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Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born October 18 1965) is an Indian public speaker, debater and writer on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He travels extensively and has been featured at many Islamic conferences.

A medical doctor by training, Naik attempts to clear what he considers misconceptions about Islam using the Qur'an, Hadith and other religious scriptures, while also spreading Dawah (Islamic proselytism).

History and background

He studied at St Peter's High School and Kishinchand Chellaram College. Later, he trained as a medical doctor at the Karnataka Lingayat Education Society's J. N. Medical College, Belgaum, Karnataka. He heads the Islamic Research Foundation, based in Mumbai. He is also the chairman of the IRF Educational Trust, and the president of Islamic Dimensions. Naik is the founder of the Islamic International School .

His views

Naik claims to offer a rational understanding of Islam. Various aspects of Islamic law, Shari'a, he says, may seem illogical to non-Muslims or non-practicing Muslims; Naik claims these rules are sensible. Islam, in his view, is the best way of life because its teachings constitute practical solutions for the problems of mankind.

Analogy of Father and Son

During his dialogue with Sri Sri Ravishankar, Naik claimed that Muslims take the rest of humanity as their brothers and sisters. However, this does not mean that they will accept another person's religion. He went on to say, "Won't a Father try to save his son who wants to jump from a 20-storey building? In the same way, Muslims try to save the Non-Muslims by bringing them to the only right path - the Islamic path."

Propagation of Other faiths in Islamic state

Zakir Naik says that propagation of other religions within an Islamic state is forbidden. While he appreciates people of other religions allowing Muslims to freely propagate Islam in their country, he feels there should not be any church or temple in an Islamic state. He makes an analogy to math and claims, "2+2 is only equal to 4, not 3 or 6. Similarly, truth is one and it is only Islam. Will non-Muslims allow 2+2 = 6 to be taught in their schools?"

Allegations of Idol Worship in Islam

Naik was once asked: "Muslims go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and worship the Kaba'h by circumabulating it and kissing the black stone. Is that not idol worship?" to which he replied "It is not idol worship. The Kaba'h represents a common direction for prayer and by circling it, Muslims feel that there is one God in the center. Muslims kiss the Kaba'h only because Muhammad kissed it." Furthermore, Naik goes on to say:

"Which Hindu will stand on the idol of their deity? But muslims stood on the Kaba'h during the call for prayer during early times of Islam. This is the best proof that there is no idol worship in Islam but present in Hinduism."

Adoption in Islam

Naik believes that Muslims are allowed to adopt children but that such adoption cannot have a legal status under Islamic law. Giving the adopted child a legal name (of the parent) is something he considers forbidden. Also, once the child grows up, the female members of the family must treat him as a non-mahram (stranger) and observe hijaab (be veiled) in his presence. (15:40 in the video link)

Punishment for Apostasy

Naik believes that the Islamic injunction prescribing death for apostasy is justified. He compares it to death penalties meted out to national traitors (army generals who defect being the example cited) and proclaims that apostates fall in the same category. (30:15 in the video)

Music

Naik asserts that all instrumental music is haraam (forbidden), except a one-membraned drum. .

Riba or Interest

Naik believes that Muslims should not receive, give or witness interest-related financial transactions. He declares that it is haraam (forbidden) for Muslims to own or use credit cards, take out loans or buy insurance. He further claims that it is also forbidden for Muslims to work in banks. (11:12 and 13:18 in the video link) His supporters claim that his comments are relevant only in the context of banks dealing with interest.

Islamic dietary laws

Observant Muslims do not eat pork.

Naik argues that pork is forbidden because the swine is a dirty animal by nature, and that its flesh is the source of many diseases:

"The pig is one of the filthiest animals on earth. It lives and thrives on muck, faeces and dirt. It is the best scavenger that I know that God has produced." .

Naik also believes that diet has psychological/ethical consequences and one is what one eats :

- :"The pig is the most shameless animal on the face of the earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to have sex with its mate. In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives; many say 'you sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife.' If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs" . + :"The pig is the most shameless animal on the face of the earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to have sex with its mate.' If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs" .

He also says, "Eating of pork can cause no less than seventy different types of diseases. A person can have various helminthes like roundworm, pinworm, hookworm, etc." .

