Pastor James Wuye speaks to an audience of 270 at the C3 Centre at the last public event in Melbourne during his and Imam Muhammad Ashafa's Australian tour. (Photo: Jonathan Lancaster)
Two Nigerians internationally famous for their work in interfaith reconciliation spent three weeks in Australia, 24 October to 14 November, as guests of Initiatives of Change. They are Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye from the north-central city of Kaduna, where they head the Muslim-Christian Interfaith Mediation Centre.
Nigeria is Africa's largest country with a population of 140 million. It is one of a number of African countries where Christian and Muslim populations live side by side.
Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye began their present work 14 years ago after leading rival militias in clashes between Christians and Muslims had caused the death of many thousands. In the fighting the Imam’s spiritual teacher and two cousins were killed and the Pastor lost his right hand. Later they discovered a radically different approach in their own religious teachings. Now they say that the true Muslim forgives and that the Christian cannot preach hatred.
Their work came to the attention of IofC’s FLTfilms in London. The resulting documentary, The Imam and the Pastor, won the first prize at the 2007 Africa Documentary Film Festival in the short documentary section. The film’s co-producer, Dr Imad Karam from Gaza, Palestine, travelled with them as they visited Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney.
In each city they showed parts or all of the film, then spoke and answered questions. A wide audience was reached through the media. Veteran journalist Phillip Adams interviewed them for 30 minutes on his popular Radio National program Late Night Live. As he listened to their story he said: ‘I am talking to two people who are, quite clearly, amongst the most important people in the world at this moment of our troubled history.’
In Perth an audience of 140 at the University of Western Australia took part in an occasion co-hosted by Initiatives of Change and the Centre for Muslim States & Societies of UWA. There was a standing ovation. A young Muslim mother said she had been empowered by the evening.
The Imam of the Mirrabooka Mosque, when welcoming the visitors to evening prayers at his Mosque said, ‘I was moved to tears when I saw the film. We are all children of Abraham. We are honoured to see Imam and Pastor walking the same road. You are sending a very powerful message to humanity.’ The visitors were given a lunch in the WA Parliament and welcomed in family homes.
The Melbourne visit had the backing of the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Victorian Council of Churches and the Victorian Multicultural Commission. 50 guests from diverse faith communities joined the Imam and the pastor for a dinner at the IofC centre, Armagh. The Age published an interview by Geoff Strong under the headline ‘Imam and Pastor unite for message of peace, tolerance’.
At an evening hosted by the Maya Healing Centre – an Aboriginal centre in Northcote – a white South African asked to speak. He said that through the apartheid period people like himself had had a taking attitude rather than a giving one. He apologised for the way he had lived and embraced the two Nigerians.
In a live interview on ABC Radio's The Conversation Hour they were joined by Waleed Aly, well known Muslim commentator and a star of SBS’s Salaam Cafe. At the Melbourne Central Mosque Imam Ashafa gave the Friday Khutba (sermon), followed by a meeting for both men with leaders of the Islamic Council of Victoria. They spoke at a public forum at Melbourne University, hosted by the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, attended by about 100.
A public forum co-hosted by Victoria University in the multicultural suburb of Footscray drew many local Africans, including Ethiopian youth leaders who were inspired to tackle divisions in their own community. A TV crew appeared and filmed a 3-minute report for the ABC TV news that evening.
An event in Vermont co-hosted by the the Whitehorse Interfaith Network drew nearly 300 people. Afterwards a young man waited in a long queue of people wanting to talk to Imam Ashafa. Later the Imam was moved to report that the young man told him: ‘I hated your people. I hated Muslims so much. You changed my world today. Please forgive me.’
180 people attended Brisbane’s Riverglenn Conference Centre to hear the Imam and the Pastor. Some came armed with scripture to find fault with Muslims and Christians working together. Asked what in each of their religions challenged them to end their enmity and work for reconciliation, they said, ‘We don't have full agreement on beliefs and values of course, but we are children of Abraham and sons of Adam and as such have a duty to each other as fellow humans.’
‘It is not about compromise. It is about creating a space for the other. “The earth is the Lord’s”. Let us make space for others in it,’ both men kept reiterating in the six community and University events conducted in Brisbane and Toowoomba last week where they addressed about 500 people.
