After the recent carnage in Zaria, which lead to the death, injury and imprisonment of over 2000 people by the Nigerian government , many people all over the world have reacted in different ways, some understood this incidence as an attack on Shias and some see it as an attack on Muslims who stand firm in defence of Islam, which is viewed by the Nigerian government as a threat as they understand we are implementing, to the best of our abilities the Islam of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) which has no place or recognition for a corrupt and oppressive government such as theirs. We have the truth on our side, and they realize that their power will inevitably come to an end if the truth continues to spread, and so they decided to use force to eliminate the truth
This would have happened to us whether we are Shi’a or not, whether we even are Muslims or not so long as we support such a cause openly, it can be recalled that last year during the massacre by the Nigerian army in Zaria during the Al- Quds day procession amongst those martyred was an old Christian man by the name of Julius Anyawu.
Amongst the crimes and atrocities committed by this corrupt, unjust and oppressive government aside from killing anyone they could in the Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, and anyone they could in Gyellesu while attempting to murder Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, they followed some of the neighboring houses of brothers and murdered or in some cases captured everyone they could find, there was no exception for Women and children including infants. Some of those taken after being injured were kept for days being tortured, some were killed during this torture and to date a lot of those who were injured and captured are still in detention including our leader and his wife.
They audaciously continued to demolish every property owned by the movement or privately by Sheikh Zakzaky or associated to him, including the house of his sister whom they burnt alive after sustaining a gunshot, which is where his mother and a sister to Malama Zeenah (His wife) were buried, they continued to ‘Darur Rahmah’ where the Martyrs from last year’s massacre including three of his sons and those from the recent bomb blast by the government which they had their cell Boko Haram claim responsibility for. They destroyed the buildings surrounding these graves including a mosque, they didn’t stop at demolishing the buildings but also exhumed probably all the graves situated there.
Currently they are plotting to get more justifiable grounds to continue with their mission to annihilate any possible link to the Islamic movement as they see it as a threat to their oppressive system which unfortunately for them whether they realize it or not, will come down crashing before their eyes sooner or later as no position is permanent on earth.
[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right – only because they say, “Our Lord is Allah .” And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might. Quran (22:40)
Most unfortunately the reaction we have been noticing from some Muslim communities here in Nigeria is quite shocking as a lot of people today view this ongoing carnage as just something to do with the Shi’a community, forgetting that amongst those followers of our leader are people who are not Shi’a but still were affected and that within this country are many other Shi’as that weren’t affected and probably wouldn’t be because they chose to befriend this oppressive system, stand with and/or support it publically.
Forgetting that calling the events, gatherings and activities of the Islamic Movement as Shi’a such and such was the work of the public and not officially a claim of the movement and this is because this is an Islamic Movement which anyone from whatever school of thought is welcomed to join so long as they share the same objective as the Movement. In the early 90s when some sort of disagreement between Shi’as and Sunnis within the movement was going on and some were suggesting that the movement should be defined by our leader as either a Shia Islamic Movement or a Sunni Islamic Movement, He rejected this saying that we should not accept such labels and should learn to aim towards the same goal of promoting this religion without focusing on our differences, as we all, irrespective of the school of thought we are following want the same thing for Islam and individually we all want to have an excuse to present to Allah (SWT) on the day of judgment as our efforts to see to the responsibility of promoting and defending Islam bestowed upon us by Allah (SWT).
Muslims across the world and especially here in Nigeria should understand that this is just a bit of an ongoing battle against Islam, and our enemies have one and only target , the true Islam of Muhammad (SAW), We become their targets once they notice the essence of the Islam of Muhammad (SAW) be it in a Sunni or Shi’i. One might say that some or most of the perpetrators in this incidence are Muslims so how could it possibly be that they are targeting and seeking to annihilate the true Islam? We must stop to ask ourselves, if these people were truly committed Muslims who are upholding religious values and teachings, then where is it that they find the justification for all the atrocities they keep committing? We know that certainly these are not the teachings of Islam. So do not be fooled by that Image of a Sunni government going After a Shi’a Minority. These people do not reflect in their lives even a pea size of Islam, they do not care what school of thought you are following, they don’t care if you are religious or not, all they care about is anything that will keep them in power and if that means killing millions they are ready to do it. Funny enough though, they are only pawns in a much bigger scheme designed by their Zionist Masters to whom they go running towards like dogs to seek recognition.
Let’s assume that their stupid justifications were valid or that we are a group of people that have being disturbing and disrupting the society by blocking roads and causing all kinds of chaos one can possibly imagine and the only solution is to kill as many of us as possible. Then what did our children and do to deserve to be murdered and what did those peacefully lying in their graves do to deserve to have their graves exhumed. Supposing we were the worst kind of existing group of people in this country, shouldn’t we be arrested and tried according to the constitution of this so called democratic system, don’t we as citizens have all the fundamental rights stated by the constitution which each of these filthy hypocrites had sworn to protect and act in accordance to before assuming their positions.
It is not enough for a Muslim today to say “I am a committed Muslim because I pray 5 times a day” or “ I am a committed Muslim because I fast in Ramadan” or “I am a committed Muslim because I attend religious gatherings and events” or “that I am a committed Muslim because I wear hijab” and so on. A committed Muslim is one who recognizes that Allah has bestowed upon us a responsibility of promoting and defending this religion, one who searches for their roles and duties in promoting and defending Islam and acts accordingly. This can be implemented in every aspect of our lives, one just has to observe their lives and see how they can take care of this responsibility as our leader always says “even if the only thing you can do in service of this religion is make some tea for people in a gathering, then try and implement that to the best of your abilities”. But we know every one of us can most likely do more than just make some tea in service of this religion, the battle against Islam today, is a battle where the greatest weapons they use against us is psychological, so what this religion needs today are Muslims willing to fight this, first by dissociating themselves with anything that brings about a split in the Ummah and Secondly by working to see that others do not become victims of this psychological war waged against us.
A true and committed Muslim is one who defends Islam with all their strength, wealth and even their lives. Defending Islam is a duty entrusted to us, and we should understand that individually and collectively we have to try to the best of our Abilities to see this through. Most importantly the famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) “whoever does not care about the situation of Muslims is not from them” indicates that as a Muslim of whatever school of thought you should care about the situation of other Muslims. In Islam we learnt that every human out there is our brother in faith or our equal in humanity, so even if this extra judicial massacre was committed on others not from your religion, you should care enough to condemn such a heinous crime that is still ongoing. One cannot claim that they are neither condemning nor commending this crime, in an incident as such, there are only two sides and it is matter of black and white, on one side is the oppressor and on the other hand is the oppressed, so u have to be with one of the two in your head, heart and by your actions. One cannot say “I think and I feel that this is wrong” but stand by and watch as many people are being oppressed and claim that they truly and with all of their hearts condemn such injustice.
“And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women and children, whose cry is: Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help” Qur’an (4:75)
Signed
Mu’assasatu Abul-Fadl Abbas (A.S)
Zaria, Nigeria
