Naik’s answer was uploaded on his YouTube channel with the title ‘Will Good Non-Muslims like Ravish Kumar Deserve same Punishment like Evil non-Muslims’ in response to a question by a person called Furqan from Delhi, India who asked, “What will happen to good non-Muslims? We have seen some very good-hearted journalists like Ravish Kumar etc. who speak the truth, take the side of Muslims and show the ugly truth of the oppressors. It is not just him, there are many others from different professions who are like him. So what will Allah do to them if they don‘t die as Muslims as they don’t deserve punishment like other big wrongdoers?”

To the question, Naik responded saying, “The questioner is asking that non-Muslims are of different types. Some are good non-Muslims, some are bad, some extremely bad. So will all of them get the same punishment? And the answer is no.”

He says people like journalist Ravish Kumar will not find a place in heaven as they are still non-Muslims who are committing the major sin of ‘shirk’ or idolatry. He goes on to say that there is a hierarchy in heaven and hell and non-Muslims who do good deeds, won’t get a good place in heaven, even though they may get a place in a lower /milder version of hell. He adds that those non-Muslims who do good deeds, will get rewarded in this life itself – maybe through wealth or fame, saying that anyone who is a ‘mushrik’ (idolater) will not be forgiven by Allah and will end up in heaven until they embrace Islam.
 

Why is this problematic?

This video was uploaded on Zakir Naik’s YouTube channel on June 27 and has garnered 1,04,684 views. He has 2.01 million subscribers on YouTube and has a following of 22,570,594 on Facebook, making him one of the most followed Muslim preachers on social media.

Naik’s statements are problematic because they go against the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb of India which has evolved through thousands of years of understanding and co-existence of various religions. In the Indian sub-continent, Muslims and non-Muslims have respected each other’s faiths and many Hindu saints are revered by Muslims and vice-versa.

Naik’s statement only further the agenda of communal hatred. In Chapter 103 of the Holy Quran, ‘Al-‘Asr’ (The Time), it is explained that the goals of mankind’s existence should be  faith, good actions and the exhortation to truth and to patience, for these constitute true honour and wealth, which will prove for us a lasting profit. It doesn’t say Muslims or non-Muslims, but refers to mankind.

It is Islamic belief that only God can decide who is worthy of heaven or hell. It is also written in the in the 7th volume of the Hadith “Tahdib al-Ahkam, “”If you are sure about the religion and trusteeship of the suitor, approve, otherwise you’ll cause a fitna (conflict) on the face of the earth and a great corruption.”

Ravish Kumar too is not just a journalist who sides with Muslims. He condemns hate speech equally and rejects supremacist ideologies, no matter who they come from. In the past, he has questioned conservative the Islamic movement called Wahhabism for its role in the rise of ISIS.
 

With the advent of social media, radicals from all faiths have found a platform on Facebook and other social media websites to spread hatred. Very recently, he was also fined for hate speech in the UK for violating hate laws, reported The National. Naik was barred from the UK in 2010 but continued to operate the TV Channels Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu. The Commission of Countering Extremism (CCE) which took action saw Naik’s channel as an example of Islamist extremism.

The National reported that the CCE had said, “First, making the moral case for violence against perceived enemies of Islam. Preachers such as Haitham Al Haddad and Indian preacher Zakir Naik have characterised Muslims who leave their faith as a “threat” and committing “treason” respectively, before making the case for capital punishment.”

Naik has also been barred from India and Bangladesh and is wanted by the Indian government for money laundering and spreading extremism through hate speeches. He is now in Malaysia and the Indian government has sent a formal request to the Malaysian government for his extradition. Last year, in Malaysia, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Jerald Joseph said Naik had lost his right of freedom of speech as his talks contained incitement to hatred, reported Free Malaysia Today.

This was in response to Naik’s inciting remarks against Malaysian Hindus where he had said that Malaysian Hindus were more loyal to the Narendra Modi government in India than to their Malaysian prime minister.

He had earlier released a video in which he could be heard asking Islamic countries across the globe to create a data bank of non-Muslims in India who criticize Prophet Mohammed or Islam and arrest them when they land up in Gulf countries and put them behind bars.

#ZakirNaik wants Islamic countries should collect data of non-Muslims in India who “attack” #Muslims and arrest them when they land up in their countries. Zakir Naik suggests Islamic Nations To Collect Data On Indian Non-Muslims ‘Attacking’ Muslims. @mssirsa @TajinderBagga pic.twitter.com/Q06aAg45E0

— Sandeep Seth (@sandipseth) May 13, 2020

Our Take: Hate begets hate. In a country which stands on the principles of secularism, Naik’s views should be heavily condemned to preserve the right to freedom of speech and dissent without fanning communal flames.

A person’s interpretation of religious scriptures depends on what they come to it for. The intention or ‘niyat’ (niyyah) is crucial while interpreting religious texts. The same text has given the world peace icons like Rumi, Bulleh Shah and Amir Khusro and has been misused to incite trouble and suffering to humankind.

While there are extremists in all faiths, it is important that they shouldn’t be given a platform, especially on social media where they can reach thousands of people, to spread their agenda of imposing their faith on others or insulting people from other faiths. Zakir Naik’s cherry picking of Quranic references is that of a supremacist and it goes against the tradition of peaceful coexistence of religions. This is a dangerous trend as it will only end up radicalizing innocent youth and could be used as a trigger by vested interests.

