Fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik who was invited to preach Islam in Pakistan, is now facing severe criticism. Over what? Zakir Naik on Wednesday was invited as a guest for a program organized by Pakistan Sweet Home Foundation in an orphanage, to honor the orphans residing there, but he refused to honor these girls, calling them ‘Na-mahram’.
Naik is now facing backlash from the people of Pakistan for his attitude and many videos related to this incident have also gone viral on social media. According to the BBC, during this program, when the announcer addressed these girls as daughters, Naik said that you can neither call them daughters nor can you touch them because these girls are ‘Na-mahram’.
What is ‘na-mahram’ in Islam
Mahram comes from the word “Haram”, which means something that is sacred or prohibited. In Islamic law, Mahram means a person who you are not allowed to marry, and it is permissible to see them without a headscarf and shake their hands and hug them if you like.
Whereas Na-mahram means it is not Haram to marry, also you can’t touch or see them without a headscarf, with a few exceptions. It also means you have to wear the hijab in front of a Na-mahram.
Pakistani’s say on the statement
People of Pakistan, have described the behavior of Zakir Naik as hypocritical, disgusting and degrading to women. A Pakistani journalist named Usman Chaudhary has shared a video of the very same incident on X writing that “Pakistan Sweet Home Chairman Zamrad Khan called the orphan girls on the stage to receive the shield, but Dr. Zakir Naik left the stage without giving the shield. He said these are not your daughters, they are Na-Mahrams. You cannot touch them or call them your daughters. Dr. Zakir Naik did not leave principles”.
Another senior Pakistani journalist Abbas Nazir also expressed disappointment over X stating “I was wondering how did Zakir Naik come to Pakistan. Turns out he was invited by the PMLN government; received by Rana Mashood. He will pollute minds for four weeks. This is what a government thrashing about for legitimacy does. PMLN is a write-off”.
I was wondering how did Zakir Naik come to Pakistan. Turns out he was invited by the PMLN government; received by Rana Mashood. He will pollute minds for four weeks. This is what a government thrashing about for legitimacy does. PMLN is a write-off.
— Abbas Nasir (@abbasnasir59) October 1, 2024
At the same time, Sareeha Benazir, a Pakistani woman & lawyer by profession, has made a strong comment on this incident calling Zakir a misogynist & referring his attitude as disgusting, full of hypocrisy and demeaning to women and she also sympathized with the girls saying that it must have been shameful for young girls.
Another ‘X’ user said about this, “Such mindsets remain the biggest obstacle in the progress of our girls.”
People unversed, Zakir, an Islamist hate preacher. In the wake of the July 2016 Cafe explosion in Dhaka, Zakir Naik fled India. He is charged with financing terror, inciting hatred, and laundering money.
With the help of his Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), Zakir Naik gained widespread recognition in the 1990s for his dawah (Islamic proselytizing) efforts. His attempts to prove that Islam is better than other religions were the topic of controversy by the early 2000s. His defenders referred to him as a comparative religion specialist.
He started the Islamist station named as Peace TV English, which is situated in Dubai. Subsequently, he introduced Peace TV in Bangla and Urdu, which has since been outlawed in several nations due to accusations of hate speech.
He is the same person whose hate videos have been found on every terrorist’s phone who are involved in different cases of terrorism.
