This is a guest post by Abdullah Noorudeen from Coolness of Hind.

This is the fifth article in a special series of articles. The series is aimed at uncovering the ideological component to the post-Gaza plan based on the UAE’s approach to deforming Islam and forcing an Israel-friendly secularism through the patriarchal figure of Abraham. Previous instalments in the series can be accessed here:

Part 1: Israel’s Post-Gaza Plan: “Denazification” as a Code for De-Islamisation

Part 2: Israel’s Post-Gaza Plan: The CVE-Driven, Pro-Israeli “Abrahamic Family House”

Part 3: Israel’s Post-Gaza Plan: The Christian-Zionist Beneficiaries of the “Abrahamic Family House” Project

Part 4: Israel’s Post-Gaza Plan: The Anti-Islam Foundations of the “Abrahamic Family House”

The scrutiny spanning across the preceding three parts in this series exposed the UAE’s Abrahamic Family House project as a sinister plot to destroy the sanctity of Masjid Al-Aqsa. Part 4, in particular, elucidated how the Human Fraternity document, serving as the bedrock of the Abrahamic Family House, endeavours to weaken Islam and its unique identity in favour of instituting a novel religion that oversees and “unifies” all other faiths and traditions beneath the ruinous shadow of its secular aegis.

Such an enterprise, of course, is consistent with the aims and objectives of the Freemasons, who, in a parallel vein, establish a “brotherhood” (of currently five million members worldwide) grounded ostensibly on principles of fraternity, affection, and relief, coupled with a strong ritualistic objective of rebuilding the temple of Soloman (upon him be peace). It is worth noting that there appears to be a mainstreaming and whitewashing of Freemasons, who are now actively targeting a younger audience. It is no coincidence that a recent puff piece published in The Times had highlighted that the initiation ceremony involved blindfolded candidates “swearing an oath on his choice of sacred text, including the Bible, Quran or Torah, promising never to write down the secrets of masonry.”

In any case, despite the abuse of the esteemed Prophet of Islam, Ibrāhīm (upon him be peace), the architects of the document have been adamant that they are not propounding a new liquefying ideology that displaces or blurs Islam.

Architect of the Human Fraternity Document

Mohamed Abdel Salam—an Egyptian judge and former advisor to the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Egypt—boasts a dubious portfolio as the secretary general for both the Muslim Council of Elders CVE organisation and the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity. Notably, he stands as the architect behind the crafting of the pivotal Human Fraternity document. In 2019, for “his great role and efforts” in “promoting interreligious dialogue and the relationships between Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and the Catholic Church,” Pope Francis awarded Abdel Salam a papal knighthood, dubbing him the “Knight Commander with Star of the Order of Pius IX.” This accolade, typically awarded for outstanding merit or deeds for the Church, was the first of its kind to have been bestowed upon an Arab and Muslim.

In 2022, papal knight Abdel Salam wrote an op-ed in UAE’s propaganda outlet The National News to deal with the claim that the “call to human fraternity” was a call to create a new syncretic religion. The document was free of “ideological orientations or political calculations” according to Abdel Salam. As has already been firmly established in this series, this claim is patently untrue.

Abdel Salam vehemently rebuffs critics of the document, denouncing their “false and disparaging narrative” that his initiative is an attempt to forge a new religion coined “the Abrahamic Religion” (Dīn Ibrāhīm). He then claims that there are no efforts to create a “one world religion” or “diminish religious differences.” Contrary to his claims, however, the document structurally undermines Islam and its foundational importance, instead espousing a secular liberal paradigm which seeks to reshape the Islamic world in the mould of Eurocentric Western modernity. While Abdel Salam vehemently denies any intention to establish a “one world religion” or to diminish religious distinctions, the document suggests otherwise, laying the groundwork for an evisceration of Islamic principles towards a homogenised, secularised worldview.

Ironically, Abdel Salam himself has substantively acknowledged the document’s deformist project in other fora.

For example, in 2022, the Berkley Center at Georgetown hosted a discussion about the Human Fraternity document titled “The Culture of Encounter: The Culture of Encounter and Interfaith Collaboration.”

At one point in the discussion, Indunil Kodithuwakku (Secretary of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, which supports the Human Fraternity document) explains the document in terms of a three-stage doctrine of Christian spirituality. He states that the document’s notion of fraternity represents the final stage, “unitiva” or union which “culminates in a unity law of fraternity.”

Later on, Kodithuwakku explains that the document is being applied to “Dharmic religions” such as “Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism.” Confirming the Bishop’s statements, Abdel Salam declares the document a “reformist” and “progressive” project:

“I would like to say that Monsignor Indunil has just spoken enough and said what I wanted to stress. Because this document is really revolutionary and it is different from all the preceding declarations. It is a reformist, progressive and renewable discourse from the religious symbols and figures. The fact that it doesn’t only address Christians and Muslims is very important because it is purely humanistic document addressing believers and nonbelievers alike.”

RELATED: Shaykh Muhammad al-Dadaw on the Abrahamic Religion

UAE Mouthpiece Waseem Yousef

Furthermore, prominent UAE mouthpieces championing Israel-normalisation leave little room for doubt about the motivations of the Abrahamic Family House project.

Take, for instance, Jordanian-Emirati cleric and former Imam of Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Waseem Yousef. In 2020, soon after the signing of the Abraham Accords, he tried to use the Qurʾān and his ideas of tolerance to justify normalising relations with Israel. Shockingly, he branded Palestinians protesting the normalisation deal as “filthy,” stating that they did not deserve Jerusalem and that the “the Jews” were “more honourable” than them.

