No official FIFA World Cup invite sent to Zakir Naik: Qatar tells India

Qatar has informed India via diplomatic channels that it did not send any official invitation to Indian fugitive and controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to attend the opening ceremony of FIFA World Cup in Doha, reported India Today. It further claimed that claimed the deliberate “disinformation” was spread by other countries to spoil India-Qatar bilateral relations.

The clarification by the Arab country comes after New Delhi conveyed to Doha that it would be forced to call off Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar’s visit to the FIFA World Cup inauguration if Naik is formally invited at the grand event. Dhankar attended the event on November 20 and departed from Qatar the next day but not before meeting Indian expat blue-collar workers who had built soccer stadiums for the West Asian country.

Naik, a televangelist, reportedly left India in 2016 and moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency. India had sent a request to Malaysia for his extradition.  He faces multiple cases of money laundering and hate speech in India and his organisation Islamic Research Foundation is banned in the country. 

Naik is also accused of encouraging and assisting IRF’s followers in “promoting or attempting to promote feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different religious communities and groups.”

Naik is banned in the UK and Canada for his hate speech against other religions. He is among the 16 banned Islamic scholars in Malaysia.