Says Imam Ashafa, ‘Peace-building has been hard. We are held in suspicion in some parts of our communities. The biggest enemy we have to overcome is ignorance.’
‘The Koran teaches that Islam is inclusive and acknowledges other religions. All those who believe in God have their reward. Mischievous religious leaders with the help of political interference have led people to follow hate and twisted the teachings. We hope people move their thinking from us OR them to us IN them and them IN us.’ Pastor Wuye responded. ‘The Bible says to pursue peace with all men, and holiness without which we cannot see God. When Ashafa sought to show respect and compassion and seek forgiveness I was troubled and wept, “How can I forgive this enemy of mine who has killed my countrymen and caused the loss of my right hand in the fighting?” Just as his prophet had led him to forgiveness, so did Jesus challenge me.
‘Before we had programmed people to train and to kill as militia . Now we had to go back to our true teaching and reprogram people again. We are teaching people through radio broadcasts and mediation meetings. This has brought a huge reduction in violence.’
In Canberra the two Nigerians were special guest speakers at the seminar for 200 people following the 22nd annual prayer breakfast in Parliament House. Never before had a Muslim taken such a prominent part in this event. The two men were asked what each had had to compromise in order to work with the other. Both replied with an emphatic ‘nothing at all’ which drew spontaneous applause. They went on to say that they were not creating ‘Chrislam’ but setting a pattern of how people of different beliefs can work together. The way to defeat your enemy, they said, is to turn him into your friend. They finished to a prolonged standing ovation.
90 people came to a public event sponsored jointly by the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) as well as IofC. A member of the audience asked for 20 copies of the DVD to sell at a high level interfaith event in Canberra a few days later. A Sudanese youth leader said that it ‘was very important for me and my colleagues to hear from the Imam and the Pastor. I hope we apply the essence of the story into our lives in Sudan one day.’
‘Men of God demonstrate the power of healing’ was the headline for the five-column photograph and article by Graham Downie on page three of The Canberra Times.
The Nigerian High Commissioner invited the Nigerians and Imad Karam to dinner, with his staff, at his residence.
ABC Radio South East NSW did a telephone interview for the ‘Mornings’ program and SBS Radio interviewed Imad Karam for its Arabic program.
In Sydney the Hon Barbara Perry, NSW Minister for Local Government, hosted an occasion for Pastor James and Imam Ashafa in the NSW State Parliament Theatrette, attended by MPs, diplomats and community leaders.
‘I feel honoured to have been able to hear them speak,’ commented one woman afterwards. ‘The questions on the whole came from people genuinely interested to learn how to follow their example of living peace; the one that seemed directed to seeking “to blame other” was answered superbly and simply.’
David Mills from IofC who moderated the occasion said that the Nigerians had been invited because their message was universal: ‘Paying the price of genuine reconciliation, starting with oneself; healing the resentment of generations; going beyond tolerance, even acceptance, to the beginnings of appreciation. Every community has something to appreciate about another. The prosperity of one depends on the prosperity of the other.’
Pastor James and Imam Ashafa spoke to 30 community leaders in the multicultural suburb of Auburn; to a group of 50 young peace-building trainees from around the Pacific and Africa; and to 60 heads of interfaith organizations.
At a public event in Blacktown, an area of western Sydney where people from 180 nations live, 520 people crowded into the main civic hall to see the The Imam and the Pastor and to meet the two men in person. Introducing the film, media personality Mike Bailey said, ‘It brings together all of human emotions. We haven't seen that level of violence in Australia. However in the heart there is sometimes that feeling of hatred.’
‘Australia is a fortunate nation,’ said Imam Ashafa. ‘You recently acknowledged the past to the Aborigines. If you can acknowledge your past, you set a record. You have the courage to take a risk and create an open space for the other person. Conquer fear of the unknown – there are no strangers, just friends we have not yet met.’
Pastor James added, ‘You have to carry the gospel of apology to every house. Once you do that in Blacktown - neighbour to neighbour – then you can export (this) to other countries. In Kenya we used the idea of Australia’s Sorry Books to bring reconciliation.’
Reports from Gordon Ashman, Lindsay Cartwright, David Allbrook, Mike Lowe, Rob Wood, Adele Dingle, Margaret Lancaster, David Mills