World Interfaith Harmony Week


World Interfaith Harmony Week is a UN resolution for a worldwide week of interfaith harmony proposed in 2010 by King Abdullah II and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan. The World Interfaith Harmony Week falls in the first week of February of every year and aims to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith.

Introduction

On September 23, 2010, King Abdullah II of Jordan proposed a World Interfaith Harmony Week at the Plenary Session of the 65th United Nations General Assembly in New York City. In the speech King Abdullah said:
On October 20, 2010, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, Special Advisor and Personal Envoy to the King Abdullah II and author of the resolution, presented the proposal for a World Interfaith Harmony Week before the UN General Assembly in New York where it was adopted unanimously.
The basis for the World Interfaith Harmony Week is the A Common Word Initiative which was authored by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad and released in 2007. The A Common Word Initiative and the World Interfaith Harmony Week stem from the idea that humanity is bound together by the two shared commandments of 'Love of God and Love of the Neighbor' or 'Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbor'.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Prince Ghazi of Jordan stated that the aim of the Interfaith Harmony Week would be fulfilled by:
The draft resolution A/65/L5 titled the World Interfaith Harmony Week put forth by Jordan was sponsored by 29 co-sponsors - Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Liberia, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Oman, Paraguay, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Yemen.

Text of the Resolution

The UN resolution on the World Interfaith Harmony Week states:
  1. Reaffirms that mutual understanding and inter-religious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace.
  2. Proclaims the first week of February of every year the World Interfaith Harmony Week between all religions, faiths and beliefs.
  3. Encourages all States to support, on a voluntary basis, the spread of the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship during that week based on Love of God and Love of the Neighbour, or based on Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbour, each according to their own religious traditions or convictions.
  4. Requests the secretary general to keep the General Assembly informed of the implementation of the present resolution.

    Annual Events and Prizes

Organisation from around the world are invited to set up events promoting interfaith harmony, with the added incentive of 3 annual prizes sponsored by the King of Jordan, in the amount of $25000, $15000 and $5000 with a corresponding gold, silver and bronze model. The prize, personally presented by the King at a ceremony in Amman, is awarded based on a decision of a jury composed, among other personalities, of Princess Areej Ghazi and Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem.
Since 2013, the winners have been:
In February 2015, British singer-songwriter and composer Sami Yusuf released "The Gift of Love", he called an "Interfaith anthem" to coincide with World Interfaith Harmony Week. The music video was filmed in Jordan and in holy sites in Jerusalem.