Photo: Religious leaders share prayers at Auschwitz-Birkenau on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, credit: Weronika Kuzma for KAICIID

Today, united in a sense of sorrow and determination, we members of the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council jointly remember the unspeakable horrors of the Shoah, when Nazis and their collaborators murdered 6 million Jews. As leading imams and rabbis of Europe, we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day together because we agree that we must never forget the truth of what happened across Europe which started with hate speech and ended in genocide. We want to honour together the Jewish victims and the grief of those who mourn them in spiritual unity, remembering our common Abrahamic roots and engaging together as European citizens and believers in moral solidarity against discrimination.

As Muslim and Jewish leaders, we join hands in the fight against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The Holy Qur’an states: “So remember Me, and I shall remember you. Give thanks unto Me, and disbelieve not in Me” (II: 152) and “O you who believe! Remember God with frequent remembrance” (XXXIII: 41). We shall never forget the horrible acts of the Nazis who betrayed their moral depravity by preventing Jewish citizens and believers practising their faith and living as equals. Such crimes shall never happen again! We want to ensure that the whole breadth of European society- regardless of faith, culture or party- utterly condemns them. We want to honour the memory of the victims, our brothers and sisters and fellow citizens of Europe. In a joint prayer today, we offer our spiritual support.

We must pass the history of the Holocaust to the next generations to keep real the promise of “never again” and to prevent future genocides. Holocaust deniers and minimizers continue to attempt to influence the public discourse, yet the facts of history are not up for question. We all must remain vigilant and speak out against discrimination and intolerance wherever it occurs and keep the memory of the Shoah alive. When hatred goes unchecked, violence and mass atrocities can result in tragedy. We therefore commit our hearts and efforts to friendship, to education, to free discourse, and to hope in humanity.