Zakir Naik continues to indoctrinate Indian Muslims with his radical and extremist Islamist sermons. Despite having fled to Malaysia in 2016 and having his channel Peace TV banned in India, Naik is making full use of social media to spew venom against Hindus of the country and other non-Muslim communities.
In what comes as a shocking development, Zakir Naik has now asked Indian Muslims to undertake Hijira (escape to avoid religious persecution) to Muslim-majority countries. He has also remarked that Kerala was a more ‘lenient’ state towards Muslims, and that all the communities live harmoniously in the Communist-ruled state.
Zakir Naik was responding to a question on how Indian Muslims should respond to the “harassment and oppression” of the ‘BJP government’ in India against them. “In last four-to-six years, there is an onslaught on Muslim minorities in India. There are lot of lynchings, attacks,” claimed Zakir Naik, further alleging that there was lot of oppression and persecution under the current government. Citing how the BJP was not a major force in Kerala, Naik called upon individual Muslims to move to Kerala, and also spoke in favour of Muslims ‘ghettoising’ themselves.
“If you have the means to go to a Muslim-majority country, that should be the best,” Zakir Naik said, adding he did “not expect” all Muslims of India to leave the country. For those who cannot, Kerala has been declared a friendly state by Zakir Naik. Whether the Communist state is proud of being validated by Zakir Naik no less is yet to be seen. However, for the state to be validated by Naik itself speaks volumes as to in whose hands power rests in the state.
“The people of Kerala are not communal in nature. The people of different religions live harmoniously. There is no friction between different religions,” Zakir Naik argued. He also added, “this government (BJP) doesn’t have much hold in the state of Kerala“. “So, one of the best options if you want to do Hijira to another state, I would say, is Kerala,” Naik said.
Zakir Naik did not just dedicate the ‘sermon’ to singing praises of his comrades in Kerala, but also took to spinning conspiracy theories about the Muslim population in India being anywhere between 250 to 300 million, as opposed to the 200 million Muslims currently estimated in the country. A more accurate estimation suggests the actual number to be anywhere close to 187 million. Naik declared India is the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.
He also called upon Muslims to unite with Dalits, who he claimed were “not Hindus”. Zakir Naik claimed, “Babasaheb Ambedkar loved Islam, but unfortunately, the Muslims didn’t welcome him, so he chose the second best…he chose Buddhism”. Naik further explained how a political alliance of Muslims and Dalits would end up representing nearly 600 million people and become a major force in India polity.
Zakir Naik also lamented the divide among various sects of Indian Muslims, which was rendering them incapable to come under a united umbrella organisation. He said that the different Muslim groups in India “are fighting each other, criticising each other…”
Zakir Naik had fled India for Malaysia in 2016 as his name emerged in various terror attacks in the subcontinent. He is also facing charges of money laundering and incitement to violence, and India is seeking an immediate extradition of the Islamist from Malaysia to make him face the music back here.