ZARIA, Nigeria: The annual birthday anniversary of Imam Al Asr (ATF) which coincided with birthday of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky leader of the islamic movement in Nigeria was celebrated on 17th August, 2008 in Zaria city. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of thousand members of the movement from all parts of Nigeria and the neigbouring countries which include Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The programme marked with many educative and exciting events which include lectures and parade competition organised and particippated by the Hurras of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria whose duty is providing security and arrangements of any event organise by the movement.

During the parade, the 14 zones bearing the names of the 14 ma’asoom from Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.a.) to Imam Mahdi (atf) participated in the competition according to their respective zone. The pictures of Ahlul Bayt (A.S), Imam Khomain (RA), Imam Khamnei (KS), Sayyed Hassan Nasrullah and Sheikh Zakzaky have been displayed. They perfomed the parade in different style while holding flags of Palestine, Hizbullah and Hurras flag. Sheikh Zakzaky stand in the mimbar to receive their parade which lasted for more than one and half hour.

The central commander of the Hurras Malam Abubakar Maina gave a brief address to the participants where he encouraged the Hurras to always be loyal to the Islamic Movement and do all the scrifices as required with good intention seeking a reward from only Almighty Allah. He praised Allah for His favour toward us.

A remarkable lecture was delivered by the leader of the Islamic Movement Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky. In his speech, Sheikh Zakzaky commended the efforts and sacrifice of the guard members who despite the economic situation in Nigeria have been sponsoring their activities themselves adding that each member bought the dress by himself in addition to other activities they do that require fund.

While congratulating the gathering on the birthday of Imam of the Time, he described the 15th of Sha’aban as an important day in Islam pointing that in the night of 15th the deeds and predestinations for the creations are stated. The birth of Imam, he said, added another blessing to the night The leader of the Islamic Movement explained that God promised to establish His deen on earth which is the religion that can restore justice and security in the world when it brims of oppression and injustice; the world will be rid of corruption so that mankind can live in peace.

He noted that it is part of Christian belief that a time of peace and security will come before the End of Time suggesting that though the Christians assume that that time will be the end of the world. He said after the security is achieved corruption will resurface and the End of Time will come on the most corrupt people. It is the promise of God to establish His deen to lead the world in peace and prosperity with coming of Imam Mahdi(AJ), Sheikh explained

Emphasizing on the importance of setting a good foundation, Sheikh Zakzaky explained that when ever a people set a foundation of a good work they normally assert that they are doing it for the benefit of the later generation and for the purpose of leaving behind good records or history. He explained that by analogy, if a good people emerges this goes to show that those who preceded them are good too; and if people are bad it means the former generation was bad too.

Sheikh explained further that what is being seen now of progress and good things is by implication a result of effort and sacrifice of almost 30 years by some few people emphasizing that one who starts a good work without getting result until after his/her death will have the rewards of his good works with God. He added that in general, every good thing one sees now is a result of sacrifice and good work of some great people in the past.

He further elaborated that one should not bother about little things being recorded as the later generation will benefit more proposing that the sacrifice of a people will not go unrewarded even after their death. He also explained that people's effort in the struggle may not be realized in their lifetime and of course it may happen in their lifetime as God has power over everything.

Speaking on the necessity of knowing Hujjah (proof) Sheikh explained that during Sharia crises in Nigeria he heard one of the promoters of the Sharia , a cleric saying that God does not leave a people without a Hujjah and the cleric unfortunately referred the Sharia governor as the Hujjah which later the wrongness of the view became crystal clear. Sheikh noted that it becomes necessary for such people to find the right Hujjah now. “All praise belongs to Allah as we know the Hujjah(Imam Mahdi AJ)’ Sheikh said.

Describing the plots of the enemies to crush the struggle Sheikh pointed that the struggle in the cause of Allah which started while they were students still goes on due to the sacrifice and efforts of some good people despite efforts made then to crash it, all in vain; and as it is getting stronger crashing it will be impossible now.

Brutal ways were employed then, he noted, to crush the da’awah all in vain and added that they could have deceived people by forming a sort of democracy in the name of religion in order to carry multitude along as people always look for simple way and through that it will take about 20 years before people understand that the method is a wrong one. He said this is a secret which even if employed now it will not work as the struggle has come to stay.

Explaining the inefficiency of method people followed during Sharia crises, he said millions of people followed and approved the method but now they have realized that they are totally wrong and they kept quite though “we told them that it is wrong” he explained.

Commenting on the parades by the Guards Sheikh decried the way some group of people always copied what ever they see members of the Movement do without paying attention to its implication, he warned such people to be careful as ‘we have Imam Ali, Hasanaini, Imam Ali bn Husaini(AS) upto Imam Mahdi(AF)’ while in their case they only see Imam Ali as just a companion while Hasanani as mere his children and prophet’s grandsons. Truth is one and indivisible and people, he warned, should know that if what the Movement undertakes impress someone then he/she should bring his contribution or be part of it so that at the end something meaningful may come out rather than creating divisions for worldly gains.

He added that ‘we thank God that we don’t copy from them’.

Pertaining to the inappropriateness of the venue for the parades, Sheikh commended the parade by the Guards but lamented that the venue is not suitable for marching parades due to its undulating nature suggesting that it is suppose to be done in a place like stadium where every one can see and hoped that next time it will be performed in a suitable venue.

He commended the effort of the guards for their sacrifice adding that sacrifice is the backbone of struggle. He explained that here people don’t give contribution as one has to be part of their vice clubs before they give contribution. ‘We cant work together with those people’ he noted.

On Islamic government the leader explained that since the refusal of Iblis(satan) to prostrate before Adam two governments came to existence- that of Allah and that of Satan adding that the aim is not taking over the Government of Satan but to establish the government of God from the grassroots; a government nurtured by God. He elaborated that guns are not going to be used and they are not even there. It is just unfortunate that, he lamented, Islam is being presented by the enemies as the religion of killing others. He said there are no guns and “ if someone dares to kill us we will take away the gun from him by force as you don’t threaten us with guns; you should go and threaten your masters in government not to attack us” .

At the end Sheikh presented gift to Units of the guards that came 1st , 2nd and third position during the matching competition. Imam Zainal Abidin(AS) Zone came first followed by Zahra unit while Imam Ali(AS) Unit came third.

Earlier on the guard commander , Mallam Abubakar Maina gave a brief explanation on how the units came about from 5 units to 14 . He called on members to strive hard in the cause of Islam

At the conclusion of the ceremony prizes have been distributed to the 1st to 3rd positions. The 1st prize was given to Imam Ali Zainul Abideen Zone, second goes to the Amirul Mu’mineen Zone while Az Zahra zone received the 3rd position prize. The event was concluded by prayer offered by Sheikh Zakzaky.