Malaysia cracks whip on Zakir Naik, India waits for his deportation

Islamic preacher Zakir Naik is a gadfly of a rare sort. His recent controversial statement against Chinese and Hindus in Malaysia is not the first of its kind. Earlier, many governments banned him for his provocative speeches and India is waiting for his deportation to put him on trail on various charges.

Hyderabad: A day after Zakir Naik was quizzed by police for his racial remarks against Malaysian Hindus and Chinese, the Islamic preacher has been banned from giving public speeches anywhere in Malaysia. India has already banned Naik for his controversial speeches and has been also listed in the wanted list.

Zakir Naik's Beginnings:

Born on 18th October 1965, the 54-year-old preacher is known as Indian Islamic televangelist, communal conspiracy theorist and the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation.

He launched the 'Peace TV' which was banned by the Indian government in 2012 and is considered as the world's leading Salafi evangelist whose lectures are colloquial and are neither published in Urdu or Arabic but only in English.

Naik is the man behind the Wahhabism, a religious movement founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Wahhabism is described as a reform movement to reintroduce pure monotheistic worship.

Lectures and Debates:

Zakir Naik has delivered about thousands of speeches across the world. The main topics for debate were Islam and Modern Science, Islam and Christianity and Islam and secularism.

His speech at the University of Melbourne in 2014 was based on the subject of women equality. He tried to justify that it is only Islam in which women are given true equality. Through his speech, he made it clear that revealing western dresses make women more susceptible to rape.

Interestingly, his lectures not only paved the path for separateness but also made fun of other religions.

In 2010 his entry was restricted in the United Kingdom and Canada. Naik was forbidden in Canada because Tarek Fatah founder of Muslim Canadian Congress disclosed Naik's views in front of other MPs. Due to his unacceptable behaviour, he was not allowed to step on the UK's ground.

He visited the Gambia in 2014 where he delivered four lectures in the University of the Gambia on subjects including 'Terrorism and Jihad: An Islamic Perspective', 'Religion in the right perspective', 'Dawah or destruction?' and 'The misconceptions about Islam'.

He visited Malaysia in 2012 and 2016 where his speeches 'Similarities between Hinduism and Islam' and 'Is the Quran god's word?' were objected by Hindu Rights Action Force saying that it may provoke inter-racial discomfort.

Although, Naik has denied all the allegations and said that people didn't understand him properly.

He still claims that he stands with his mission to spread peace throughout the world. He has urged the people to first listen to his lectures and then come to a proper conclusion.

Promoting Terrorism:

His controversial preachings peppered with racial overtones led some investigators to find a possible link between Naik and terrorism.

In 2018, an Islamic scholar in Lucknow accused Naik of supporting Osama bin Laden and said that his teachings were "un-Islamic".

He was termed as 'ghair muqallaidin' a term used for describing someone who is not related with the four madhabs.

Dhaka Attack:

After the Dhaka terror attack in July 2016, The Daily Star, an influential daily, had revealed the investigations and said that one of the terrorists was influenced by Zakir Naik's speeches and he also posted sermons on social media which shows that Naik has urged all the Muslims to become terrorists.

2019 Sri Lanka Bombings:

The leader of National Thowheeth Jama'ath, the group mainly responsible for the 2019 Easter blast in Sri Lanka glorified Naik for provoking Muslims and also asked: "What can Sri Lankan Muslims do for Dr Zakir Naik?"

Chinese-Hindus in Malaysia:

In August 2019 Naik sparked a controversy when he described the Chinese populace in Malaysia as "old guest" and that they should be forcibly deported to China. In the same speech, he said that the Hindus in Malaysia have more rights in Malaysia than the Muslim minority in India who are obedient to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Defensive Mood:

Zakir Naik has apologised for his speeches and also said that the critics had framed him for his comments.

"It was never my intention to upset any individual or community," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

"It is against the basic tenets of Islam, and I would like to convey my heartfelt apologies for this misunderstanding," Naik said.