By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

 

Have Nigeria’s persecuted Muslims triumphed in their struggle for recognition of their birthrights in the face of years of hostile attitude by the government and the poisonous propaganda of sects serving the seditious interests of the Salafis and the Zionists?

It is too early to say they have, but last Saturday’s holding of massive rallies on the Arba’een anniversary marking the 40th day of the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) which represents over 14 million citizens who follow the jurisprudential school of Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt (Blessed Household), without the trigger-happy army attacking them, is an indication of their success.

It is a victory indeed for IMN Leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, who braved seven years of illegal detention, the martyrdom of six of his sons, and frequent bouts of the army’s murderous attacks on similar peaceful rallies ever since the Nigerian regime committed the unmanly massacre of at least 2,000 of his followers in the city of Zaria in 2015.

Truth cannot be suppressed for long, and the growing number of Nigeria’s Shi’a Muslims (as the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt are also called), have shown the strength of their faith by firmly treading the path of the Immortal Martyr of Karbala in quest of justice and preservation of humanitarian values. 

INM firmly believes in Islamic solidarity and national interests. It has no sectarian agenda like the Salafis, neither any armed wing like the Boko Haraam terrorists, nor does it have any hostility towards non-Muslims.

All it wants is the recognition of its birthrights by the government as the clauses of the constitution which give all Nigerian citizens the freedom to freely practice religious rites and rituals.

This is the reason that most of Nigeria’s Sunni Muslim majority supports the struggle of their Shi’a Muslim compatriots, and so do the Christians who make up some 40 percent of the national population, as well as the animists who adhere to traditional African beliefs.

In this regard, Imam Husain (AS) and his magnetic personality that draws people of all religions to his shrine in Karbala which last Saturday saw 21 million devotees streaming from all over the world, is the supreme symbol of peace, self-sacrifice, justice and all other humanitarian values.

Thus Nigerian Muslims, including the IMN Leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, with their firm faith in God and indomitable spirit of resistance in the face of atrocities, have shown to the whole world that truth does triumph in view of the undeniable fact that Islam owes its existence to the struggle of Imam Husain (AS).

The IMN statement released in Nigeria on Saturday after the huge Arba’een rallies, said in its statement that “Imam Husain’s (AS) movement and struggle is not only an inspiration to the Muslims, but also an inspiration to the whole world, as could be gleaned from the statements of famous non-Muslim leaders, such as India’s Mahatama Gandhi and South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, who declared that they were inspired by the sacrifice and steadfastness of Imam Husain (AS).”