Dr Muhammad Ajmal
There is no need for an introduction on Zakir Naik, everyone knows him – he is one of the well known Islamic public speakers world over who was recently awarded King Faisal award, the most prestigious award for Islamic activities globally. He is a very known personality in the world, being recognized and rewarded not as a terrorist or Terrorist supporter but as a Muslim Intellectual.
Although a Medical Doctor by profession, he chose to dedicate his life for clarifying the message of Islam to the masses. Yes he was a Muslim Evangelist and being a Evangelist is not a Constitutional Crime.
Why as an Indian you need to support Zakir Naik..?
It is understandable that people are having differences over his style, content, and a lot of other things. But he is a speaker, who speaks with clarity, giving equal chance for anyone else to speak in the same breath. He doesn’t shout you out as today’s news journalists like Arnab Goswami are. Nor has he called for rapes, murders, etc, which is common among Sanghis. Those who are good at speech could well challenge him and debate with him like wise. If there is resentment, then they can as well make a compliant at a police station to lodge a case and let the courts decide justly & constitutionally.
The reasoning that, he inspired terrorism is laughable & foolish enough for everyone to see through it. He has spoken against terrorism, has called IS as unIslamic, but media under the influence of Sanghis, are presenting doctored videos to falsifying and demonize him.
Anders Breivik, the Norwegian Nazi, who killed more than 70 people – in his manifesto hailed RSS, Sangh Pariwar. To quote – “Breivik lists the websites of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the National Volunteers’ Organisation, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as resources for further information. The manifesto pledges military support “to the nationalists in the Indian civil war and in the deportation of all Muslims from India.”
Will the Govt or the Media stand up and have RSS / Sangh Pariwar banned for being a Inspiration to the mass killer. ..?? or Are there dual laws in this country or are we hidden hypocrites..??
There are millions of Muslims and Non Muslims alike who have seen his videos, almost none has gone on to become Terrorists, but majority 99.999% of them are opposing killing of Innocents which is what Terrorism is. Today, what we are seeing in the media and also among the Sanghi brigade is to curtail the voice of an India not by legal or constitutional means, but by creating a Mob mania. Does it bode well for India.?
No it does not. India as such is a land of diversity where we live by tolerating & accepting differences. The day we deny this diversity and want to bring in uniformity, our idea of a nation of diversity ceases to exit. Today it is Zakir Naik being stopped from speaking by unconstitutional means, tomorrow it could well be you. Any speech or thought – be it on poverty, illiteracy, exploitation or anything in which there might be difference of opinion – has equal risk of being curtailed without any legal process.
You are not promoting Zakir Naik by standing up for him, but you are protecting yours and others constitutional rights including free speech, least it be snatched off from you later on, through similar means. Remember its not we only who are minorities in India but every caste and every thought against these Sanghis, is a minority. You by supporting what is correct give justice a chance when those who have blood on their hands room free.
Why as a Muslim you need to support Zakir Naik..?
As Muslims living in India, even though we differ a lot in terms of religious issues split by Sunnis, Shias, Barelwis, Salafis, etc – our challenges in India are the same. We are a minority who has been questioned for patriotism day in and day out, made to feel like second class citizens in a land we were born. We are denied on a daily basis our constitutional rights and discriminated in almost every field including housing, jobs, etc. We have been oppressed, killed, burnt by the same Sanghis without any discrimination whether we are sunnis or shias, or sufis or salafis..
It is beyond a shred of doubt that those who are orchestrating this whole show are the same people who have heaped misery on every Muslim from Babri Masjid to Gujarat Riots – who killed our men, raped our women and burned our children. Have we all forgotten this.??
Yes some talks of Zakir Naik might have hurt you but you very well know that your own local masjid scholar, speaks worse of other Muslim groups. But never did Zakir Naik have sectarian topics for lectures as our scholars do He just answered few questions which were asked of him in a way he believes to be correct. The issue here is not about Zakir Naik alone but about Indian Muslims as a whole. The legacy of Zakir Naik is not of sectarianism, which some people from Barelwis, Shias, Salafi Madkhalis are making out into. The image below amply conveys what these short sighted, bigoted groups are upto.
Today the attacks and the talk banning is on an educated, intellectual muslim, who can argue to defend himself. Tomorrow these attacks and silencing will happen to our other scholars and ordinary Muslims – and at that time we will have already lost the battle.
The legacy of Zakir Naik was to stand up and provide the Muslim Ummah with valid, logical, understandable arguments when Muslims were ashamed to call themselves Muslims. Post Zakir Naik era, we the Muslims masses of India knew, we had evidences, be it science or comparative religion. If we could not give an answer to the attacks on Islam, we could just buy a ZakirNaik CD and convince him or at least silence him.
The only crime Zakir Naik can be accused of, is to make you feel proud of being a Muslim, at a time when being Muslim was not only unfashionable but even looked down upon as objectionable.
The Sanghi Media and few secular name sake Muslim, who donot practice Islam want to ridicule and make fun of him. But mind you, it is not to berate him alone – but to prevent you from looking up to religious men and go a step further in making you like themselves – non practicing-secular-namesake Muslim. They want you to follow a Kamal Ataturk model of Islam, which remain only in name and not in practice. But let them also know, that Kamal Ataturk model of Islam failed in Turkey and it will fail in India also.
Being a practicing Muslim is not a crime by Constitution – but its an obligation we owe to God, with a hope of reward in the Here-After. Let us Muslims not get distracted by those who have “no concept of Hereafter” (Disbelievers) or those who “do not practice Islam forgetting the hereafter” (Sinners & Evil Doers) or those who “have sold the hereafter for some flimsy worldly gains” (Hypocrites and Misguiders) who have openly joined Sanghis in this battle against Muslims.
Its time that we realize the greater challenge we are facing. You stand up for Zakir Naik not because of the noise and propaganda surrounding Zakir Naik but because you want to be a better Indian Muslim who is allowed full rights to practice and propagate his religion as per the rights enshrined in our Constitution.
(Author is a Medical Practitioner and promotes Ethical Islamic Investments among Indian Muslims through the firm WealthCity)
Courtesy: Muslim Mirror