Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, superstar in Nigeria

by Admin Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:53 pm

These photos were taken during a Shia procession in the north of Nigeria last summer. Showing the glorification of Hezbollah and the Islamic revolution, the images suggest a shift towards the extreme in Islamic support in Sub-Saharan Africa
The photos were circulated through the Lebanese expat community by email and were then printed by the Middle East Times,
who admitted to not knowing where they came from. We contacted one of
our Nigeria-specialised Observers, who helped us to track the photos
and put them into context. We found out that they were taken on 30
August last year in the Northern city of Zaria. The marchers were
commemorating the death of Mehdi, a central figure in the history of Islam.

Hassane Souley

"I don't think there's a direct influence coming from Lebanon"

Hassane Souley is a researcher at the university of Poitiers. He specialises in the study of Islamic revival in Niger and Nigeria.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, superstar in Nigeria Quote

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, superstar in Nigeria Quote

This kind of event has been going on for 15 years in Nigeria. It
started taking place, when the country re-established democracy in
1992, after being banned under the dictatorial regimes of the eighties.

What's interesting is the change in Shia symbolism which has been taken from Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Islamic Revolution Guards in Iran.
However, just because we find people
waving portraits of Hasssan Nasrallah and Khamenei in the middle of a
procession doesn't mean we can say there's a direct link between the
Hausa Shia in Nigeria and the Shia militia groups in the Middle East.
It's what I call "tropical Shia'ism". The men we see in these photos
are not armed. The Nigerian government wouldn't allow it. They do allow
these "Muslim Brothers" to wear special uniforms (probably made in
China) and attach specific symbols to mark their religious choice:
colours, flags, posters etc, but that's as far as it goes.
We can talk about an unarmed militant
revolutionary group here. There are around two million of them and
they're funded entirely from donations. It would be very difficult for
them to be financed by Iran since the Nigerian government is very
strict about the transfer of money. And I don't think there's a direct
influence coming from Lebanon. You have to remember that most Lebanese
people living in this part of Africa are Christian.
Shia movements have always been
suppressed by Sunni regimes, so they're completely against anything
that comes from the government that's Sunni, and they try to assert a
Shia state. It's the head of this movement, Sheikh Zakzaky (see the
last two photos), who's at the root of this idolism. He spent a lot of
time in Iran, which cost him years in prison during the Sunni
dictatorships in the eighties."

by Shiabelievers Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:15 am

Nasrallah has a very intresting history....if we start reading on nasrallah then we would want to contnue to read and never stop..

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, superstar in Nigeria

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, superstar in Nigeria

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