Erstellt am: 22. 3. 2014 - 12:09 Uhr

The Imam and the Pastor

A tale of bloody conflict, reconciliation, and peace making

This week's Reality Check Special tells a tale of religious peace-building and reconciliation in Nigeria. It’s a vast and diverse country with a wealth of oil, but also widespread corruption and poor governance. Many Nigerians feel their needs are not being met and with so many unaddressed grievances, the country is plagued by violence which often pits one religion against another.

However, despite long standing mistrust between Muslims and Christians, in 1995, an Imam and a Pastor teamed up to sow the seeds of peace. The two men were deadly enemies, leaders of battling militias, but they were persuaded to meet and talk, and they discovered forgiveness.

Now Imam Dr. Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa and Pastor Dr. James Movel Wuye work together to end the violent clashes between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria through the Interfaith Mediation Centre.

EPA/Boris Roessler

Imam Dr. Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa and Pastor Dr. James Movel Wuye won the Hesse Peace Prize in 2013

The Imam

Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa grew up with a deep suspicion for all things Western and Christian.

Born into a conservative Islamic family, the son of an Islamic scholar from a long line of Muslim clerics, Ashafa became the leader of a fanatical Islamic group, the Islamic Youth Councils. They were committed to Islamizing the north of Nigeria and driving non-Muslims from the region.

The pastor

The Christians created their own counter organization, led by Pastor James Wuye, the son of a soldier who served in the Biafran War.

creative commons

Nigeria has hundreds of armed militias, some tribal, some religious, some political

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. He says his “hatred for the Muslims had no limits”.

The battles and the reconciliation

The Pastor lost his right arm during one of the battles against Ashafa’s militant group in Kaduna, and two of Ashafa's cousins and his spiritual mentor died while fighting Pastor Wuye’s Christian group. However, a chance meeting in 1995 brought the two together, and they realized that only they could stop the bloodshed.

Forgiveness took time, but eventually they came together to promote peaceful coexistence through inter-faith cooperation and community education.

They have designed an early-warning mechanism to help identify inflammatory situations and reduce tensions, and this model has spread beyond Nigeria to Burundi, Northern Ghana, and Kenya.

The Imam and the Pastor have received numerous awards, including the first Fondation Chirac Conflict Resolution Prize, the Hessian Peace Prize granted by the Albert Osswald Foundation, and the Interfaith Cooperation Award by Search for Common Ground.

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