The History and Condition of Muslims and the Nigeria's Shiites (From the Emergence of Islam to Before the Islamic Revolution of Iran)

The most populous African country and the third Muslim country in the world is Nigeria and the community of Muslims is in the North of this country. There are two important and different ideas about the when and how of the entrance of Islam to Nigeria. Some believe that it happened after the Prophet Muhammad's death and some believe that it happened after the Muslim merchants entered this country through the North in the seventh century A.H. The remarkable point about the entrance of Islam to Nigeria is that although at the beginning, the Muslim's population was low until the era of Usman dan Fodio, Muslims entered this country with the love of Ahl al-Bayt. The different Sufi sects such as Tijanieh and Qaderieh have been spread with the love of Ahl al-Bayt. The most important factors of growth of Shia in Nigeria are the following: the immigration of Imamzadegan and the establishment of Edrissian and Fatimid governments. The scientists divide the presence of Shia in Nigeria into three historical sections. The third section is related to the year 1999 when Nigerian people and Muslims were mostly affected by the waves of Islamic awakening and Islamic revolution of Iran and most of them turned to Shia. Other factors of why and how of the formation and extension of Shia thought in Nigeria, which have been discussed in this research with the library method and with a descriptive approach, are the following: Khoja and Lebanese Shiites and the presence of Muslim merchants and different Sufi sects.