Hijab

Naik supports the practice of hijab, or Islamic modesty for both men and women. He writes that in Islam, a woman is required to cover herself entirely except for her face and hands up to her wrists. He claims that Islam thus protects women from the lust of men. For men, he prescribes looking away from women if immodest thoughts enter their minds.

Naik goes on to say:

"Suppose there are twin sisters. While walking down the street, one of them is wearing a mini-skirt, while the other is wearing the hijab with everything covered with loose clothes except the hands up to the wrist. If there is a hooligan who is waiting to tease a girl, which girl will he tease? He will tease the girl wearing the mini-skirt."

Polygamy

Naik argues that polygyny, or the Muslim practice of taking up to four wives is justified as it is in the best interest of both women and men. He claims it protects the modesty of women, while keeping men from going astray. He writes in his website that human males are polygamous by nature and that a man is less likely to cheat if he has more than one wife.He also believes that there are more marriageable women than men in the world and claims:

"If every woman got married to only one man, there would be over thirty million females in U.S.A, four million females in Great Britain, 5 million females in Germany and nine million females in Russia who would not find a husband. Thus the only two options before a woman who cannot find a husband is to marry a married man or to become public property." .

Naik points to the verse 4:3 from the Qur'an to explain the Muslim position on polygyny. This verse explains that a man can take more than one wife only if he is able to treat them equally. If he cannot do this, he should have a relationship with only one wife and/or "what your right hands possess" (i.e. female slaves and concubines).

A woman's value as a witness

There is a verse in the Qur'an (2:282) which says that two female witnesses are equal to one male witness. According to Naik's interpretation, this verse deals only with financial transactions and murder cases. Naik says:

"In financial transactions, two men are preferred. Islam expects men to be the breadwinners of their families. Since financial responsibility is shouldered by men, they are expected to be well versed in financial transactions as compared to women. As a second option, the witness can be one man and two women, so that if one of the women errs the other can remind her."

Naik extends this thought to murder cases and says:

"... the feminine attitude can also have an effect on the witness in a murder case. In such circumstances a woman is more terrified as compared to a man. Due to her emotional condition she can get confused. Therefore, two female witnesses are equivalent to one male witness."

Charity

Islam prescribes Zakaat, or obligatory charity. Ideally, every Muslim who has assets in gold, silver, livestock, savings and currencies that exceed the nisaab level should give 2.5% of those assets every lunar year to charity.

Naik believes that if Muslims followed Islamic law in this regard, poverty among Muslims could be eliminated.

Prosecution of criminals

Shariah (Islamic law) prescribes capital punishment for crimes such as murder and rape -- unless the victim's family either forgives the culprit or receives blood money, or both.

Naik believes that these penalties are necessary to prevent rape and murder, and that these penalties would ultimately make for a safer society.

Permissible food in Islam

In a 2006 TV appearance, Naik declared that it was haraam (forbidden) for Muslims to eat prasad. Prasad is food offered to Hindu deities and then shared with friends and family; it is believed to convey blessings and good fortune. Naik said that too many Muslims say Bismillah over the food, and eat it to please their friends. Naik quotes the following verse from the Quran in support of his claim:

6:121 Eat not of (meats) on which Allah's name hath not been pronounced: That would be impiety. But the evil ones ever inspire their friends to contend with you if ye were to obey them, ye would indeed be Pagans. (Yusuf Ali Translation)

Wishing Christians a Merry Christmas

In a 2003 speech in Toronto , Naik asserts that it is haraam, forbidden, for Muslims to wish their Christian friends a merry Christmas. Naik believes that this common greeting acknowledges Jesus as a son of God and is thus blasphemy for Muslims.

Implementing Shariah in India

Naik writes that while he appreciates that India presently allows Muslims to have their own personal law, "Muslims in India would prefer the Islamic criminal law (Shariah) to be implemented on all Indians since it is the most practical." .

Debates and dialogues

Naik sometimes participates in debates as part of his public activities.