At that time, he also sent a tweet stating (see also, here), “There is no difference between a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew. We are all Adam, and Adam is from dust, and the religion of Abraham unites us, so Satan and evil do not separate us.” Despite backlash, he has repeated similar, albeit slightly toned-down claims and support for the Abrahamic Family House project:

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RELATED: The Abrahamic Religion: An Evil Agenda Against Islam

Grand Mufti’s Reversal

Returning to his piece in The National News, Abdel Salam disguises his incriminating deformist claims made at the Berkley Center at Georgetown. Instead, he attempts to showcase that the Abrahamic Family House project is not about amalgamating faiths. To support his stance, he cites a statement from the Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb. Abdel Salam suggests that the Grand Mufti is critical of those who attack the Human Fraternity agenda as one Abrahamic religion. Tayeb’s words appear to suggest that such detractors “are violating the most precious right humanity possesses: freedom of belief.”

However, the Grand Mufti’s complete statement was published on Al-Azhar’s website in 2021 and expresses quite a different message (see also here on Al-Jazeera Arabic). Instead, he warns of “trends that are calling for an Abrahamism (Al-Ibrāhīmiyyah) or Abrahamic religion (Al-Dīn Al-Ibrāhīmī)” that blur Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a single religion. Likening it to globalisation and “global ethics,” he then states:^[1]

“Although it appears on the surface as a call to human unity and its unification and the elimination of the causes of its conflicts and struggles. However, it is itself a call to seize the most precious thing that humans possess, which is ‘freedom of belief.’”

In essence, the Grand Mufti is denouncing schemes that exploit the revered stature of Ibrāhīm (upon him be peace) to advocate for unity and eliminate the causes of conflicts as a façade for coercive mind control. A year later, the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt also slammed the notion of an “Abrahamic religion” as unacceptable, labelling it a “Western political idea.”

The target of the Grand Mufti’s comments remained ambiguous as it was not clear whether he was referring to the UAE and its Abrahamic Family House project. Nonetheless, his conspicuous absence at the inauguration of the Abrahamic Family House mosque bearing his name in February 2023 spoke volumes. According to Arab media sources, his decision stemmed from a desire to avoid association with the public normalisation of Israelis and to sidestep scholarly criticism, particularly regarding concerns that the Abrahamic House aims to dilute the essence of the religion.

In short: Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb refused to inaugurate the Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb Mosque. Ouch, indeed.

The situation for the “deforming Islam” project worsened. A month later, in March 2023, the General Secretariat of the Islamic Research Academy at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif issued a further clarification. The statement addressed the Abrahamic religion and the construction of a mosque, synagogue, and church in one area as a means of cooperating and eliminating the causes of global conflicts. In no uncertain terms, the statement urged proponents of such agendas and projects to “look for another way to achieve their interests and agendas,” before unequivocally confirming that such attempts contradicted the Qurʾān and Sunnah.

Al-Azhar had rejected the Abrahamic Family House initiative.

RELATED: The Abrahamic Religion: Historical Precedent for this Heresy

Concluding Remarks

The fact that the architect of the document underpinning the Abrahamic Family House project felt the need to spin the Grand Mufti’s statements underscores the duplicitous and double-speaking nature of this “Abrahamic” agenda. The stark reality is that the initiative’s audacity to de-Islamise Muslim society renders such clarifications utterly superfluous. However, Al-Azhar’s position is now firmly established on the public record.

And it’s not just Al-Azhar’s disassociation that is established. Muslim scholars from all around the world have condemned the Abrahamic Family House initiative.

The past year saw a significant gathering of Islamic scholars from organisations such as the International Union of Muslim Scholars, the League of Muslim Scholars, and the Arab Maghreb League, representing a total of nineteen countries. Convening for a conference focused on the topic of the “Abrahamic Religion,” these scholars issued a notable statement in February 2023, just before Al-Azhar’s pronouncement. This statement comprised a comprehensive ten-point rebuttal and rejection of the concept of the Abrahamic religion and its associated schemes.

This widespread opposition from the scholarly milieu is worth bearing in mind as we unpack some of the “Abrahamic” narratives surfacing in the West in Part 6.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:^[1]

“Verily, Allah will not let my nation agree upon misguidance. The hand of Allah is over the united community.”

References

[1] https://azhar.eg/almajlis-alala/ma/details/PgrID/7247/PageID/29/ArtMID/3521/ArticleID/57181

 وأضاف فضيلته خلال كلمته بمناسبة احتفالية بيت العائلة المصرية بمرور 10 سنوات على تأسيسيه، أن هذه الدعوى مِثلُها مثل دعوى العولمة، ونهاية التاريخ، و«الأخلاق العالمية» وغيرها – وإن كانت تبدو في ظاهر أمرها كأنها دعوى إلى الاجتماع الإنساني وتوحيده والقضاء على أسباب نزاعاته وصراعاته.. إلَّا أنها، هي نفسَها، دعوةٌ إلى مُصادرة أغلى ما يمتلكُه بنو الإنسانِ وهو: «حرية الاعتقاد» وحرية الإيمان، وحرية الاختيار، وكلُّ ذلك مِمَّا ضمنته الأديان، وأكَّدت عليه في نصوص صريحة واضحة، ثم هي دعوةٌ فيها من أضغاث الأحلام أضعافَ أضعافِ ما فيها من الإدراك الصحيح لحقائق الأمور وطبائعها

[2] Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī, 2167.