WIHUM to fight hate

The tug of war between religion has gripped the country’s youth with rumours and fake news being bandied around without challenge. Hatred and intolerance have slowly walked into the living rooms of most Indians. The only tool that can combat this is peace and harmony. As the youth of the country needs a fair and free atmosphere for growth. In the midst of all this hate and lies, faith leaders from different religions have joined hands to spread peace and harmony among the youth of the country.

Conceptualised by managing trustee of Mahim dargah and trustee of Haji Ali dargah Suhail Khandwani, the World Interfaith Harmony and Unity Mission (WIHUM) organization has called for engaging the youth in peaceful coexistence. Religious scholars from organisations like Sanghakaya Foundation – a Buddist Peace organization, Archdiocese of Mumbai, Dadar Sikh Gurudwara trust and various Hindu temple trustees along with Sufi Akbar Rabbani, RoshaniShenazz , Kishore Khabiya Jain and ZubaidaKhandwani as individuals have united with WIHUM. Under this umbrella the interfaith religion leaders and experts will promote peace by promoting peace-learning programmes for the youth.

“This WIHUM is a platform for all the religious scholars. Love, compassion, unity and harmony are the core pillars of this body. Withlike-mindedpeople on this platform we want people to understand that humanity is above all religion. The idea is with different experts and leaders to bring positive change in the society.Lot of disturbances are around in the society which deflects the youth. The organization will remain aloof from politics. Underthis organisation WIHUM we would like to train youths to understand humanity. It is the foundation of all religions and that is why different religions leaders have united to bring the change of positive vibes,” said Khandwani at WIHUM’s first press conference at the Mahim Dargah office.

Keeping in mind, the present scenario,thesocio-political atmosphere is getting complicated and the situation is getting worse day by day. Hence, WIHUM has been formed to repair and maintain the fabric of the society.The different religious leaders with WIHUM as peacemakers have plans to start a strong momentum for peace and harmony.

Roshani Shenazz a Zoroastrian member, scholar and spiritual guide explained that the religion doesn’t teach hatred.The foundation of each religion is love , compassion , unity and harmony. This is what we plan to focus on. We want to impart to them the importance of peace and harmony.

For this we have plans like educational programmes. We will conduct workshops and conferences so that the message of peace can be spread to the youth of the society.

Buddhist leader Rev AjahnPrashiRatna Gautam of Sanghakaya Foundation said, “ The violence in the name of religion needs to be eradicated from society. People misunderstand that religions are imparting knowledge to maintain peace and harmony.”

Businessman and peace activist Kishor Jain Khabiya said, “This platform is created to ensure that misguided youth can understand that all religions are the same.The common threat which ties everyone in WIHUM is harmony in the society.To spread peace hardly any platform is available today. Thus to keep humanity intact in the society WIHUM.”

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)