Sheikh Zakzaky's speech on the occasion of 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution Victory

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Sheikh Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, addressed the people of Iran on the 43rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, wa Sallallahu alaa sayyidinaa wa nabiyyinaa wa habeebi qulubinaa wa shafee’I dhunuubina abil qaasimil Mustapha Muhammad wa alaa alihi ad-dayyibeena ad-dahireen al ma’asumeen. Siyama baqiyyatullahi fee ardi saahibil asri wazzamaan arwaahunaa lahuu fidaa. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi (T) wa baraakaatuhu.

First of all, I would start by congratulating Sayyid Qa’id and all the people of The Islamic Republic of Iran, and indeed the entire Muslim world on the 43rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran. The revolution came after (a) time when we might say that the world was in a kind of position, of you might say “loss of hope”, when the western world had succeeded in capturing the whole of the Muslim world and divided them into nation states. So that the end has already come. Islam was considered to be a thing of history. They considered it as once upon a time, Islam has ruled the world and it is now history.

Now the revolution changed the equation and the thing changed the thought of everyone – that Islam has come back and it has come to stay. The Islamic Republic of Iran has faced a lot of problems during the revolution until victory, and it continued to face problems after the revolution. There was this old attempt to bring about some internal problems within the Republic immediately after the success and there was 8 year imprisonments, sanctions upon sanctions and isolation upon isolations and all the same (likes) – the Islamic Republic has survived, “it has come to stay”.

Alhamdulillah, now we have a new generation of people who are now learning the Islamic Revolution as a script of history. Because most of people in the whole of the population are under 43, either they were not born at the time of the revolution or they were too young to know what was happening at that time of the revolution.

The revolution has indeed touched every part, nook and corner of the world, as one time I was saying and would continue to repeat it, “Imam Khomeini (Qs) has entered every house in the whole world and has made impact in that house”. Upon the Muslims, he has given the Muslims hope – that Islamic glory is going to be restored. For the non-Muslims, it has changed their thought about Islam – it affects every part of the world. But I cannot speak generally on every part, but I can particularly say now it would, (in) Africa and to the place where I am in particular – where nobody can deny the influence of the Islamic revolution. Islamic revolution has given us hope that what we have lost to the colonialists about 100 years ago, about 120 years now, is realizable. We would come back to what we have inherited, what we believe in, what we like and what we hope to see govern our lives.

The Islamic revolution has made us indeed hopeful and it has boosted our morale. And the teaching (s) of Ahlulbait (As) came to be known through the revolution. The revolution has opened the door to understanding of the teaching (s) of Ahlulbait (As). But for the revolution we wouldn’t have known that the family of the Prophet (As) had a school of thought. I could remember the early 70s, 73 (1973) to be precise, I was a student in the college and was studying history and our understanding of Shi’a was negative because it was written in a negative way. The revolution changed our thought about it, and it changed the thoughts of so many people.

Just some minutes ago, I was answering a question about the influence of the revolution. And someone was asking me that, in Iran there was the influence of Shi’a thought. That the people saw The Shah as Yazid (La) and Imam Khomeini as Hussein (As), but we here don’t have anything of that sought. I said that that was not true. Actually the teaching (s) of Ahlulbait (As) even though it (they) may not be known in that way, but the love of Ahlulbait (As) has been with people. And they know the event of Karbala, and they are actually in the side of Hussein (As). So same teaching can be revitalized and made known. I may not say made known because it was known already, we’ll only say we can boost knowledge because people already have it. As we can see how the teaching has affected us here.

In the early 70s before the revolution, there was no knowledge of the school of Ahlulbait (As) – at least in this part of the world. But now, if one could search and just say on the internet, for example “Shi’a in Africa”, he would see a lot of interests. Or “Shi’a in Nigeria” or “Ashura in Nigeria” or “Ashura in Africa”, he would see a lot of interests which are known before the Islamic revolution, which is the blessing of the Islamic revolution.
Now the enemy had wanted to use sectarianism in order to isolate the revolution and say it’s Shi’a – but they have made a great mistake. By saying Shi’a, even though it is clearly Islamic, they attempt to narrow it to a school of thought. They only try by so doing, made people try to find out what is that thought? What is that school teaching about? – which created this revolution, and in the end they come to find out what it is. And Alhamdulillah the Islamic Republic of Iran has given us a model of how Islam can be practiced in modern age. And if anybody thinking that Islam is seen as past, he is mistaken because we can assure him a model that is not practicable but practicing what one can see. The Islamic revolution Alhamdulillah is for all the people – for all the oppressed.

I have to also make a sought of, strong words to the Iranian people. (A) Historian – a professor of History, recently was saying about 7 years ago that today there are 2 super powers, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America is crumbling down, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is raising up. So at the end of the day, we would have one power, Islamic power insha Allah. And the people of Iran have to be ready to give the world a leadership. They shouldn’t think that the revolution belongs to Iranian people alone, they shouldn’t think that the revolution is complying to a geographical location called Iran. It is Islamic revolution – for the whole Muslims. And they should be ready to give Muslim people a leadership. By this they should be accommodating other people, they should learn about other people – their languages and cultures, they should speak other people’s languages as well not only that they should invite people and make them like Iranian or Persian speaking (people) like these colonialists – they are only interested in the worlds of the people not in the people themselves.

Recently I was in prison and I was surprised to hear from one of the prison workers, he was saying that – speaking in a simple language – the world is divided into two. One camp with the United States of America, as their own mother, and the other camp is the Islamic camp which is Iran as the mother. Iran has to live up to that expectation. We know for sure that the leadership is up to that, the people also have to be up to that insha Allah. In the near future by the grace of Allah (T) we should have Islamic Glory restored in the whole world.

Wa sallalahu a muhammadin wa aalihi ad-dayyibeen ad-daahireen, wassallaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.




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