Opposing Dr Zakir Naik for his religious stand, Muslims for Secular and Democracy forum on Thursday condemned him and demanded a probe against the preacher for promoting enmity between different relig
Opposing Dr Zakir Naik for his religious stand, Muslims for Secular and Democracy forum on Thursday condemned him and demanded a probe against the preacher for promoting enmity between different religious groups. The statement from the forum came after Zakir Naik’s name was linked to terror attack in Dhaka earlier this month.
“We demand that Dr Naik and hate mongers, irrespective of their religions, be investigated and prosecuted for promoting enmity between different religious groups. The news report said that security agencies in India and Bangladesh are probing the possible role of Dr Naik in aiding and abetting terrorist acts in Islam’s name. Whether the televangelist is guilty of complicity in terrorist activity or not can only be established through an unbiased investigation. But Dr Naik is no messenger of peace,” the forum said in its statement. The forum has eminent personalities and social workers like Javed Anand, Dr Irfan Engineer, Firoz Mithiborwala.
Alleging Dr Naik for misinterpreting Islam, the forum said, “Dr Naik’s brand of Islam promotes violence to the clear Quaran’s command to Muslims. It is contrary to the Islam preached and practiced for centuries in our subcontinent by numerous Sufi saints, including Baba Farid, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Khwaja Moiuddin Chisti. Dr Naik’s Wahabi fulminations are an assault on Islam’s tolerant tradition and seeks to destroy India’s unity within diversity.”
Dr Naik was supposed to visit Mumbai this week to clarify his stand after his name was linked for abetting one of the terrorist in the Bangladesh bomb blast. However, a close aide of Dr Naik cried foul at the police for not being allowed to hold a press conference. Dr Naik’s spokesperson has claimed that hotels are refusing to be the venue for his press conference.
In a fresh statement, Naik’s spokesperson said, “It’s weird — and unfair — what’s going on. Apparently, hotels in Mumbai have been told not to give out venue for Dr Zakir Naik’s press conference. At least four hotels, after confirming availability, and some even after confirming the booking, have cancelled. The latest one is the World Trade Centre, who after confirming the booking on Tuesday, called Wednesday to cancel it. The Mumbai police has, however, denied reports that it refused permission to hold the press conference.
