Voices for fraternity

Dear friends:

4 February 2021 is the first time worldwide that we celebrate the International Day of Human Fraternity, a very important date for the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance (FICRT).

Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Azhar signed the Document on Human Fraternity, for World Peace and Common Coexistence in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 4 February 2019. Two major religious leaders joined their voices to call the world to tolerance, coexistence and brotherhood, and to emphasise that religions must work together to achieve these goals for world peace. So that this date would never be forgotten, and at the request of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the United Nations decided in December 2020 that 4 February should be celebrated as World Human Brotherhood Day.

We at the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance, which in Spain works for human fraternity through cultural creation, intellectual reflection, collaboration with civil society and, in these particularly complex times, solidarity, would especially like to remember this day. Fraternity is built by dreaming together of a better society, but also by being close to the most vulnerable people in our society. To be fraternal is to think and create a better tomorrow based on the promise of shared brotherhood, as we remember on 14 May 2020, the day on which the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance took up the invitation of the High Committee of Human Fraternity and brought together representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Islam to commemorate the universal value of prayer.

This February 4th will be the first time that we will celebrate Human Brotherhood Day worldwide, based on the memory of the meeting of religious leaders in Abu Dhabi. However, building a more fraternal and tolerant society requires a daily commitment. At the Foundation for Islamic Culture we work every day in favour of fraternity and tolerance.

During this year 2021, and through cultural initiatives, academic events, activities for society as a whole and solidarity action programmes, we will continue to reflect and think about fraternity and, above all, we will continue to promote it with all the institutions that wish to collaborate with us, as well as with Spanish society as a whole.

Happy International Human Fraternity Day.