February 1-7- World Interfaith Harmony Week

January 30, 2022

⏰ 2/5 Minutes

Every year, the first week of February is celebrated as World Interfaith Harmony Week by the United Nations. It was first proposed in 2010 by HM King Abdullah of Jordan. The celebration of this event spreads the message of mutual respect, love, and tolerance among the followers of all the world’s religions, faiths, and beliefs. This week is especially important to celebrate in today’s time as interfaith harmony is central and essential to take the human race forward.

Recognizing the imperative need for dialogue among different faiths and religions in enhancing mutual understanding, harmony, and cooperation among people, the General Assembly adopted the resolution 64/81 of 7 December 2009 on the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation for peace and 64/164 of 18 December 2009 on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief.

The objectives behind the World Interfaith Harmony Week, in the words of the author of the resolution, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, are:

1. To coordinate and unite the efforts of all the interfaith groups doing positive work with one focused theme at one specific time annually, thereby increasing their collective momentum and eliminating redundancy.

2. To harness and utilize the collective might of the world’s second-largest infrastructure (that of places of worship — the largest being that of education) specifically for peace and harmony in the world: inserting, as it were, the right “software” into the world’s religious “hardware.”

3. To permanently and regularly encourage the silent majority of preachers to declare themselves for peace and harmony and provide a ready-made vehicle for them to do so. Moreover, suppose preachers and teachers commit themselves on the record once a year to peace and harmony. In that case, when the next inter-religious crisis or provocation occurs, they cannot relapse into parochial fear and mistrust and will be more likely to resist the winds of popular demagoguery.

2022 Meeting

Please join the virtual meeting of faith and spiritual leaders and representatives of Member States, sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Sierra Leone, Canada, and Morocco to the United Nations.

The title of the event: Faith and spiritual leadership to combat stigma and conflict during pandemic recovery

Time and date: 3 February 2022, 3:00 pm (New York time)

Register via https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIqduuvqTsvGNapcUOQPx3UbQ-mWSRiRZCA

Related Observances

To read more, please see

https://www.un.org/en/observances/interfaith-harmony-week https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/

https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/UN-declaration-65-5-EN.pdf