This weekend, many Nigerians heard the word Shiite Sect for the very first time, apart from people living in Kaduna, most people don’t know who the Shiites are and what brand of Islam they practice.
They recently had a massive clash with Nigerian army during a procession.
The Nigerian army claimed that members of the sect attempted to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Col Tukur Buratai who was on his way to pay homage to the Emir of Zazzau.
Eyewitnesses claim that the Shiite who are fond of blocking the road during their annual procession refused to let the army chief pass and when he attempted to reason with them, they started stoning him and in reaction, the soldiers opened fire in an assault that left nothing less than sixty people dead and over hundred injured.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission held a protest in London against the army’s action and Iran has also condemned the attacks.
The Shiite in a statement claimed the army deliberately planned the assault, the army accused the Shiite of attempting to murder the Chief of Army staff.
The Nigerian Army has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the case.
Here are seven things you probably didn’t know about the Shiite Sect.
1. Shia Islam, an abbreviation of Shīʻatu ʻAlī (شيعة علي, “followers of Ali”), is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s proper successor as Caliph was his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr, not Ali ibn Abi Talib, was his proper successor.
2. Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam: in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the world’s Muslim population.
3. 68% and 80% of Shias live in four countries: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and India. The Shia believe that certain individuals among Prophet Muhammad’s descendants, known as Imams, who they believe possess special spiritual and political authority over the community, infallibility, and other divinely-ordained traits. They believe that the notion of authority is closely linked to members of his family.
4. A significant Shia minority is present in Nigeria, made up of modern-era converts to a Shia movement centered around Kano and Sokoto states. Several African countries like Kenya, South Africa, Somalia also hold small minority populations of various Shia denominations.
5. Iran has the largest population of Shia Muslims totaling about 70 million. Nigeria has about Four Million Shia converts.
6. Shia Islam was “almost unknown” in Nigeria until the 1980s, when Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky introduced Shia Islam. Zakzaky’s Shiite sect gained a following among those disenchanted with the political and religious establishment.
7. Sokoto state government has reacted to the rise of Shia Islam in the state by taking measures such as demolishing the Islamic Center in 2007. There has been frequent clashes between Sunni and Shia residents, an example is the assassination of Imam Umaru Danmaishiyya, who was known for his fiery anti-Shia preaching.