Our festival ambassador Haikal Adzmir reflects on Edinburgh Interfaith Association’s AGM and key note lecture during Scottish Interfaith Week:
On the 28th of October, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend EIFA’s (Edinburgh Interfaith Association) Annual General Meeting held in the City Chambers of Edinburgh. One of the highlights of the meeting was a keynote speech by Adrian Cristea from Dublin City Interfaith Forum who is also pursuing a PHD focused on understanding the impact of interfaith work. Here were a few important lessons and insights I have taken from his work:
Seeds take time: Adrian compares interfaith work as akin to growing plants. They take patience and consistent effort to bear fruit. He clearly stresses on the importance of youth, who not only take on the mantle left by the previous generation, but also revitalise the landscape of interfaith dialogue as it ventures into a new era.
Hope and action: Neither one is sufficient to inspire change. Rather, both must work hand in hand to create impact. One can start by envisioning a future and implementing actionable steps towards that vision. Communities who work together towards a shared vision are capable of advancing further than one person can.
There is no way to Peace. Peace is the Way: An important distinction to make as people often confuse Peace as an End itself. Nor is it a means to an end. It is the continuous path one partakes in the face of conflict and violence. He stresses the importance of standing up to hate and discrimination through building bridges between communities.
We must be the change we wish to see in the world: Polarising narratives and far-right discourse have made their way into mainstream discourse and seek to divide peoples amongst themselves. Interfaith dialogue plays an important role in questioning these narratives, deconstructing their ideas and putting forth alternatives. Interfaith dialogue serves as a platform for people of different faiths (or none) to come together and get to know one another. Everyone who is participating in this platform is already taking the first step: to be the change they wish to see in the world.
Throughout the AGM, I was also able to witness the change of the guard as new members get inducted into the organisation whilst the old guard passes on the baton. Furthermore, I was also able to get an overview of all the activities that EIFA has done throughout the year. This event ultimately gave me excitement on the future that interfaith dialogue can bring.
About our ambassador
Haikal Adzmir is a member of the National Interfaith Youth Advisory Board and kindly offered to be an ambassador for Scottish Interfaith Week. A recent graduate, he is also currently working as a research assistant focused on religious texts and interfaith work.
