The Jordan Times

AMMAN (JT) – Interfaith specialists and clerics on Tuesday explored different means of fostering dialogue among the followers of the Abrahamic religions.

The symposium, held by the University of Jordan (UJ) in cooperation with the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies, marks World Interfaith Harmony Week, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Proposed by His Majesty King Abdullah and adopted by the UN General Assembly in October, World Interfaith Harmony Week seeks to spread a message of interfaith harmony among followers of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Speakers, including HRH Prince Hassan, underscored the importance of religious harmony in securing peace and dealing with world problems like hunger, poverty and injustice.

They also discussed the common features of the monotheistic religions, Petra reported.

In his address at the event, Prince Hassan said peace and religious harmony go hand-in-hand.

Noting that there are more beliefs and values shared by the faiths than differences among them, he reiterated that interfaith harmony is essential to resolving humanitarian issues. Confronting the problems of poverty, unemployment, hunger, ignorance and injustice in different world countries, he said, requires a collective will that must have interfaith harmony at its core.

Fostering interfaith dialogue also requires reviewing education curricula, facilitating national dialogue and guaranteeing access to information, the Prince said.

Interfaith harmony is an intellectual position as well as a practical philosophy, Mohammad Qudah, dean of the UJ Sharia faculty said. He noted that Islam calls for this kind of harmony, coexistence and justice.

Other speakers, including UJ President Adel Tweisi, Abdul Salam Abbadi, Kamel Abu Jaber and Father Nabil Haddad, echoed the Prince’s remarks, highlighting the role of interfaith solidarity in achieving security and stability.

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