1st Traditional Hindu Temple in Middle East Promotes Interfaith Tolerance

For the first time in the 52-year history of the Muslim nation, a traditional Hindu temple has been inaugurated in the United Arab Emirates, the realization of seven years of planning between India and the Emirati government and a boon for many of the UAE’s 3.5 million Indian expatriates. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE minister of tolerance and coexistence, joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the presiding leader of the Hindu denomination BAPS, Mahant Swami Maharaj, in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (Feb. 14) for a ceremony in which the pran, or energy of the Divine, was consecrated inside the murti, or idol, that stands in the new temple.