Related:

Endgame for Zakir Naik?

TV Channels Funded by Billions of Saudi Petro-Dollars Radicalize Muslim Youth

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Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP general secretary, along with 350 other party members was booked by Indore police on a complaint of a tehsildar for threatening public officials. This complaint was reportedly filed after a video of Vijayvargiya went viral on social media where he can be seen saying, “Have they (top officers) become so big? The officers should understand that they are public servants.”

He is seen speaking to an officer telling him that he had written a letter to meet some top officials. He was present there to protest alleging that city officials were biased and taking “politically motivated” action against party workers. He was further heard saying, “Our Sangh (RSS) leaders are (here), otherwise would have set Indore on fire today.” He was referring to RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) leader Mohan Bhagwat who was present in the city for an internal conclave of RSS.

The video posted by a Twitter user can be viewed here:

https://twitter.com/MehulChoradia/status/1213059901334925315

BJP Leader Kailash Vijayvargiya openly threatening “to burn the city Indore”.

Ye hi hai inka asli roop. pic.twitter.com/WbcEBT0fux

— Mehul Jain (@MehulChoradia) January 3, 2020

Our take: Hate speech has become a popular trend amongst the BJP leadership and in BJP ruled states they are usually not booked for offences of hate speech. The Indore police, under the Kamalnath government, however, took prompt action and registered an FIR against a BJP leader. Somehow the BJP leadership has gotten used to the impunity that comes with their hate speech and the rampant increase in their hateful comments is evident. 

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Image Courtesy: ABC News

Queensland: ABC News Australia recently reported that the United Nations has asked the Australian Government to consider suspending the Adani project in Queensland until it gains the support of all traditional owners who are fighting the miner in court.
 
A UN committee raised concerns that the Queensland coal project may violate Indigenous rights under an international convention against racial discrimination if it goes ahead, giving Australia until April to formally respond.
 
Meanwhile, a public interest legal fund backed by former corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald has stepped in with financial backing for a federal court challenge to Adani by its opponents within the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) people.
 
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination last month wrote to Australia’s UN ambassador to raise concerns that consultation on Adani’s Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) “might not have been conducted in good faith”.
 
These allegations “notably” included that members of the W&J native title claim group were excluded, and the committee was concerned that the project “does not enjoy free, prior and informed consent of all (W&J) representatives”.
 
UN committee chair Noureddine Amir in a letter told Australia’s UN ambassador Sally Mansfield the committee was concerned ILUAs could lead to the “extinction of Indigenous peoples’ land titles” in Australia.
 
“Accordingly, the committee is concerned that, if the above allegations are corroborated, the realisation of the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project would infringe the rights of the Wangan and Jagalingou people, rights that are protected under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” Mr Amir said.
 
The committee gave Australia until April 8 to outline steps taken to ensure proper consent “in accordance with Indigenous peoples’ own decision-making mechanisms”. It asked Australia to “consider suspending” the Adani project until consent was given by “all Indigenous peoples, including the Wangan and Jagalingou family council”. It invited Australia to seek expert advice from the UN experts on Indigenous rights and to “facilitate dialogue” between the W&J and Adani.
 
Martin Wagner, a managing attorney with US-based legal outfit Earth Justice, who has advocated for the W&J to the UN, said writing to Australia was “not a step the committee takes lightly”.
 
Mr Wagner said both Australia and Adani risked their reputations by “moving forward with a project that international human rights institutions are calling out for concern about human rights violations”.
 
Federal Resources Minister Matt  Canavan said the question of Adani’s consent from traditional owners had been tested in Australian courts.
 
“The UN should respect the Australian legal system and its processes, and this particular committee should not try to direct our actions in matters which it clearly does not understand,” he said.
 
“The Federal Court found that none of the grounds of the challenge by the mine opponents had any merit — the UN committee’s letter does not even mention these facts.”
 
Grata Fund executive director Isabelle Reinecke said the outfit had approached the W&J and agreed to pay the bond.
 
“People shouldn’t have to choose between fighting for the rights of their community and bankruptcy,” said Ms Reinecke, who is a former legal director at activist group GetUp.
“In this case, it is a legitimate legal question that needs to be resolved by the court which goes to the heart of the Native Title process in Australia and to the heart of corporate and government accountability to the law in Australia.
 
Adani is seeking to bankrupt one of the five Wangan and Jagalingou challengers, Adrian Burragubba, over $600,000 in unpaid cost orders from previous challenges.
 
The spokeswoman claimed Mr Burragubba had been “urged on by environmental groups”, including the “foreign-backed Sunrise Project that recently made a $495,000 donation to Get Up”.
 
She said it would donate any funds from Mr Burragubba to charity. Adani donated almost $27,000 to the Liberal National Party in Queensland last November. Mr Burragubba claimed Adani was relying on a “bogus agreement.”
 
“Their rent-a-crowd ILUA is not supported by the legitimate W&J Traditional Owners from the Carmichael Belyando native title claim area,” Mr Burragubba said.
 
“Adani will not stop us by trying to silence our voice with their awful bankruptcy tactic, which is intended to intimidate us,” he said.
 
This report is based on an article by ABC News.
 

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