By Jack Krayenhoff

Pastor James Wuye (left) and imam Muhammad Ashfa.

He is referring to violence which broke out in 1987 in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna, where about half the population is Christian, and the other half Muslim.

Imam Muhammad Ashafa felt just the same about Wuye and the Christians. He had lost his revered mentor in the conflict, and two cousins. He and Wuye actually tried to get each other killed. Now they are co-workers for peace and reconciliation; their story is told in a DVD titled The Imam and the Pastor. 

In late January, the pair appeared at Missions Fest Vancouver; and they spoke in Victoria in early February. The driving force behind the initiative was Paul Ndukwe of Link International Ministries, in partnership with Initiatives of Change – Canada.

What was the cause of the murderous conflict in Nigeria?

Ashafa explains that, although Christians and Muslims had once lived together in peace, the seeds of hate were sown by the British rulers in 1903 – when they dismantled the Muslim traditional system in the northern part of the country, and replaced it with their own government. In the process, they also abolished Arabic as the official language, putting English in its place. This effectively marginalized the Muslims.

On the other hand, Wuye points out, the Nigerian military is dominated by the Muslims, and the Kaduna State government in 1999 indicated its intention to introduce sharia law. Both sides felt economically discriminated against by the other.

Finally, though Nigeria has great wealth in oil and other natural resources, it does not ‘trickle down’ to the population as a whole. Poverty is severe, and it leads to unrest. In all this potential for strife, religion is used to mobilize people and justify violence – both by Christians and Muslims.

Back to the imam and the pastor: what brought them together?

In 1995, the government of Kaduna organized a meeting to implement state-wide polio immunization. Ashafa and Wuye were invited as religious leaders, to explain the program to their congregations. An official challenged them to get together, in order to make peace in Kaduna.

“That’s where the journey started,” Wuye remembers.

Starting from a basis of hatred and profound mutual distrust, it was a slow and difficult process; but a breakthrough came through Ashafa, as he read his Qur’an. Though it permits retaliation in kind, the Muslim holy book also says it is better to forgive.

This caused the imam to reconsider his attitude; and when Wuye’s mother was sick in hospital, Ashafa came to visit her. This profoundly affected the pastor, and helped him begin to trust his old arch-enemy.

 Over time, they have built a relationship which Wuye says resembles a marriage: “There are stresses; but we can’t split up – for our relationship is a demonstration of our message. We need each other to achieve our common goal.”

How has this affected their faith? Did they have to compromise, spiritually?

“Not at all,” says Wuye. “We are not preaching ‘Chrislam.’ Ashafa still wants to Islamize the world; and I still preach Jesus crucified, resurrected and glorified. But we respect one another.”

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But how do they feel about the teaching of each other’s scriptures? Do they find a basis for cooperation there? Ashafa says, “The moral teaching of each is 100 percent the same.”

But are some critics right in contending that the Qur’an promotes violence?

“Terrorists are a minority among minorities,” responds the imam. “The vast silent majority of Muslims are peaceful people. And don’t forget – Japanese kamikaze pilots did suicide missions, the IRA in Ireland set off bombs long before the Islamic extremists did.

“The terrorists have hijacked religion for political purposes. Islam is a life-saving religion; it is opposed to violence in every sense of the word.”

Still, do not Islamist terrorists base their actions on the Qur’an?

Wuye responds: “In both the Bible and the Qur’an, there are passages that are ambiguous and can be used to justify violence.”

So, what have the imam and the pastor actually accomplished? The answer is: a great deal.

Their crowning achievement is the Kaduna Peace Declaration of 2002, signed by leading representatives of both faiths, and endorsed by the government.

The agreement articulates a common vision to put in place effective ways to bring about long-term peaceful coexistence between Muslim and Christian communities.

It has helped to calm volatile situations. In places where thousands were killed and tens of thousands fled from their homes, peace has returned and the exiles have come back.  

Where conflict erupts or threatens to erupt, Wuye and Ashafa are often invited to intervene – or they intervene on their own initiative. Their approach has been proven so much better than that of the central government, which has treated the fighting merely as a question of law and order, and brought in the soldiers.

The two clerics have started peace building and peer mediation programs at universities; conflict resolution training in schools; a program called ‘Budget Tracking,’ which brings people face to face with their political leaders; and trauma counselling for women who are victims of abuse in ethnic and religious conflicts.

 To achieve all this, they had to attract other workers – especially as they expanded their mission beyond Kaduna State to other parts of Nigeria.

Their headquarters is in the city of Kaduna, with satellite offices in other strategic places, where their friends keep an ear to the ground and detect early signs of trouble – often before the government does. Then, teams trained by them will go to work to mediate.

“We are replicating ourselves,” says Ashafa.  

The imam and the pastor are setting their sights beyond Nigeria, where religious conflict causes trouble. Recently, they were invited by the Inter-religious Council in Sudan, with the approval of the Sudan government.

They want to make their work better known, and hope to raise money for their great dream: building an International Interfaith Peace Centre south of Kaduna. They have the land, but need $2,500,000 for the buildings.

“There,” Wuye concludes, “people from any country can come and learn our approach to conflict mediation.”

For information on The Imam and the Pastor: www.fltfilms.org.uk/imam.html.

March 2008