Updated 16 March 2010
“With the tragedy of Imam Husayn emerged the victory for humanity”
To preserve his great legacy, on 23 of January 2010 the Voice of al-Husayn (VOAH) in collaboration with the KSIMC Birmingham and the Al-Mahdi Institute; conducted a peaceful procession at Victoria Square in Birmingham town centre. This event was entitled United in Humanity, and was organised by the youth of the Birmingham jamaat, who were ambitious to hold an occasion which was able to highlight the important connection between Imam al-Husayn, humanity and interfaith relations.
In essence, the primary objective of United in Humanity was to propagate the humanitarian message and values of Imam al-Husayn to a wider population. This was achieved by featuring prominent individuals from various different communities, who gave remarkable speeches on Imam al-Husayn and his influence on humanity. The list of speakers included Reverend Toby Howarth from the Anglican Church, Reverend Ray Gaston from the Methodist Church, Dr. David Earle who is the Vice President of the Universal Peace Federation, Brian Davies from the Catholic Church, Yann Lovelock from Birmingham’s Buddhist community, Sheikh Mahmood Dhalla from the Shi’i community and Sheikh Arif Abdul Hussein from the Al-Mahdi institute.
By featuring these distinguished speakers from different communities, VOAH was able to reflect the moral character and humanitarian values upheld by Imam al-Husayn, to all human beings irrespective of their faith, gender or background.
This notion was also strongly represented in the leaflets that were produced and distributed by VOAH amongst the public. For instance, a passage from the leaflet read “This peaceful procession is a symbolic gesture of support to the efforts of those inspirational human beings who have held the torch of humanity... al-Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, is the culminating glory of this great human tradition promoted by Krishna, Buddha, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Nanak and others”. In total, a remarkable 3500 leaflets were distributed to the wider community by the team of VOAH propagators.
As a gesture to help humanity, VOAH in collaboration with the National Blood Service (NBS), gave an opportunity to participants of the processsion to register as donors of much needed blood. As stated by Theo Clark from the NBS at the start of the event: “One pint of blood can save up to three lives”. This provided individuals with a chance to make a difference to the livelihoods of fellow human beings. The initiative proved to be very successful, and Theo quoted: “Many thanks for having us along on the weekend. I've counted the forms and we have had 111 recruits for the day, which is an excellent result!”
Alongside the blood donation initiative, VOAH also arranged for a continuous distribution of water bottles for participators throughout the course of the day. In total, VOAH’s propagators handed out 1380 bottles of water. The symbolic gesture of donating blood and providing water reflected the actuality of the time when Imam al-Husayn gave his blood and remained thirsty in order to prevent humanitarian values such as justice and freedom from being oppressed, and these are values which are common to all human beings.
All in all, the peaceful march organised by VOAH proved to be very successful, and with the help of Hidayat TV, it has been broadcasted in different parts of the UK. Furthermore, VOAH has received a number of positive comments from a range of different people, who all greatly appreciated United in Humanity. Here are some of the comments received:-
Erik Pearse (Wolverhampton Inter-Faith Council): “I just want to congratulate VOAH on a wonderful event on Saturday - beautifully organized and so positive and full of good will - a real tribute to Imam al-Husayn and his followers, and a powerful image of a compassionate and open-hearted Islam. Thank you for inviting us.”
Toney Cole (West Midlands Police): “Really well organized event and great bunch of people...well done to all of you.”
Jenny Smith (non-Muslim English woman): "I have had a Qur'an sitting on my shelf over 20 years and I have never bothered to open it. However, after seeing this march today I assure you that I will go home and read it”.
Member of the BNP: "If this is how you understand Islam then we like you and have no objections with you staying in this country”.
Cecilia-Natalia (Orthodox Catholic from Europe): “I was walking through Birmingham on 23.January when I was approached by a girl from the Voice of al-Husayn. I am just emailing you to thank you all for your friendliness towards me, something which I don't normally experience in Birmingham!”
Click here to view a video of the event.
For more information on this event and further events please visit www.voah.co.uk