Re:Leave Gen Buratai and our military alone

My attention was drawn to a sponsored piece in Daily Trust Newspaper of 19th January, 2016 by one imaginary figure tagged Mohammed Laden (definitely not a real name). It is important to note that the one that paid huge amount of money to sponsor this piece is the same one that sponsored all the Advertorials by the Nigerian Army. The goal and objective is one and the same and that is to cover and bury a brutal war crime that killed 1000+ defenseless Nigerians in Zaria. I will, InshaAllah, address some of the points raised for the sake of setting records straight.

After going on a praise rampage of the Nigerian Army Chief Buratai, the writer said: "It is therefore, absurd for any civil society and the so called human rights organization to castigate our national hero, even without properly carrying out investigation. The so called human rights groups that are castigating our hero fail to do the right thing by condemning the perpetual imprisonment of the people of Zaria by Zakzaki and his people over the years."

It is important to note his use of abusive words while referring to our civil society organizations and human rights groups who rightly condemned the brutal Zaria massacre by the Nigerian Army as unprovoked, inhuman and barbaric. And also his claim that Sheikh Zakzaky "imprisoned" the people of Zaria is laughable. It is obvious this writer does not know the meaning of "prison". Prison is confined with defined boundaries and prison guards to guard the prisoners. It is obvious what is angering this writer is the massive population that attend National programs of IMN and these programs are not more than two per year. All other programs are organized in various branches of IMN nation wide.

The writer's next claim further cement our assertion that the Nigerian Govt is promoting anti-Shia propaganda when he said: "The so called paid human rights groups calling for the removal of our national hero fail to condemn the Shiites who turn women into prostitutes. They allow what they call temporary marriage which is inhuman...". It was not Shia Islam that legalized temporary marriage, it was God and His Prophet (sa) who legalized temporary marriage. So if this writer claimed that temporary marriage is "inhuman" then that accusation should be directed to God and His Prophet. It is important to note that a lots of companions of the Prophet (sa) were products of temporary marriage because it was legal throughout the lifetime of the Prophet (sa). So from the mindset of this writer, the mothers of those companions born from temporary marriages were "prostitutes" (God forbid). And in Shia Islam, temporary marriage is legal but not compulsory. There are millions of shia Muslims who have never contracted temporary marriage for the duration of their lives. It is an alternative in times of extreme situations.

The writer went on a drunken spree of promoting Shia-hatred that even the most foolish of the fool will not believe. He said:"It is allowed by the Shiites to even lend your wife to another man for some time. The annual trekking that they normally do from Kano to Zaria attracts youths because they use the females among them as sex slaves." The claim of the writer that Shia Muslims lend their wives to others is the most absurd anti-Shia propaganda I have ever heard. This is part of the Saudi-funded campaign to demonize Shia Islam and make it unattractive to Muslims. Unfortunately for them, when people discover all these allegations are lies, they turn to Shia Islam. Truth can never be propagated by lies and falsehood, Truth can only be propagated by Truth.

Our women are honorable and are equal to our men, they participate actively in all programs just like men. And whoever attend our programs knows that the two sexes are separated in accordance to Islamic injuctions and all our women observed the Hijab. It is the Wahhabi cult that obviously this writer subscribed to that oppressed women and considered them inferior to men. In true Islam, men and women are equal but not similar. Their de-similarity complement each other.

As for his accusation of "sex slaves", it is the Wahhabi-inspired murderous terrorist groups that turned thousands of girls and women to sex slaves. I have never heard of sex slaves in Shia Islam. It is Wahhabism that encourage it's adherents to kill all those who do not subscribe to that deviant cult, steal their properties and turn their women in to sex slaves. Boko Haram and ISIS who are product of the Wahhabi contamination of Sunni Islam are world-renowned when it come to sex slaves.

After insulting the Nigerian human rights community, the writer now pleaded with them: "These so called human rights groups should please leave our Chief of Army Staff alone and face the Shiites who are known for their human rights abuses." The IMN under the leadership of His Eminence Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky have never abused the human rights of any Nigerian in its 38 years history. They have never killed any soldier, police, other security forces or any Nigerian for that matter. The Nigerian human rights community will not leave the Nigerian Army Chief alone because he committed a heinous war crimes in Zaria and valuable lives were lost. He must be punished for his role in the Zaria massacre, that is Justice and fairness. His position as the Army Chief does not make him above the Laws of the country.

And writer's claim that we are only loyal to Iran and not Nigeria is frivolous. In all the programs of IMN, the colours of decorations are green and white which are the main colours of the Nigerian flag. And many of the traditional cloths worn by Sheikh Zakzaky and other leaders of IMN reflect the green and white colours of Nigeria. I am sure this writer is pro-Saudi, there are Nigerians who are pro-Israel while some Nigerians are even pro-Jamaica. Global politics is a matter of personal choice that can not be imposed.

Finally, the writer accused the IMN of boycotting the Judicial Commission of Inquiry constituted by Kaduna state Governor Elrufai. The IMN have it's reasons for not attending that compromised Commission. From the Zio-Wahhabi membership of the commission, it is not credible, nor is it independent nor is it impartial. The goal and objective of the commission is already defined by the composition of its membership.

#FreeZakzaky
#GodProtectZakzaky
Harun Elbinawi
elbinawi.
elbinawi@yahoo.com