The despicable terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, and the following investigation reveals that one of the terrorists admitted to having been influenced by Dr Zakir Naik. The admittance has led to a controversy putting the televangelist and Islamic preacher under the radar of Indian intelligence and investigation agencies to figure if his speeches have actually instigated some of the Muslim youth to adopt a radical path. In the past, some other terrorists have also admitted to have been influenced by Mr Naik’s speeches, so this pattern isn’t a revelation.
From the surface Dr Naik comes across, or at least tries his bit to come across as a liberal, answering openly the questions of ‘non-believers’ after this speech and trying to highlight the virtues of Islam in a relatively ‘scientific’ manner. Look deeper, however, and his rightist side comes to the fore. Though he would not say it in as many words, the undertone of his speeches is extremist and presents the supremacist view of Islam. Thankfully, India is blessed to have Muslim religious leaders who don’t agree with Mr Naik’s violent, intolerant version of Islam. They preach peace, they preach co-existence and most of them have, as you’d expect, unequivocally condemned Mr Naik’s divisive antics.
While no one would ever openly admit his or her evil designs, as the ramifications would be too severe, there is clear evidence that Zakir Naik, through his speeches has directly or indirectly distorted the thought process of hundreds of thousands of youngsters. Here we have a list of seven reasons why, backed by video evidence to prove that Zakir Naik is indefensible, intolerant and a menace for modern society.
- He preaches intolerance for other religions, has a supremacist ideology
Mr Naik is of the view that Islam is the only supreme religion. He also explicitly states that every other religion is wrong and thus the followers of every other religion shouldn’t be allowed to construct religious establishments in countries where you have Islamic rule. When probed about his logic behind the discriminatory ideology, he comes up with a silly justification that only Islam delivers 4 as the answer to the question, ‘what is 2+2’? We’re sure the preachers of every other religion also think of their respective religions as the best, and if only they were as intolerant as Mr Naik or followed his logic, Muslims wouldn’t be allowed to profess their religion anywhere in the world. The idea of forcefully stopping people from following their religion in a free way, is against the very fundamentals of a modern society. Here’s the childish rationale provided by Mr. Naik
- He denies the Theory of Evolution and scientific facts to brainwash people
The Theory of Evolution in general isn’t perfectly in sync with the sudden creation of the mankind through Adam and Hawwa. So Mr Naik conveniently denies every finding in modern science to suit his narrative. Now almost all religious books have their own vivid description of how the world and the humans were made. In almost all the cases one can interpret the descriptions in a way that aligns itself well with the reality of the world. Mr Naik, however, thwarts any possibility of a logical discourse and hurls insults at the man who was just trying to get an answer to his question.
Also, someone who got intrigued by Mr Zakir’s remarkable knowledge about almost every subject once decided to go through one of his ‘Darwin-bashing’ videos where he is recalling names of places, people and things as though he’s fetching queries from an SQL server. Upon close examination, though, this man managed to find as many as 25 errors in what Mr Naik had to say in a span of just 5 minutes.
- He genuinely doesn’t want women to work
Mr Naik is of the view that women working with men at a workplace and mingling with unknown men gives rise to rapes, and thus they shouldn’t be allowed to work. Simple as that! Also, he asserts that the responsibility of winning the bread is that of the man of the house, and thus, women shouldn’t ever bother about working. There no such thing as a ‘wish’ to work and excel in life. Here’s proof
- He thinks of population explosion as a myth
Zakir Naik believes that the world has enough to feed a population which is 3-4 times the current numbers. He thinks that about 70% of the world’s land is not utilized and problems such as hunger and poverty are solely due to the incapability of governments. And thus, humans should reproduce without any concern for the unbearable pressure on natural resources. He believes that governments of countries like USA and Australia pay higher allowances to people with more children, as having more children is ‘such a good thing’. Watch him say all these things with conviction in the video below
- He has an extremist, fatal outlook (though muffled) towards those who leave Islam
Sure, it’s the responsibility of every evangelist to increase the influence of his religion as far and as wide as possible. However, to quote scholars who suggest executing those who choose to move out of a religion’s fold is downright sadistic. While Mr Naik wouldn’t admit that ‘he’ suggests execution of those who leave Islam as the ‘only’ punishment, he often ‘quotes’ scholars who do. Anyone with half a brain would know what he’s suggesting with those quotes.
- He thinks slavery is OK, and so is having sex with slaves
Slaves are OK, as long as you’ve won them in the war. Having sex them is OK too, as they’re ‘what your right hand possesses’. Check Mr Zakir Naik make you travel back a 1000 years to a time when slavery was justified in this video
- He says suicide bombing is OK in some cases according to ‘some’ scholars
As before, he doesn’t say that ‘he’ is saying it. But doesn’t refrain from telling the people about the times when it’s OK to blow yourself up. You should do it under guidance from an Islamic Scholar, mind. Also, ‘generally’ it’s not OK kill innocent people, but under certain circumstances, it is. We would have wanted to know when, but Mr Zakir Naik didn’t unfortunately throw light on the subject in this specific video. Those of you willing to strap a bomb and kill people, however, can see this video for some guidance.
Religion, since the beginning of the human history has played in the hands of selfish leaders who have used it to stoke hatred for their own motives. And it’s the same with every religion. Our pasts are drenched in blood, and generations have suffered as they were instigated by their forebears quoting things which weren’t always true, or were twisted to suit them even if they were partially true.
So let’s let bygones be bygones, learn our lessons and create a society which is just and equal. Let’s be very clear about this – there are Zakir Naiks within every religion, and all of them need to be weeded out if we wish for a happy and safe social order for our coming generations. And for every one of us, who dreams of such a peaceful, just and liberal society – this man is a very real threat.
Oh, and here’s a screenshot of what the antivirus showed me as I tried to visit IRF.net, which is the official site for Mr. Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation.
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