The award was established in February 2019 to mark the historic meeting between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Professor Ahmed Al-Tayeb, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the two religious leaders signed the historic Document on Human Fraternity — under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and patron of human fraternity — and became the first honorary recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.