Ceremony held to commemorate third anniversary of Zaria Massacre in Nigeria

The ceremony is scheduled to start Thursday night, 13^th December 2018, in Jamkaran Mosque; according to Qods News Agency (Qodsna) some 400 Nigerian scholars will also attend the ceremony.

According to the report Ayatollah Tabatayi will address the audience.

Ibraheem Zakzaky was born on 5 May 1953 (15 Sha’ban 1372 AH), in Zaria, Kaduna State. He attended the Provincial Arabic School, Zaria (1969-1970), the School for Arabic Studies, Kano from 1971-1976, where he obtained the ‘Grade II’ Certificate, and the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria (1976-1979), where he earned a first-class bachelor's degree in Economics. The degree was denied to him by the university authorities due to his Islamic activities. During his university days, he was active in student Islamic unionism, where he became the secretary-general of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) at the Main Campus of the university (1977/78), and later became Vice President (International Affairs) of the National Body of the MSSN in 1979.

The same year, he is said to have become so impressed with the 1979 Iranian Revolution Later, Zakzaky went to Iran, ultimately becoming a Shia cleric. At home, he became the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and turned it into a vehicle for proselytizing and gaining followers in the 1990s. As a result of his activities, millions have converted to Shia Islam in a country once with hardly any Shia population.

Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky is an outspoken and foremost Shi'a Muslim cleric in Nigeria. He is the head of Nigeria's Islamic Movement, a movement that he founded in the late 1970s, when he was a student at Ahmadu Bello University, and began preaching Islam around 1979, at the time of the Iranian revolution—which saw Iran’s monarchy overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. Zakzaky believed that the establishment of a republic along similar religious lines in Nigeria would be feasible. He has been detained several times due to accusations of civil disobedience or recalcitrance under military regimes in Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s, and is still viewed with suspicion or as a threat by Nigerian authorities. In December 2015, the Nigerian Army raided his residence in Zaria, seriously injured him, and killed hundreds of his followers; since then, he has remained under state detention in the nation's capital pending his release, which was ordered in late 2016.

Hojatoleslam Tabatabai emphasized in his speech: Sheikh Zekzaki has shrugged shoulder to shoulder of Abbas (AS) in his campaign and preaching, and he is a true follower of the path of Ahlul-Bayt. He has become an example of Nasr Allah in our era, where we read in the Holy Qur'an: "اذا جاء نصرالله و الفتح و رأیت الناس یدخلون فی دین الله افواجا".

He continued: “I shall talk about how liberated this great man was; before him, we used to have prominent figures such as Edoardo Agnelli in the past, but none of them were as effective in Islamic approach as Sheikh Zakzaki.

Hujjat al-Islam Tabatabai continued, pointing out that the great personality of the Islamic world had a strong foundation in theology, emphasizing: we must strive to achieve this bright path by following the path of prominent figures such as: Martyr Hemmat, Martyr Fahmidah, Martyr Beheshti, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, Sheikh Zakzaki and Ayatollah Khamenei.

He continued to point out Sheikh Zackzaki, in preaching the truths of Islam and said: "Look, the enemies of Islam cannot tolerate such prominent figures. They opposed Sheikh Zekasaki and pressured him, Islam is now taking root in the blessings of the Shiite lord in Nigeria, and their hostilities against this new root belief have attracted even more attention.

Hojatoleslam Tabatabai emphasized: "They think that by killing Sheikh Zekasaki, they can silence the Shia's voice, but they must know that if they commit such a mistake, hundreds of other Zakzakis will come grow and continue the struggle until God's religion dominates the whole world, they fight against Islam every day, but Islam continues to rise more glorified every day, Islam is the only religion that angers the arrogant regimes, they are afraid that another Hezbollah will rise, this time in Africa which will make the whole situation tougher to them, their struggles against rise of Islam has had no effect and the activities of such prominent figures such as Sheikh Zekzaki and Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah will eventually end the arrogant regimes and it will lead to the return of Imam Mahdi.