Many organisations in the United Kingdom celebrated UN World Interfaith Harmony Week on 6th and 7th of February. 2012. World Interfaith Week was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in October 2010, to be celebrated in the first week of February every year.
Pioneered by His Majesty King Abdullah II the week seeks to spread the message of harmony and tolerance among the followers of all the world's religions, faiths and beliefs by promoting the common basis of "Love of God and Love of the Neighbour."
"The objectives behind the World Interfaith Harmony Week, in the words of the author of the resolution, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, are: To Harness and utilise the collective might of the world's second-largest infrastructure "places of worship" specifically for peace and harmony in the world.
The Islamic Cultural Centre, London and Exhibition Islam jointly an organised Islamic Cultural Exhibition as part of the Islamic Cultural Centre & The London Central Mosque. The event was attended by members of Parliament, including Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Lord Sheikh of Cornhill, Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn, Ambassadors of the Muslim countries, representatives of embassies and members of different interfaith organisations.
Lord Sheikh of Cornhill
Lord Sheikh mentioned in his speech, "In one of my speeches in the House of Lords recently I said: "There was a survey published in the Sunday Times a few weeks ago which found that Muslims are more patriotic than the rest of the population. This shows Muslims have gone a long way towards integrating with society and shows Muslims in a different light compared with what is being portrayed in the media. Islam is a religion of peace and this philosophy is shown visually in my coat of arms."
In regard to suicide bombings, Lord Shaikh said Islam forbids suicide. In the holy Koran it is written that,
"whoever kills a human being ... it as though he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves a human life, it is as though he saved all mankind".
This saying is similar to what is written in the Talmud, where it is written,
"if you save one life, it is as if you have saved the world"."
Lord Sheikh also said, "I believe that there are more similarities than differences between people and we should highlight the similarities in order to establish closer links between communities."
He added that, "Mutual understanding, respect, and inter-faith dialogue are essential if we are all to coexist peacefully. Islam teaches us to celebrate the difference and diversity which God has purposefully created in our world."
Lord Ahmad of Rotherham
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham spoke about interfaith dialogue. He said, "It is important that the Islamic Cultural Centre is providing platform for dialogue but the real dialogue started 1400 years ago by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Lord Ahmed mentioned, "Even long before revelation, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made a society Halful Fazul. The Prophet also entered into agreement with the Jewish community and people of other faiths or no faith.
Lord Ahmed also mentioned about Caliph Omar. He said, when Caliph Omar (may Allah be please with him) conquered Jerusalem he allowed the Jewish community to return to Jerusalem after 300 years.
Muslim Council of Britain
The Interfaith Relations Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) also organised an event under the heading "Building Trust, Peace & Harmony through Interfaith Relations", on Monday, the 6th of February, 2012 at the House of Lords, hosted by Lord Sheikh of Cornhill. Lord Sheikh who chaired the event, welcomed the audiences including the Guest of Honour Princess Badiya El-Hassan of Jordan who presented a message on behalf of her father, HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Guest Speakers at the event were HE Mazen Homoud, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in London and Professor Mohamed El-Gomati, President, Foundation for Science, Technology & Civilization. Mr. Abdul Rahman Shaibani, the deputy head of the Saudi Embassy in London.
Lord Sheikh
Lord Sheikh said, "It gives me great pleasure to host and speak at an event which seeks to break barriers and build bridges between our communities. Events like this gathering play an important role in affirming and celebrating Britain's status as a diverse and multicultural society."
HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in his message said, "I had the experience of developing an understanding which is basically loosely defined as one emphasizing the association between theology and practicality, that is to say, we accept the belief of all and at the same time we work together beginning with commonality and in that sense let us take into account the wisdom of the illumination tradition of Asia and the enlightenment tradition of the Europe."
While speaking about education, Prince Hassan said, "we tend to be focused on parochial form of education, wherever we are and this is something which I think we need in term of best practice to recognise that Europe has pioneer programme which has culminated today" and indeed in terms of human understanding based on comprehension.
Speaking about Arab Spring, Prince Hassan said, "The Arab spring is not spring against anybody; it is a spring that called for its inception for reform based on values and human dignity. That is my understanding, of course things went badly wrong in different parts of our region; but that does not mean that we should not continue to accept our responsibility for our works and for our deeds."
Princess Badiya El-Hassan of Jordan said, "We should take care of each other; if we do it together, we can build trust, peace and better life for all."
Dr. Harriet Crabtree, Director, Interfaith network for the UK, spoke about the importance of religion. She said religion can be a contributor. She said we have to work together to bring about harmony.
