As the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in Qatar, notorious radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who is accused of money laundering and delivering hate speech in India, has been invited to the country to preach Islam. According to reports, Zakir Naik has already reached Doha in Qatar ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and he will give religious lectures throughout the tournament in the country.
On Social Media, this information was shared by a number of persons and media organisations. It was shared on Twitter by Faisal Alhajri, a presenter at the Qatari state-owned sports channel Alkass. He took to Twitter and wrote, “Preacher Sheikh Zakir Naik is in Qatar during the World Cup and will give many religious lectures throughout the World Cup”
الداعيه الشيخ ذاكر نايك يتواجد في قطر خلال فترة كأس العالم وسيقدم العديد من المحاضرات الدينية طوال المونديال 👏🏻#ذاكر_نايك pic.twitter.com/Tz9gnU6c4N
— فيصل الهاجري (@Faisal_Alhajri0) November 19, 2022
The news was also confirmed by the famous entertainment magazine ScreenMix. They wrote, “Qatar calls for the largest Islamic preacher d. Zakir Naik to deliver religious lectures during the 2022 World Cup”
قطر تستدعي أكبر داعية إسلامي د. ذاكر نايك لإلقاء محاضرات دينية أثناء بطولة كأس العالم 2022 pic.twitter.com/jBUc4AR8do
— Screen Mix (@ScreenMix) November 19, 2022
Videos show Zakir Naik arriving at a FIFA World Cup venue in Qatar.
It is notable that Zakir Naik, who is in Qatar to deliver religious sermons, holds similar views on the Islamic prophet as remarked by suspender BJP leader Nupur Sharma. Qatar had vehemently protested when Nupur Sharma had talked about Prophet Mohammad’s marriage, and it was one of the first countries to summon the Indian government over the controversy that erupted following the remarks by ex-Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
In June of this year, Qatar summoned India’s ambassador to the country and delivered protest memos expressing the Gulf nations’ strong “rejection and condemnation” of the BJP leader’s comments about the Islamic prophet. Zakir Naik had said that Prophet Mohammad had met his wife Aisha when she was six, and the marriage was consummated when her age was 9 years, quoting Islamic texts. He had even denied claims that Aisha was actually 19, not 9, saving this was a distortion by modern scholars of what was mentioned in Hadiths.
Naik is wanted by Indian police on suspicion of money laundering and hate speech in India. India barred Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation from operating, accusing him of inciting and assisting its followers in promoting or attempting to foster sentiments of animosity, hatred, or ill-will amongst religious communities and groups. After departing India in 2016, Zakir Naik fled to Malaysia.
On March 30, 2022, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notice declaring the Islamic Research Foundation an illegal association and banning it for the next five years. This organization was established by fundamentalist preacher Zakir Naik, who is accused of radicalising Muslim teenagers through his ‘religious talks.’
Zakir Naik’s Islamist preachings and its violent consequences
The radical Islamist activities of Zakir Naik have been well documented. In 2016, terrorists involved in the Dhaka blast case admitted that they were influenced by the preacher’s speeches.
In 2019, Zakir was banned from giving speeches in Malaysia after he made racist comments against Hindus and Chinese Malaysians. He was interrogated for hours in connection to the same. Zakir Naik is wanted in India in cases involving money laundering. The government of India had taken his channel, Peace TV, off the air for peddling hate propaganda.
