Muhammad Auwal Albani Zaria

Boko Haram gunmen have shot and killed Sheikh Muhamman Auwal Albani Zaria and one of his wives in the city of Zaria on their way back home after attending the usual evening Tafsir lecture in the city. Throughout that Saturday of February 1, Sheikh was teaching and conducting different lessons at his school in Gaskiya layout, Zaria. In the evening, he delivered his organized lecture at Markazu-Salafiyya, Maje Road in Tudun Wada, Zaria at about 8:15-9:30pm from the Book of Sahihul Bukhari, in the chapter of Hajj. It was after this that he drove himself with one of his wives and some of his children. Sheikh Albani did not like going on convoys and always drove himself. This must have been capitalized on by his assailants as they waylaid him on his way after the lecture at Tudun Wada. He stopped over at a Central Store along the Zaria Gaskiya where he did some shopping and as he got to Magume junction, the killers overtook him. First, they smashed his windscreen, shot his wife. When Sheikh Alba saw this, he came down and confronted them. He could not just sit back in his car and got killed without making any effort. This must have annoyed them as they started shooting wildly. Muhamman Auwal Albani Zaria fell. He fell reciting Laila ha illallahu. It was someone who lived close by that rushed out and took him to the nearest hospital at Wusasa (Saint Luke’s). All through the journey, he was reciting Laila ha illallahu. Inna lillahi wa’inna ilaihi-raji’unn (from Allah we are and to Him we shall certainly return). Sheikh Muhamman Auwal Albani Zaria was shot when he was close to his residence about 1km away along Gaskiya Layout in Zaria. The wife and son died on the spot of the shooting while the Sheikh was rushed to St. Luke Hospital in Wusasa area of Zaria where he was pronounced dead. Boko Haram Leader Abubakar Shekau, Claims Responsibility For Killing Sheikh Albani.

Muhammad Auwal Adam Albani Zaria (27 September 1960 – 1 February 2014) was a Nigerian Islamic scholar who specialized in the field of Hadith. Islamic Law, mass communication, telecommunications engineering and ICT. He was a prominent Islamic scholar and the leader of the Salafis movement in Nigeria. He was a Tailor at his earlier stage of life of which he usually called himself (Specialized Tailor). He was the first scholar to ascribe the word "Salafiyah" to the generation of scholars and students of Islamic denomination in Nigeria. Albani was considered by many contemporary Nigerian scholars as the greatest Salafi scholar in Nigeria.