Imam Muhammad Ashafa (born 1960) is co-director with Pastor James Wuye of the Interfaith Mediation Center of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade center and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern state ...

Kaduna State Kaduna (, جىِهَر كَدُنا; مدينة كدونا; , ; ) is a States of Nigeria, state in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna (city), Kaduna, which was the List of Nigerian ...

, Northern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Biography

As the eldest son of a Muslim scholar and spiritual leader of the

Tijaniyya The Tijjani order () is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam named after Ahmad al-Tijani. It originated in Algeria but now more widespread in Maghreb, West Africa, particularly in Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Niger, Chad, Ghana, Nort ...

Sufi order from a long line of Imams, Muhammad Ashafa grew up in a conservative environment, eventually following the family vocation and becoming an Imam himself.David Little, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding Staff, ''Peacemakers in Action: Profiles of Religion in Conflict Resolution'', Cambridge University Press, UK, 2007, p. 247 But unlike his elders, he belongs to a generation influenced by the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran, the Saudi

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...

preachers and the Egyptian

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

, which brought him to join an Islamist group determined to islamize northern Nigeria and drive out non-Muslims. This movement reached its peak during the 80's and 90's. Muhammad Ashafa went on to become Secretary General of the ''National Council of Muslim Youth Organizations'', an organization promoting debate and confrontation against Christians. During a confrontation between Christians and Muslims in Zongon Kataf, Muhammad Ashafa lost two cousins and his spiritual mentor, while Secretary General of the Kaduna State chapter for the ''Youth Christian Association of Nigeria'' (YCAN) Pastor James Wuye lost his right arm. In 1995, the two former opponents decided to work together and build bridges between their respective communities and founded ''Interfaith Mediation Center of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue''. The organization provides interfaith training to young people in schools and universities, to women, religious leaders and politicians. The center has thus contributed to defusing tensions in the 2002 and 2004 clashes in Kaduna and Yelwa.

Documentary Films

Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye have been the subject of two documentary films: * ''The Imam and the Pastor'' (2006) * ''An African Answer'' (2010)

Honors

Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa received the Bremen Peace Award in 2005, the

Fondation Chirac The Fondation Chirac was launched by former French President Jacques Chirac, after having served two terms in office between 1995 and 2007. Since 2008, this foundation strives for peace through five advocacy programmes: * conflict prevention * ...

Prize for Conflict Prevention in 2009, and the German Africa Prize in 2013. They were among five recipients of the 2017 Intercultural Innovation Award, conferred by the

United Nations Alliance of Civilizations The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is an initiative that attempts to "galvanize international action against extremism" through the forging of international, intercultural and interreligious dialogue and cooperation. The Allia ...

and

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, for their successful mediations in conflicts in Nigeria. In 2025, Wuye and Ashafa were awarded the first Commonwealth Peace Prize, created by the

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of ...

and the Khalili Foundation. The prize included a £50,000 donation from the foundation to the Interfaith Mediation Centre.

References

External links

''A Discussion with Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa''
Berkley Center at Georgetown University, Oct. 2011.
''An African Answer: Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa''
BBC, November 2010.
Documentary: ''The Imam and the Pastor'' (YouTube)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashafa, Muhammad Nigerian Muslims Living people Christian and Islamic interfaith dialogue Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

Documentary Films

Honors

See also

References

External links