Page 32 - NGO (No.3)

BIOGRAFI
faith. He also criticised him for calling for India to
be ruled by Shariah law. He added that, accord-
ing to Naik, Jews “control America” and are the
“strongest in enmity to Muslims.” He maintained
that Naik supports a ban on the construction of
non-Muslim places of worship in Muslim lands as
well as the Taliban’s bombing of the Buddhas of
Bamiyan.

Dhume argues that people reportedly drawn
to Naik’s message include Najibullah Zazi, the
Afghan-American arrested for planning suicide
attacks on the New York subway; Rahil Sheikh,
accused of involvement in a series of train bomb-
ings in Bombay in 2006; and Kafeel Ahmed, the
Bangalore man fatally injured in a failed suicide also says Naik’s audiences “listen to him with rapt
attack on Glasgow airport in 2007. He also stated attention and often explode in enthusiastic ap-
that “unless Indians find the ability to criticise plause when he rubbishes other religious texts”.
such a radical Islamic preacher as robustly as Torkel Brekke, a professor of religious history in
they would a Hindu equivalent, the ideal of Indian Norway, calls Naik a “very controversial figure”
secularism would remain deeply flawed.” because of his rhetorical attack on other religions
and other varieties of Islam. He writes that Naik is
The Times of India published a profile of Naik “strongly disliked” by many members of the Indian
entitled “The controversial preacher” after he was ulema for ignoring their authority and stating that
banned from the United Kingdom. According to anybody can interpret the Quran. Conservative
The Times, “the fact is that barring the band of Deobandi mullahs have accused Naik of “de-
Muslims whose bruised egos Naik suitably mas- stroying Islam” by driving Muslims away from the
sages through his Islam supremacist talks, most correct religious authorities.
rational Muslims and non-Muslims find his brand
of Islam a travesty of the faith”. The Times also Khaled Ahmed criticised Naik for “indirectly
claimed that “the Wahabi-Salafist brand of Islam, support[ing]” al-Qaeda by referring to Osama bin
bankrolled by petro-rich Saudi Arabia and propa- Laden as a “soldier of Islam”. In 2008 an Islamic
gated by preachers like Naik, does not appreciate scholar in Lucknow, shahar qazi Mufti Abul Irfan
the idea of pluralism.” Mian Firangi Mahali, issued a fatwa against Naik,
saying that he supported Osama bin Laden, and
The article quotes Muslim scholar Wahiduddin that his teachings were un-Islamic. Naik claims
Khan: “Dawah, which Naik also claims to be en- his speeches were being taken out of context.
gaged in, is to make people aware of the creation
plan of God, not to peddle some provocative, Praveen Swami considers Naik to be a part of the
dubious ideas as Naik does.” He adds: “The wave ideological infrastructure created to feed “Tem-
of Islamophobia in the aftermath of 9/11 and the pered Jihad”, which he defines as Jihad calibrat-
occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan have only ed to advance Islamist political objectives.Swami
added to the Muslims’ sense of injury. In such a argued that some of Naik’s teachings are similar
situation, when a debater like Zakir Naik, in elo- to those of organizations advocating violence,
quent English, takes on preachers of other faiths although Naik himself emphatically rejects terror-
and defeats them during debates, the Muslims’ ism. According to Swami, Naik’s IRF has proved
chests puff with pride. A community nursing a to be a “magnet” for figures linked to the Lash-
huge sense of betrayal and injustice naturally kar-e-Taiba, while his message has mesmerised
lionises anyone who gives it a sense of pride. violent Islamists, and his works “help make sense
Never mind if it’s false pride.” of the motivations of Indian recruits to the jihad”.

Indian journalist Khushwant Singh says he “dis- Indian Journalist Shoaib Daniyal disagrees with
agree[s] with almost everything [Naik] has to say Naik’s belief that “Americans swap wives at will
about misconceptions about Islam”. Singh argues because they eat pigs which also swap their
that Naik’s pronouncements are “juvenile”, and wives” He also points out that Naik’s statement
said “they seldom rise above the level of under- that Islam allows a man to marry multiple women
graduate college debates, where contestants vie because “in the USA, there are more women than
with each other to score brownie points.” Singh men”, disagrees with US demographic statistics.

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