AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): “And another thing which I have to make clear very much is the idea of calling us ‘IMN’ (an abbreviation for Islamic Movement in or of Nigeria) and calling myself leader of the IMN.
“When they attacked us they call us “Shiites” and they continue to give us different names: in late seventieth (around 1977 to 1979) they were calling us “students” because then we were students (and even in 1980 they were calling us students). And in 1982 they changed our name and started calling us “Shiites” with different spellings and pronunciations, sometimes they use to say “shayiiits” or whatever that is.
“So they continue to call us “Shiites” up to the time they attack us in 2015, now it downs to them that there is a section within Islam called “Shia’ and they have made a mistake of attacking a religious group, so they now change name and say we are ‘IMN’. So, they coined the name- (a name) we have never called ourselves. They (those in authority) now decided to say we an organization called “IMN” and then they say have banned that IMN. I don’t know whether in the constitution of Nigeria courts are supposed to make laws; what I know is court is not ‘law making’, it rather ‘interprets the law’. The three arms of government we have are the legislature (which makes the law), the judiciary (which interprets the law), and the executive (which implements the law).
“And this government instead of taking the matter to the national assembly to debate whether they can ban a movement or not, they wrote the law and gave it to a court to put rubber stamp, and then they say they have proscribed the Islamic movement. We say that, you have to understand the Islamic movement is “unbannable” and “unproscribable”- it can not be proscribed, it is impossible! This is an idea- it is like saying that you don’t allow them (activists of the movement) to practice their religion, you don’t even allow them to believe in what they believe. You can’t stop me from believing in what I believe. No way!”.
- Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H)
(Press conference in remembrance of Zaria massacre, in his Abuja residence- 15th December, 2021)
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source : Islamic Movement
Wednesday
22 December 2021
8:01:01 AM
1211098
“And another thing which I have to make clear very much is the idea of calling us ‘IMN’ (an abbreviation for Islamic Movement in or of Nigeria) and calling myself leader of the IMN.