World Interfaith Harmony Week unites people worldwide

Every year, World Interfaith Harmony Week is commemorated during the first week of February to encourage harmony among all people of the world, regardless of their religion and faith.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II made the initial suggestion for the World Interfaith Harmony Week before the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2010. The UN unanimously approved it on October 20, 2010. The Common Word initiative's groundbreaking work serves as the foundation for World Interfaith Harmony Week. This project, which got its start in 2007, urged Muslim and Christian leaders to have a discourse based on two core religious “commandments”—love of God and love of neighbor—while maintaining their own religious beliefs, according to the Week’s website. 

“Love of the good” was then added to the two commandments, from which everyone learns goodwill and the strength of kindness, generosity, and healing. This week, religious leaders from different religions get together to talk about how religion may improve believers' lives and the wider world. The charitable endeavors of religious organizations are also highlighted during World Interfaith Harmony Week. It inspires others to carry out tasks or become more active members of their communities, according to National Today.

National Today reported that noble events like World Interfaith Harmony Week are essential in light of escalating religious tensions. This observation's main objective is to show how readily differences can be overcome by shared values of love, faith, and kindness. It urges people to work to create a magnificent society where faith unites and religion is not used as a tool of oppression if people have patience and humility.

The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) mentioned that each religion needs intelligent individuals who can evaluate its sacred texts and traditions and pinpoint the elements that both uphold its distinctiveness and benefit all of mankind. In order to promote mutual understanding, tolerance, and collaboration among people of all faiths for the sake of our communities and world peace, UPF calls on people of faith to worship the Divine indwelling in such a way.

According to the United Nations, this year will discuss future pandemics and natural catastrophes, which are expected to persist, having a negative effect on peoples' health and wellbeing. If they are not urgently addressed, these stressors will continue to highlight the injustices that already exist. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged everyone's perceptions of life on earth and caused obstacles that had never been seen before. 

In 2022, the Week was observed via a virtual gathering, focusing on "Faith and spiritual leadership to combat stigma and conflict during pandemic recovery.” 
In 2019, the World Interfaith Harmony Week's theme was “Sustainable Development through Interfaith Harmony.” In 2016, the UN introduced the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and it was also the year when the Ebola pandemic, which killed more than 11,000 people, was coming to an end. The theme of the 2016 World Interfaith Harmony Week was “Building Bridges across Boundaries.” 

It is worth mentioning that Christianity is the most popular religion so far. There are over 2.5 billion active Christians worldwide. The second-largest religion is Islam, whose followers reach 2 billion people. Atheism is also a belief, with an estimated 1.2 billion people not believing in a deity. The least popular religion is Rastafarianism, which is practiced by 600,000 people, according to National Today.