Tele-evangelist Naik in the news again, for wrong reasons again

It was in 2010 when Dr Zakir Naik gave a slew of interviews to various media outlets calling the West "Islamophobic" and slamming the western media for "distorting" his comments and calling India more "secular". The interviews were arranged because the UK and Canada had banned him for "preaching hatred". The ban is in force even today.

Six years later, the president of 49-year-old Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) has found himself in the news again, this time owing to reports that some attackers in the Dhaka terror strike were his followers.

An international orator on Islam and comparative religion, the ease with which he talks about other religious scriptures and his use of digital media are what have made him reach a wider audience across the world.

"Dr Naik has followers all over the world. If somebody does something wrong, how he can be blamed for it? At any point can someone say that he has encouraged terrorism? As a matter of fact, he has always condemned it," said Manzoor Shaikh, administrator of IRF, which runs from Dongri.

However, it is his remarks on terrorism that have dogged him among other things. Naik's once often cited analogy is of terror and his opinion on Osama bin Laden. "When a robber sees a policeman, he is terrified. So, for a robber, a policeman is a terrorist," Naik had said. He had earlier said he did not know Osama (well enough) to call him a terrorist based on reports of "BBC and CNN".

"(What it means is that) When a Muslim sees something wrong, s/he should approach the authorities," said Shaikh, defending the statement and saying it was out of context.

On Laden, Shaikh said that later Naik was clear that he is a terrorist and the video cited is an old one.

It is in the lack of one's understanding or their misunderstanding of Naik's quotes that the tele-evangelist has often been dragged into controversy, say his supporters.

But not all agree. "In the community, there is a large group that does not believe in what he says," said Maulana Syed Moin Ashraf, president of Jamia Qadria Ashrafia Madrassa in Mumbai Central, who is one among them.

"His statement on the Prophet had caused panic among Muslims, when he had said that people should not be asking from him. His quotes on Yazid and his interpretation of other religions have the potential to create problems. It is Allah's mercy that there have not been fights. Talking about one's religion is good, but one shouldn't demean other religions. Although he apologised for his remarks on the Prophet and said that he had not said anything, when we saw the tape before a senior police officer, it was revealed that he had made those remarks," said Ashraf.

However, general secretary of the All India Ulema Council Maulana Hakim Mehmood Dariyabadi said, "It hasn't come to us that he's involved in terror activities. He has done some good work by bringing out the similarities between different religions and Islam. Differences with him have been on the varied schools of thought within Islam and the way he says one should be praying."

Son of a doctor, Naik is an MBBS who became a preacher later in life. Now in Saudi Arabia with his family for Umrah, Naik had told dna that he credits improvement of his speech due to his faith and "submission to God Almighty". Among his other recognitions, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia conferred on him the King Faisal International Prize 2015 for 'Service to Islam'. The IRF website states that the prize is the most prestigious one in the Muslim world, "similar to the Nobel Prize".

Some critics contest that service too. "He does a good job of stating that Islam is the best of the religions, but he doesn't realise that he can't issue a fatwa. It is only a Mufti and someone who has spent some years of study in Arabic. He should not cross over to that," said Maulana Mustaqeem Azmi, president of Jamiat Ulema I Hind (Maharashtra).