Debate in Chicago

One of the featured activities at the 2000 Chicago ICNA Conference (a gathering of American Muslims) was a debate titled "The Quran & the Bible in the Light of Modern Science", between Naik and a Christian medical doctor named William F. Campbell. Campbell took three years out of his practice to write a book called The Qur'an and the Bible in the light of history and science (first edition 1992, second edition 2000) , which he conceived as a rebuttal to Maurice Bucaille's 1976 The Bible, The Qur'an, and Science . Each of the debaters tried to discredit the other's scripture by parsing out verses from their counterpart's Holy Scripture and pointing out perceived errors. The debate can be downloaded from Naik's website. Links to a streaming video can be found in the External links..

Inter-religious dialogue in Bangalore

An "Inter-Religious dialogue for Spiritual Enlightenment" was held on the 21st of January 2006 at Bangalore. Naik and the founder of the Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spoke on the topic The Concept of God in Hinduism and Islam , in the light of sacred scriptures.

This was by far the biggest dialogue in which Naik participated and can be viewed here.

During the event, Naik said, "religious tolerance is important in Islam but tolerance does not mean acceptance." He claimed that people of other religions were misguided and said, "Muslims would have a problem with the Hindu imagery of the god Vishnu." Naik also claimed that the Vedas prophesize the coming of the prophet Muhammad, for which Ravishankar replied, "muslims should now respect the Vedas and not call it scriptures of the unbelievers."

Challenge to Pope Benedict XVI

Zakir Naik invited Pope Benedict XVI for open interfaith dialogue on 29th September 2006.

Ali Sina's challenge

Ali Sina who has debated with famous authorities of Islam like Grand Ayatollah Montazeri , has challenged Naik for a written debate but his request has, according to Sina, remained unanswered for over three years . After numerous attempts to reach out to Naik, Sina was instructed by Naik's assistants that Naik does not participate in written debate. Sina has instead been posed a counter challenge by Naik's supporters to arrange for a live audience of at least 10,000 people. Sina, in counter claim, says this demand is not justified and cites the threat to his life as well as the lack of time in a televised debate. He has instead offered to publish the written debate on his website.

Naik's critics

When Naik claimed that Muslims were like the father who tries to save his son (who is like the misguided non-muslim) from jumping from a 20-storey building, Sri Sri Ravishankar immediately asked him, "How did you conclude Muslims are the Father and Non-Muslims are the son? Who is taking who as Father, and who is taking who as Son?"

Most of the examples Naik uses are outdated and the figures he quotes are no longer true or applicable. His analogies seem baseless and don't seem to pertain to the point he tries to prove. This is the case when he uses "wrong statistics" about world population to claim that women's population is more than men's population. Various published sources discredit his claims.

The interviewer of Zakir Naik during his "propagation of Other faiths" segment added his own views after the segment. He questioned if Zakir Naik was being any different from the Taliban.

Naik's views on prasad and Christmas wishes have been discussed on Indian television channels. During NDTV's televised debate "The Big Fight" (March 11 2006) prominent Indian Muslims such as Salman Khurshid and Javed Akhtar reproved what they felt were Naik's mischievous attempts to radicalize the Indian Muslim community and promote communal strife.

Other Muslims like Sheikh Taj-Al Halily and the members of the Muslim Canadian Congress have also rejected this viewpoint on Christmas wishes. .

During the Bangalore debate, Naik criticised other religions including Hinduism. His co-speaker Sri Sri Ravi Shankar simply replied, "to each their belief, and it is not our position to question them."

Ali Sina, who is a big critic of Naik, has claimed that Naik is a showman who twists the truth and fools his audience . He has reviewed the debate between Campbell and Naik and claims that Naik misrepresented Islam with his lies.

Some Islamic scholars like Mahmoud Murad also vehemently disagree with Naik's interpretations and the language in which he couches arguments and have published books refuting them.

External links

Naik publications and debates

• Qur'an and Modern Science - Compatible Or Incompatible? (book)
• Islam and Terrorism (book)
• The Concept of God in Hinduism and Islam with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (complete video)

Anti-Naik

• Ali Sina's commentary on debate between Zakir Naik and William Campbell +
• Christian rebuttals to some of Naik's theories
• Challenge by Ali Sina

Other Links

• Videos By Dr. Zakir Naik Free downloadable videos of Dr Zakir Naik
• Famous Muslims

1. Debate with Grand Ayatollah Montazeri
2. FaithFreedom.org: Ali Sina's communication with the website administrators of Naik's website
3. http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/SohailAhmed.htm