When members can go into temporal marriages
While Sunni Muslims view the4 mut’ah as a cover for prostitution or a way of legitimising illicit sex, the Shi’ites see it as achieving the direct opposite of that accusation.

Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN),

By Omeiza Ajayi

Recent altercations between security forces and Shia group, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria IMN, especially in the nation’s capital, Abuja have brought renewed focus on the IMN and the entire Shia population. Their activities have even been banned after they were tagged terrorists by government. So, who are they really?

Globally, Sunni Muslims regard themselves as the orthodox and traditionalist branch of Islam. Coined from Ahl-Al Sunna, the concept implies, “the people of the tradition”, so called because they follow the precedents or actions of Prophet Muhammad and his close companions.

On the other hand, Shi’ite or Shia were a “political faction” derived from the term “Shiat Ali” or the “Party of Ali”. Being the son in law to the prophet, the Shi’ites anchor their belief on the fact that Ali ibn Abi Talib should have been a natural successor to the prophet, having allegedly been so designated by the prophet at the event of Ghadir Khumm.

Since the focus is on Shia, it might interest the reader to understand that there are two main branches of Shia Islam.

The first, which is now more dominant is called “The Twelver” or “Imamiyyah” or Athn‘ashariyyah or Ithn‘ashariyyah.

The second is “Ismaili”, so called because of their acceptance of Ismail ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor or Imam to Jafar al-Sadiq, the 6th Shia Imam. Note that The Twelvers only accepted Musa al-Kadhim, younger brother of Ismail as the true Imam. Now, this is the point of divergence among Shi’ites.

Shi’ite Protest: Members of Shi’ite set police car on fire during their protest at the Central District of Abuja calling for release of their Leader El ZakZaky . Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.

As for Nigeria, the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria IMN have made many to believe that the group represents all Shi’ites in Nigeria. This is actually untrue as Shi’ites were already in existence before the coming of Sheikh Ibraheem Elzakzaky.
Elzakzaky, began more as an activist in his early days until 1994 when he made open his Shia convictions.

Many of his followers were therefore taken aback and consequently broke away to found a new association called Jama’at Tajdid al-Islam, meaning Movement for the Revival of Islam, headed by Abubakar Mujahid with its headquarters in Yakassai Quarters, Kano. This is the group that was alleged to have killed an Igbo trader, Gideon Akaluka back in the days.

Later, there came the Rasulul Azam Foundation RAAF founded by Muhammad Nur Dass. RAFF is a branch of Shia which pledges its allegiance to the Nigerian state.
The implication of this is that while all IMN or Elzakzaky’s followers are Shi’ites, not all Shi’ites are members of the IMN.

Kaduna state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai himself buttressed this point recently when he said some of Elzakzaky’s followers are Shi’ites and some are not. He said there are two other factions of Shi’ites who recognize the government of Nigeria and himself as Kaduna state Governor while also not pledging allegiance to any foreign government. These, he said are contrary to the beliefs of the IMN and hence his reason to outlaw the movement.

Shisms
Apart from theological contestations between the Shi’ites and Nigeria’s mainly Sunni Muslims, the Elzakzaky’s IMN have often been accused of running a parallel government.

In fact, in each state, they have been accused of having a “Coordinator”, who they see as the Governor of that state. This was what el-Rufai meant when he said the IMN do not recognize him as governor, nor do they recognize President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s sovereign.

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Mut’ah
Then there is the concept of fixed or temporary marriage, often called Nikah Mut’ah, different from the two other common forms of marriages in Islam, that is, Nikah Halala and Nikah Misyar. Mut’ah is an Arabic word meaning pleasure. In Nigeria, the temporary marriage is often referred to as “Auren Mut’ah” among those who practise it.

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While Sunni Muslims view the mut’ah as a cover for prostitution or a way of legitimizing illicit sex, the Shi’ites see it as achieving the direct opposite of that accusation.

In an interview with the BBC, Omar Farooq Khan, president of the Ahlul Bayt Islamic Society (a Shia-based society) at Bradford University, said the practice is on the increase among Shia students.

“Definitely Nikah Mut’ah is on the rise now due to students becoming more aware about it. Students are educated people so obviously they look around for a solution to their problems from an Islamic perspective,” said Mr Khan.

“What else are they going to do? They can’t just have a cold shower because it doesn’t work and otherwise they just end up doing the haram thing and having a girlfriend or boyfriend. Many people won’t talk about it though, because it is still a taboo subject,” he added.

An anthropologist at Boston University in the United States, Shahla Haeri defines mut’ah marriage in her authoritative work, Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi’i Iran, “as a contract between a man and an unmarried woman, be she a virgin, divorced, or widowed, in which both the period the marriage shall last and the amount of money to be exchanged must be specified”.

The mut’ah can last from just a few minutes to as long as 99 years and can also be renewed when the time elapses.

Critics of the mut’ah marriage have said there is no difference between it and prostitution, especially because there is a time limit on that type of marriage, and the mahr given as a gift from the man to the woman is the equivalent of whatever payment a man makes to a prostitute.

The nikah mut’ah entails a contract, verbal or written, in which the man and the woman agree the length of time and conditions for the marriage.

Usually, there are no witnesses required for mut’ah and a cleric does not have to solemnize it. Either of the couple can conduct it. According to Haeri, the woman, for instance, can say, “I [name], marry (or mut’a) thee, for the amount of [money] and for such and such period.” The man says, “I accept.”

At the end of the marriage, the woman will then observe sexual abstinence for the length of two menstruation cycles in order to identify a child’s legitimate father in case she is pregnant, the reason being that children born of temporary marriages enjoy the same status and rights as their siblings born of a permanent marriage. “Here lies the legal uniqueness of mut’a, that which distinguishes it ideologically from prostitution, despite their striking resemblance,”

Haeri writes.

Curiously, while a man can enter into several temporary marriages at the same time, women are not allowed to do so and while a man can have temporary marriages with people of other faiths, the women can only do that with fellow Shia Muslims.

For the IMN or the entire Shia population in Nigeria, there appears to be no data on the number of such marriages ever contracted or still subsisting.

Vanguard