Dr. Zakir Naik: A Modern Charlatan by Aftab Zaidi

Dr. Zakir Naik: A Modern Charlatan by Aftab Zaidi Britain for far too long has been a breeding ground for would-be terrorists due to its lax laws. Therefore the tough stance taken last year by British home secretary Ms. Thersea May to ban the entry of self proclaimed Muslim preacher Dr. Zakir Naik into United Kingdom comes as a breath of fresh air. The British authorities were quick to refuse admission to Mr. Geert Wilders, a respected member of the Dutch parliament, on account of stoking inter-community tensions. However this is the first time that Dr. Naik, a hate monger and a radical terrorist supporter, has been denied a British visa. Although Dr. Naik makes it clear that he does not advocate specific acts of terrorism, his inflammatory speeches makes it abundantly clear where his sympathies lie. He seems to have a personal grudge against the west in general and a specific revulsion towards United States. This is what he had to say when questioned about Bin Laden: “But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don’t know what he is doing. I am not in touch with him. I don’t know him personally. If he is terrorizing the terrorists, if he is terrorizing America the terrorist …. I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist.” This particular statement is an instigator for Muslim youth to commit different acts of terrorism. The American terror suspect Mr. Najibullah Zazi, arrested in 2009 for planning suicide attacks on the New York subways, was reportedly inspired by the provocative and hate filled speeches of Dr. Naik on YouTube. Zakir Naik has been swift in passing judgments on the morality of Western women. His exact words were: “Western society has actually degraded [women] to the status of concubines, mistresses and social butterflies, who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketers.” On the contrary he fails to take into account the fact that slavery was never abolished by Islam. In fact it permits polygamy, and the practice of keeping concubines was prevalent even during the reign of Muhammad. Koran sanctions the use of concubines in the following verse: And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course. (Koran 004:003) The right hand possessions in the above verse have been interpreted by various Islamic scholars to be concubines. Muhammad himself had a number ofzakir_naikconcubines, apart from several wives. Among them was Maria the Coptic who was a Christian slave gifted to Muhammad by an Egyptian ruler. Maria’s name has not been found to be listed anywhere as the wife of Prophet in the earliest sources of Islamic history such as the notes of Ibn Hashim on Ibn Ishaq’s sira. Muslim theologians however try their level best to prove that the Prophet actually married Maria, in order to scale down the criticism of his disgraceful deeds. Obviously Dr. Naik conveniently overlooks this aspect of Islamic history. Even today Muslims spring up immediately to defend this despicable example of misogyny. To be fair it was actually the American Civil war that led to the near-eradication of slavery on a global scale. Dr. Zakir Naik has also been quoted as saying that Western women make themselves more susceptible to rape by wearing revealing clothes. Such a sweeping statement explicitly clarifies his stance. The underlying message is that women should be controlled and put behind several layers of veils. They are inferior beings and their purpose in life should be to act on the whims of their husbands and to raise kids. Dr. Naik expediently puts the entire onus on the shoulders of women. Men in his contrived view can carry on with their lustful activities. This also runs contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 article 1, which states. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in the spirit of brotherhood. The assertion by Dr. Naik is also inconsistent with the facts. Developing countries have a higher rate of rape incidents. This is because of poverty, lawlessness and anarchy. In many Islamic countries rape victims refuse to report the crime because of the shame associated with it. There were actually laws in Pakistan known as the Hudood laws based on Islamic injunctions which advocated the incarceration of the rape sufferer in case she fails to provide the law enforcers with four witnesses. Several women were put behind bars under the pretext of these laws. These have now been amended. However the main gist remains intact. Ironically it was the Islamist parties who were its biggest proponents and tried their level best to delay legislation for their revocation. Another heart wrenching story is of Dr. Shazia Khalid. She was posted as a medical doctor at a hospital in a small town of Sui in Pakistan. She was an employee of Pakistan Petroleum Limited, a state owned oil exploration company. She was allegedly raped by an officer of the Pakistan army who was actually a part of a military contingent guarding the state owned facility. Later she was prohibited from reporting the case. When the news finally went out, the authorities hounded her immensely thus forcing her to flee from the country. She was eventually granted political asylum in the United Kingdom. Not a word in her support was uttered by any cleric or Islamic scholar. This is what one gets for being a modest and chaste woman. Her dignity was after all restored in an “infidel” Western country. Dr. Zakir Naik has also claimed to have found scientific miracles in the Koran. All the holy scriptures were written between 2000 years before Christ and 200 years after Muhammad. Modern science includes the period from Galileo, Newton up to Einstein and the current century. The two are at odds. None of the scriptures teach science. His half truths and myths have been debunked by Ali Sina who is a leading critic of Islam. Naik is a showman who is able to impress his audience by memorizing and quoting directly from various scriptures. He has also been accused of inflaming communal feelings with this strident debating style. He is also a proponent of the death penalty for apostates. He should be completely barred from the Western capitals until he changes his uncivilized behavior.