Nicosia, NU Online
After years of animosity and fighting, imam Muhammad Ashafa and pastor James Wuye are cooperating to promote peace and tolerance in Africa’s most populous country.
"Where we see conflict or indicators that there could be conflict we go," Wuye told Reuters on Tuesday, November 18.<>
"We engage in interreligious activities, trying to understand the conflict from each group and bring them together."
That was not always the case for the two religious leaders, currently attending a Cyprus-based avenue for boosting inter-faith dialogue.
They were once frontline commanders of rival armed militias.
"In the past I engaged young men and trained them to hate Muslims," recalled Wuye, who led Christian youth militias before becoming a pastor.
"I lost my hand in a fight in 1992 with Muhammad's boys. But then I realized that I could not preach Jesus Christ and hate the Muslims," he added.
The two laid down their arms in 1995 after meeting in a gathering of community leaders to shore up a government-sponsored child immunization program.
Soon after, Ashafa, who lost family and a spiritual mentor in Christian attacks, listened to a mosque sermon that forgiving one's enemies is a central tenet of Islam.
"You cannot be a true Muslim when you have an unforgiving spirit in you, you cannot be a true Muslim without compassion, and I tried to be a good Muslim," said Ashafa.
For Pastor Wuye the journey to trust was longer — about three years by his reckoning.
The two later set up an interfaith center in the religiously divided city of Kaduna in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.
They have since become close friends and are using their grassroots contacts to help reconciliation.
Hijacked Religion
The warriors-turned-peacemakers distance faiths from stoking conflicts, accusing some people of hijacking religion.
"Religion has the ability to sustain civilizations, for protecting the world," insists imam Ashafa.
"Religion is not the problem, it is those that manipulate religion that cause the problem," agrees Wuye.
Nigeria, one of the world's most religiously committed nations, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.
Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria's 133 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.
But there have been outbreaks of communal tension.
Imam Ashafa and pastor Wuye now believe that the best way to eliminate an enemy is to make that person a friend, and to accept, not tolerate, differences.
"It's the different colors which make a rainbow a rainbow," says Ashafa.
"We may have common aspirations, but we have different mediums. We want a salad bowl, not a melting pot."
They have traveled to other parts of the world with their peace message.
"Religious leaders in the world can make a difference," says Wuye. (dar)
After years of animosity and fighting, imam Muhammad Ashafa and pastor James Wuye are cooperating to promote peace and tolerance in Africa’s most populous country.
"Where we see conflict or indicators that there could be conflict we go," Wuye told Reuters on Tuesday, November 18.<>
"We engage in interreligious activities, trying to understand the conflict from each group and bring them together."
That was not always the case for the two religious leaders, currently attending a Cyprus-based avenue for boosting inter-faith dialogue.
They were once frontline commanders of rival armed militias.
"In the past I engaged young men and trained them to hate Muslims," recalled Wuye, who led Christian youth militias before becoming a pastor.
"I lost my hand in a fight in 1992 with Muhammad's boys. But then I realized that I could not preach Jesus Christ and hate the Muslims," he added.
The two laid down their arms in 1995 after meeting in a gathering of community leaders to shore up a government-sponsored child immunization program.
Soon after, Ashafa, who lost family and a spiritual mentor in Christian attacks, listened to a mosque sermon that forgiving one's enemies is a central tenet of Islam.
"You cannot be a true Muslim when you have an unforgiving spirit in you, you cannot be a true Muslim without compassion, and I tried to be a good Muslim," said Ashafa.
For Pastor Wuye the journey to trust was longer — about three years by his reckoning.
The two later set up an interfaith center in the religiously divided city of Kaduna in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.
They have since become close friends and are using their grassroots contacts to help reconciliation.
Hijacked Religion
The warriors-turned-peacemakers distance faiths from stoking conflicts, accusing some people of hijacking religion.
"Religion has the ability to sustain civilizations, for protecting the world," insists imam Ashafa.
"Religion is not the problem, it is those that manipulate religion that cause the problem," agrees Wuye.
Nigeria, one of the world's most religiously committed nations, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.
Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria's 133 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.
But there have been outbreaks of communal tension.
Imam Ashafa and pastor Wuye now believe that the best way to eliminate an enemy is to make that person a friend, and to accept, not tolerate, differences.
"It's the different colors which make a rainbow a rainbow," says Ashafa.
"We may have common aspirations, but we have different mediums. We want a salad bowl, not a melting pot."
They have traveled to other parts of the world with their peace message.
"Religious leaders in the world can make a difference," says Wuye. (dar)
