Spiritual Solidarity in Action

Muslims and Christians united for peace

For the ninth time, religious leaders of the Akkar Governorate, the region of our first Peace Centre in the north of Lebanon, came together with Syrian refugees and our Lebanese friends for the annual Peace Iftar. Muslims and Christians of different sects and convictions broke the fast together in this Holy Month of Ramadan. More than 200 friends from different beliefs and convictions, most of them Syrian refugees from the camps, came together for this main event of the year, renewing their commitment to work together for peace and justice, in solidarity with the most deprived.

The Peace Iftars are the main events of spiritual solidarity every year, alongside the Easter Peace March, celebrated on the occasion of the main Christian feast, and the annual Solidarity Olive Harvest in tradition of the workers’ movement. The majority of the host and refugee population in our area are Sunni Muslim. It is a local tradition that Muslims are inviting their neighbours to the breaking of the fast, in form of a shared meal at sunset, during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The religious leaders of all major communities in our area form the core of the Steering Committee that gives us the major orientations for our work. We submit ourselves to their directions under one condition: that consensus can be found. Background to this rule is the concept of “diapraxis” whereas trust can better be built by practical cooperation than by words alone.

For the first time, the new Maronite Archbishop of Tripoli, Mgr Youssef Soueif, joined the Sunni Mufti of Akkar, Sheikh Zeid Zakariya, and the Orthodox Archbishop, Metropolit Basilius Mansour, for this year’s Peace Iftar, together with other pastors, priests and sheikhs of the Alawite, Sunni, Orthodox, Maronite and Protestant communities. It was a great sign of trust and support that he came all the way from Tripoli to the high Sunni mountains for this occasion.