A Nigerian brother sent me this message:
“How can one change from Sunni to Shi’ite?”
And I answered him:
“There are two rooms in the house of Islam, Sunni & Shia. To enter this house the proclamation of Islam (the Kalimah) is needed but to enter from one room in the house of Islam to another no such proclamation is needed.”
It is important to note that since after the brutal Zaria massacre by the Nigerian Army that killed 1000+ defenseless Nigerians, I got lots of mails from Nigerians either asking for more information on Shia Islam or how does one become a Shia.
One of the reasons of the brutal Zaria massacre was to destroy Shia Islam in Nigeria and by the total destruction of the iconic Zaria Husseiniyya, the executioners of the Zaria Tragedy thought that their mission was accomplished. These people think that Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky is the biggest symbol of Shia Islam in Africa so “they want to kill him to kill Shia Islam in Africa”.
But the main message of Sheikh Zakzaky is not sectarian, his message embraces the whole message of Islam, not just to Muslims but to the whole of humanity. Sheikh Zakzaky believed that all the school of thoughts are equal and Muslims have the right to choose any school of thought of their choice. Shia and Sunni are essence no different from the differences between madhabs, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi within Sunni Islam.
When some of us from Nigeria started tilting towards Shia Islam in the late 80s, it was not Sheikh Zakzaky that asked us to become Shia Muslims. It was our choice and he protected our choice then despite the fact that we were very few then.
In 1994 Sheikh Zakzaky saved me from public humiliation when I was accused of “insulting companions”. Then it was very hot one day so I requested for cold water from brothers, after drinking the water I remembered Karbala and sent salutations to Imam Hussein (as) and cursed those that denied him water & killed him. Unknown to me, there were anti-Shia elements there who latter left the Movement to form the anti-Shia JTF. These elements started spreading words that HarunElbinawi has “insulted the companions of the Prophet (sa)”. Words reached Sheikh Zakzaky and he sent for me. When I arrived in his presence and Sheikh Hamza Lawal was also present, he asked me what happened? I narrated what happened and he told me that I was correct since those that killed Imam Hussein (as) can never be companions of the Prophet (sa).
There are Nigerians who are Shia Muslims today but they have never met Sheikh Zakzaky. I recently met a Nigerian sister on one of the social media platforms who is a University Lecturer who understood Shia Islam by comparative studies, she has never seen Sheikh Zakzaky in her life but today she is active in the #FreeZakzaky campaign.
So those Nigerian leaders who are executing the Saudi-funded sectarian agenda in Nigeria who think that by imprisoning Sheikh Zakzaky they have weakened his activities will be disappointed to hear that the energy that Sheikh Zakzaky emits can not be stopped by any barrier no matter how hard and strong. Yes, they killed 1000+ Shia Muslims in Zaria but those Nigerians that became Shia Muslims for the past two months are more than double the figure of those they killed in the Zaria massacre.
NewsRescue that knew nothing about Shia Islam before last December was touched by the wickedness and insensitivity, and became so close to us to fight for our cause, because of the Zaria Massacre that many people accuse them of even being Shia. And this is how Allah is expanding love for us as He fills those who persecute us with darkness and misery. And maybe because of Buratai and the wicked ones who celebrate his bloodshed, this media that was once a stanch pro APC, Sunni media will be forever lost to those it used to be the strongest warrior for.
Killings And Terrorism Can Never Kill An Idea
Sheikh Zakzaky has consistently stated that guns and killings can never stop the spread of an idea and Ayatollah Khamenei recently said that awareness and awakening is not suppressible. Throughout history it was the real Sunni Islam of Malik, Shafii, Abu Hannifa & Ibn Hambal that favourably competed with Shia Islam but the Wahhabi contamination of Sunni Islam can not compete with the lofty and all encompassing teachings of Shia Islam that is based on love & not hate, that is based on saving lives & not on brutally terminating lives through #terrorism.
The leaders of Sunni Islam should de-couple their school of thought from Wahhabism as allowing the Wahhabi infiltration will only continue to bring deaths and destructions that we are witnessing today. The hate-mongering should stop, hands of human brotherhood should be extended to the whole of humanity through mutual respect and peaceful coexistence.
#FreeZakzaky
#GodProtectZakzaky
Harun Elbinawi
[email protected]
Elbinawi.wordpress.com
