The Imam and the Pastor

On October 29th , Qurtuba Institute hosted a dinner at ADAMS for two Nigerian interfaith icons, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye of the film The Imam and the Pastor (2006). Over 120 guests attended to hear the story of how two religious figures engaged as militia leaders in a nation fraught with tribal and religious violence finally ceased a cycle of violence to overcome hatred through reconciliation and respect for each other’s right to exist (click here for their story).

The documentary The Imam and the Pastor was played at the beginning of the dinner. Qurtuba’s Shad Imam made welcoming statements and Zubaid Kazmi moderated a panel discussion in which the Pastor and the Imam spoke of their experiences and answered questions from attending guests. Accompanying Ashafa and Wuye to ADAMS was Alan Channer, co-producer of The Imam and the Pastor. Channer spoke of the worldwide launch of a sequel film called An African Answer, which features new multimedia training resources for practitioners of Conflict Resolution.

Imam Mohamed Magid sat alongside the Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye as they related their stories and took questions. He thanked both leaders for coming to ADAMS at the invitation of Qurtuba and highlighted the essential example of this Nigerian team for bringing global peace and understanding between people.

See Pictures

Background

More than one thousand people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes, following disputed elections in Kenya at the end of 2007. Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye – former militia leaders turned peace-makers from Nigeria – were invited to mediate in the worst- affected district. An African Answer depicts their dramatic bid to bring healing and reconciliation after death and destruction.

The film depicts the dynamics of an effective, African approach to conflict resolution between rival ethnic groups. It demonstrates that durable, peaceful coexistence between communities formerly in conflict is feasible in Kenya and beyond.

Above all, the film gives hope that grassroots communities can reject violence and rebuild peace and prosperity.

Imam Muhammad Ashafa & Pastor James Wuye, Nigeria

The son of an Islamic scholar from a long line of Muslim clerics dating back thirteen generations, Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa grew up in a conservative family that espoused Islamic socio-cultural values and held deep suspicion for all things Western and Christian. As a young man and the eldest son, he followed the family vocation and became an Imam. To promote his family tradition of Islamic custodianship, Ashafa joined a fanatical Islamic group committed to completely Islamizing the north of Nigeria and chasing away all non-Muslims from the region. Ashafa became the leader of this militant group and also the Secretary General of the Muslim Youth Councils. The Muslim Youth Councils incited great violence in northern Nigera, which resulted in the Christians creating their own counter organization, the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria, led by Pastor Wuye.

Born in Kaduna State, Pastor James Movel Wuye, an Assemblies of God Pastor, was the son of a soldier who served in the Biafran War. From a young age, Wuye was fascinated by battle and war games. In the 1980s and 1990s he was involved in militant Christian activities and served as Secretary General of the Kaduna State chapter of the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria, an umbrella organization for all Christian groups in Nigeria, for 8 years. He recounts that his “hatred for the Muslims had no limits”. He hated seeing people being intimidated and abused, so when Muslims were blamed for inciting a violent conflict in Kaduna, he immediately volunteered to lead a reprisal attack. He lost his right arm during one of the battles against Ashafa’s militant group in Kaduna; increasing his vengeance and deep hatred for Muslims in general and Ashafa in particular.

Ashafa also experienced loss at the hands of Pastor Wuye. In one of the violent clashes between Muslim Youth Councils and Youth Christian Association of Nigeria, two cousins and Ashafa’s spiritual mentor died whilst fighting Pastor Wuye’s Christian group. For years, both Ashafa and Wuye vowed to avenge the deaths and injuries of their loved ones by killing each other. However, a chance meeting in 1995 brought the two clerics together and through intermediaries and months of soul searching, both leaders decided to lay down their arms and work together to end the destructive violence plaguing their country. This chance meeting and Imam’s extension of the olive branch to Wuye led to the formation of the Interfaith Mediation Center of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Forum, which is headquartered in Kaduna.

Ashafa and Wuye’s collective work in peace building began in 1997. Their work has earned them numerous accolades including the Peace Activist Award of the Tanenbaum Center of Interreligious Understanding, New York; Honorary Doctorate degrees from Glasgow University, UK, and Kolkata, India; a Heroes of Peace Award from Burundi; the Search for Common Ground on Interfaith Cooperation Award, Washington DC, USA; the Bremen Peace Award from the Threshold Foundation on interreligious understanding, Germany and the inaugural Fondation Chirac award for Conflict Prevention, presented to them by former President Jacques Chirac at the Sorbonne in Paris.

***For all Media and Press inquiries please contact Sarah Sayeed atsarah.sayeed@adamscenter.us (202 680 2269) or Rizwan Jaka (rojpm@yahoo.com) for further assistance.