new paradigm for interfaith relations.

With its message of creating a spiritual oasis of global harmony and with its seven shikhars representing the seven emirates of the UAE, the mandir in Abu Dhabi fits perfectly into the country’s inclusive landscape.

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