After Islamic extremists and fundamentalists impeded the construction of Hindu temple in Islamabad, slamming the Imran Khan government’s decision to fund the project, controversial radical Islamist Zakir Naik has voiced his discontent with the Pakistani government for allowing construction of a temple in Islamabad.
Naik said that the Imran Khan government has committed a sin, as it is haram (forbidden) according to Sharia (Islamic law) for an Islamic nation to pay or donate to a worship house of a non-Muslim, be it a temple or a church.
Speaking at a live session on his Islamic YouTube channel, BelievingBeings, the terror influencer, who fled India to Malaysia in 2016, said that all Muslim scholars, imams and ulemas stood united in their views that “a Muslim cannot donate, support or construct a house of worship of non-Muslims”, and by using Muslim taxpayers money to fund the Krishna temple in Islamabad, Pakistan is committing shirk (sin).
“There are several fatwas (rulings) that a Muslim cannot donate or build or support a house of worship of a non-Muslim. Over the ages, scholars have maintained this,” Naik said while answering to questions from his followers and others on his weekly programme.
He furthered that the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims also discourages cooperation “in sins and transgressions”, therefore, if any Muslim associates with the building of any non-Muslism worship place, he is committing a sin.
Even a non-Muslim living in an Islamic nation cannot donate for a place of their worship: Zakir Naik
The fugitive Islamic hate preacher furthered that while there was no question of a Muslim living in an Islamic nation spending from his wealth to build a temple, even a non-Muslim living in an Islamic nation should not be allowed to use his money for building a place of worship (for non-Islamic religions).
“Fuqaha (experts in Islamic law) have agreed that even a non-Muslim’s money cannot be used to build a temple in a Muslim land. So where is the question of using Muslim money or taxpayers money (to construct a temple)?” he wondered.
The radical Islamic preacher said that if a non-Muslim house of worship is expanded by a Muslim rule, there is complete justification in destroying it. The Islamic government has no right to build new places of worship for the non-Muslims, but can only protect the existing ones, said Naik.
Politics over the proposed Hindu temple in Islamabad
The politics over the construction of a Krishna temple in Islamabad exposed the hypocrisy of the Imran Khan-led Pakistani government. Days after giving a ‘go-ahead’ for the construction of the Hindu temple in Islamabad and announcing a sanction of 10 crore Pakistani rupees (approximately Indian Rs 4.47 crore) for its construction, the Imran Khan government stopped construction of the boundary wall of the Hindu temple being built in Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad citing legal reasons. The Pakistan assembly speaker also batted against the temple construction on Islamic land saying that it is against Islam and an insult to the Islamic kingdom.
It even faced the wrath of the radical Islamists and fundamentalist, who went out of the way to stop the construction of the Hindu temple. A Fatwa was issued against the under-construction temple. Thereafter the radical extremists destroyed the under-construction boundary wall of the temple. Azan was read at the temple site. Videos of Muslim citizens of Pakistan issuing threats and warning against the temple were flooded on social media sites.
If constructed, the temple would have been the first Hindu temple in the Pakistani capital.
