Zakir Naik's Dilemma and Confusion in Pakistan
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
16 October 2024
Zakir Naik Says Unmarried Muslim Women Should Become Public Property
Main Points:
1. He also said that drug addiction and paedophilia could not exist in a Muslim society.
2. 3.He also said Pakistanis commit a collective sin by seeking a loan from the IMF.
3. He said Pakistani female TV anchors seduce men.
4. He said YouTube money is haram.
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From Files
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Dr Zakir Naik, the hard-line Indian televangelist is currently in Pakistan as a state guest and has kept the Pakistanis on tenterhooks thanks to his controversial statements which sometimes become hilarious.
A country reeling under a severe economic crisis and political instability, hunger, unemployment and rising crime rate has got a source of entertainment and comic relief in Dr Zakir Naik's illogical and idiotic statements.
He is holding speeches or question answer sessions in various towns of Pakistan where men and women hurl questions that put Mr Naik in a fix. Mr Naik had fled India to avoid arrest in alleged money laundering and conversion cases and acquired the citizenship of Malaysia in 2016 but it seems he does not feel safe even in Malaysia. Therefore, he sought temporary refuge in Pakistan and arrived in Pakistan with a thousand-kilogram luggage. A guest with a thousand-kilogram luggage! But he has antagonised majority of Pakistanis with his controversial and unpalatable remarks and statements about Pakistanis, particularly Pakistani women and Pakistani society.
Some of his controversial statements are:
1. If Muslim women do not find a bachelor, she has two options. One, she should marry a married man. Two, she should become a prostitute.
2. Drug addiction, adultery and paedophilia cannot exist in an Islamic society.
3. Pakistani female TV anchors are seductresses. If a man watches them for 20 minutes and does not feel aroused, he should consult a doctor (sex specialist).
4. YouTube income is haram.
5. Pakistanis commit a collective sin by seeking a loan from the International monetary fund.
The problem with Zakir Naik like others of his ilk is that they are a confused lot in the modern social milieu. They refuse to accept the fact that they are living in a highly complex scientific society where social and moral values have changed and the Muslims have to adapt to the new environment and social mores without compromising with their fundamental religious principles. Dr Zakir Naik left the stage where he was supposed to hand over shields and awards to teenage orphan girls from an orphanage arguing that the girls were na mahrem (a girl or woman permissible for marriage) and so he could not touch or look at them. The Pakistanis, and the Muslims around the world, were taken aback by his behaviour and opinion as girls of ten or 12 years’ age are seen as children and treated as daughters by elderly men.
Another instance of his rude behaviour with a young woman from a tribal community of Pakistan was when she said that in her province, people were apparently religious but at the same time, drug addiction, adultery and paedophilia was also rampant. She wanted to know the reason behind this paradox. Instead of explaining the reason behind the phenomenon, he rudely told the woman that adultery, paedophilia and drug addiction could not exist in an Islamic society. Therefore, her question was wrong and she should apologise for her unfounded and unverified allegation against the Muslims of her area. Syed Muzammil Shah, a journalist and vlogger of Pakistan criticised Mr Naik's rude behaviour and presented facts in support of the woman. He quoted statistics from an NGO called Sahil. According to the NGO, in 2023, 400 children were sexually abused in Pakistan. And in the first six months of 2024, 1600 children had already been sexually abused in the country.
Mr Naik is also of the opinion that the income from YouTube is haram. This has also spurred a controversy as many journalists, televangelists, educationists and even doctors use YouTube to educate people and earn revenue from YouTube. Some prominent Islamic scholars like Mufti Tariq Masood, Maulana Tarique Jameel, Engineer Md Ali Mirza and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi and other Islamic scholars have their YouTube channels and earn money from their broadcasts. All of them were declared Haramkhor by Dr Zakir Naik.
Almost all the statements by Zakir Naik are not supported by the Quran and Hadith and are merely his personal opinions based on his personal upbringing and male chauvinism. The Quran does not support his remark on unmarried Muslim women. At the most, the Quran permits an aged unmarried woman not to use veil if she does not expect marriage but if she still chooses to remain in veil, it will be appreciated. The Quran does not allow unmarried aged women to become prostitutes but Dr Zakir Naik encourages unmarried Muslim women to adopt prostitution in clear violation of the principles of the Quran.
Mr Naik's argument that adultery, paedophilia and drug addiction cannot exist in an Islamic society is also illogical and insensible. The Quran envisages a Muslim society free of sins and still prescribes punishment for adultery, sodomy, theft, robbery, mischief, rioting, murder and forced sex (with slave women). Therefore, the Quran acknowledges that there will be moral and social crimes in a Muslim society and therefore it prescribed punishment as a deterrent. If it is not so, are the punishment prescribed in the Quran for the non-Muslims alone?
Dr Zakir Naik's controversial and irrational statements have evoked severe criticism and protests from Pakistanis and they are seeking his removal from Pakistan. He has proved a misfit in the Pakistani society. Now the Pakistani journalists, intellectuals and common men are saying that India rightly expelled Zakir Naik. A political commentator Mubashir Luqman said, "The Pakistanis had earlier thought that the Indian government was Islamophobic and so it had victimised Zakir Naik but now we have realised that India had rightly taken action against him. Zakir Naik has fully exposed himself in Pakistan." Mr Luqman has asked him to leave Pakistan.
Mr Naik has also added insult to injury by saying that the Pakistanis have committed a collective sin by seeking a loan from the IMF for which they will all go to hell. He said the IMF will give Pakistan loan and will force them to do all kinds of dirty things. Notably, Pakistan will soon get seven billion dollars from the IMF as loan and the first instalment of one billion dollars will reach it soon. The loan may provide some relief to the cash strapped nation. But Mr Naik has criticised Pakistan government and the Pakistanis for seeking the loan.
On the whole, the statements of Zakir Naik, whom the infamous Cafe attack terrorists of Bangladesh named as their source of inspiration and who supported suicide bombing in 'some special circumstances' have nothing to do with the Quran and Hadith, rather are in contradiction with them. His statements have only made a mockery of Islam and Muslims.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/zakir-naik-dilemma-confusion-pakistan/d/133451
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