The ‘Together for Humanity’ vigil in Birmingham on 4 February was prompted by the attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October and the subsequent attacks by Israel on Gaza, which have caused enormous suffering, shock, anger and grief across the world.
In Birmingham, members of Nisa-Nashim, a Jewish-Muslim women’s group, continued to meet despite our different views but it was hard to find a way of responding that brought us together. When we heard about the ‘Together for Humanity’ movement, this offered a way forward.
‘Together for Humanity’ started in November when a group of political, faith and civil society leaders came together in London for a collective moment of mourning for all those suffering in Israel and Palestine and to unite against antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of hatred.
They were joined by thousands of others in a vigil without placards and slogans. Subsequent vigils have been held in London, Manchester and other parts of the country. In December, Nisa-Nashim organised their own vigil. Realising there was a desire for people to come together, they organised a larger event on 4 February during UN World Interfaith Harmony week (1-7 Feb this year), an annual event which has been observed since 2010 in the belief that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace.
Birmingham ‒ a city of diversity
On the afternoon of 4 February, a group of about seventy people, of all faiths and none, assembled for a vigil in Centenary Square. A range of speakers addressed the vigil and each was followed by a minute’s silence which allowed people to reflect on their words.
Steve McCabe, MP for Selly Oak, began by emphasising that Birmingham was a diverse city which had always respected differences. Rabbi Yossi Hambling, of Birmingham Central United Synagogue, spoke powerfully of how the Jewish concept of peace, shalom, meant that we were not complete without each other.
Speakers from the Bahai and Sikh traditions spoke of the importance of peace in their tradition and read beautiful prayers. Bilqees Khawaja spoke movingly of the pain that we all felt for the suffering in Israel and Palestine. She said that we need to pray together for a solution and ask God for guidance and light.
Coming together
Fittingly, Rev Jessica Foster followed this by describing how she helped Jewish and Muslim women to come together to listen and open themselves up to the feelings of each other, despite how difficult and painful it was.
People were then encouraged to turn to someone they did not know and talk about why they were there, which opened up interesting conversations with people who had come to Birmingham from all over the world.
To conclude, Ann Jones led us in a peace song and Peter Rookes, Joint Secretary of Birmingham Council of Faiths, gave us words of hope from his work with young people. He referred to almost 2,000 scouts and guides being awarded the ‘More in common’ badge, based on the theme of welcoming people who are different from themselves. He quoted from the late Jo Cox MP: “We have far more in common than that which divides us.”
Feeling each other’s pain
Nisa-Nashim co-chair Sajda Currah said this about the vigil:
“4 February 2024 standing in the gusty Centenary Square in Birmingham at a vigil for ‘Together for Humanity’ I felt grateful. Thankful that a range of ages, religions, backgrounds were standing alongside each other, with the will to say, we are here and we feel each other’s pain, hurt, anger and we will endeavour to continue to remain alongside each other in this the rich tapestry that is Birmingham.
“Nisa-Nashim remains committed to bringing people together in Birmingham, recognising that we are all human beings and every human life matters.”
Mandy Ross, Nisa-Nashim co-chair, said: “We’re aware we don’t see eye to eye on everything, but it feels all the more important to be standing together across our differences, as Jews and Muslims and people of different faiths, as well as people of no faith.”
Nisa-Nashim co-chair and Birmingham Council of Faiths Joint Secretary Bilqees Khawaja said:
“Despite suffering from physical and emotional pain myself, I attended this vigil to come together to pray for a solution, to pray for peace and justice for all, to feel the pain and grief of all those who are suffering, and to mourn those who have been killed. Peace is a fundamental right of every human being. It is extremely sad to see human beings not being treated with humanity. Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as motivated as those who are. We are all one, children of Adam and Hawwa [Eve], from One God. We have a lot in common, more than we think.”
Each of us brought a candle with us to light. It was beautiful to see how we helped each other to light our candles as the cold gusty wind would blow them out quite quickly. A few candles managed to keep lit until the end – a sign of hope.
