November 22 2004

Two Nigerian religious leaders who were once on opposite sides of the religious conflict are now working together for peace. One lost his arm and the other his two brothers, as a result of the conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 1999.

Imam Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa and the Reverend James Movel Wuye, both from Kaduna in northern Nigeria, are joint directors of the Kaduna Muslim-Christian Mediation Centre.

In one recent project, they brought together pairs of Christian and Muslim youth leaders from 30 of Nigeria's states for a five-day workshop for peace. The 60 participants studied religious texts, aired their grievances against the other faith community, and in the end developed a shared commitment to promote peace between the two religious communities, particularly among young people.

In Kaduna state, the 'shari'ah' riots of 2000 and 'Miss World' riots in 2002 led to more than 2,500 deaths and the destruction of millions of dollars of property. A fragile peace exists today.

The Imam's brothers and his spiritual leader were killed in the violence. The minister had his arm cut off by extremists at the same time as his bodyguard was murdered.

Imam Ashafa said: "Where hate is not transformed it is transferred. I am a fundamentalist – I make no apology for that - but taking extremism into life is wrong and brings tears to so many hearts. The attitude of 'if you are not with me, you are against me', leading to no respect for other cultures or tradition, is a wrong perception."

Rev Wuye added: "I hated Muslims and could kill a Muslim at any time. We are very, very religious and can die for our faith. With this background of hate, we mobilised people to eradicate others. We have programmed young people to hate each other and now we want to de-programme them."

Imam Ashafa was moved to change his hatred for Christians when he heard teaching in his mosque about forgiveness. He then visited Rev Wuye's sick mother in hospital and began the process of working together.

Rev Wuye said: "I held him responsible for the loss of my hand and bodyguard and I never forgave him. I felt fear – I was bonded before. At one time, I was tempted to take a pillow and suffocate him. Then during a meeting, I was told 'You must go with love'. I was blinded by hate as many back home are, but now with all my heart, mind, soul and strength I wanted to work with him. That was the start of my journey."

Imam Ashafa said: "There is power in your ability to use faith. It is the strongest nuclear weapon. You can use religion and spirituality to reconstruct the world. The UN should take religious leaders to show them how to make peace in the world. Religion is a power to save the world. We have to go without hate in our hearts against any human being. People hide under the cover of religion to commit atrocities – they use the power of negativity, but there is a lot of positivity within the spiritual medium to make the world a better place.

"We must put our hearts together to make sure Nigeria is peaceful. Muslims and Christians must work together – you can see the evil that's happening around the world – we need to keep Nigeria in peace."

Baroness Caroline Cox, President of CSW, chaired a panel to summarise recommendations from the conference. She said: "Peace and freedom are indivisible. We can't have peace if people aren't living in freedom. We have a duty to use our freedom on behalf of those living in conflict. You can't have reconciliation and reconstruction without keeping them in parallel. You also have to work at a local level."

The meeting was hosted in Kennington, south London, by the Nigeria Reconciliation Group (NIREG), a London-based NGO that seeks to mobilise Nigerians in the UK to engage in addressing the challenging issues currently facing the country.

At the event, Anglican Nigerian Chaplain, The Reverend Canon Ben Enwuchola said: "When I first met my Muslim brother it was a struggle for me, but when my spirit connected with his it felt right. The two of you are hope for our country tomorrow. You give us hope for the religious and tribal conflict in Nigeria and a recipe for the whole world."

Afterwards, he said: "The conference was organised to challenge the Nigerian diaspora to take conflict resolution seriously as a necessary tool in building a better Nigeria. Since independence, Nigerian society has been dogged with various ethno-religious crises so the establishment of peace becomes very important if we are to go forward."

CSW is a human rights charity working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs. We also promote religious liberty for all.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

In 1999 the two keynote speakers co-authored 'The Pastor and the Imam: Responding to conflict', which describes their experiences and illustrates Biblical and Qur'anic approaches to peace.