Church and Monastery of Sir Bani Yas
Sir Bani Yas Island · Church of the East
- Locality
- Sir Bani Yas Island
- Tradition
- Church of the East
- Type of place
- HISTORIC RELIGIOUS SITE
- Coordinates
- 24.32354° N, 52.63683° E
- Identity
- Matched to a public listing
A brief history
Archaeologists found this monastery on Sir Bani Yas island in 1992, and it is the clearest evidence that Christianity was practised in what is now the United Arab Emirates before Islam. The island belonged to Beth Qatraye, the Syriac name for the Christian region along the Gulf, and the community is believed to have been of the Church of the East. It did not end with the arrival of Islam: the monks stayed on for at least another century. The Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey found the site, and Peter Hellyer directed the excavations from 2009.
An interesting detail
The Gulf had a Christian region with a name of its own: Beth Qatraye, Syriac for the house of the Qataris. The community here outlasted the arrival of Islam by at least a century.