Dr. ZAKIR NAIK IN PAKISTAN
If Zakir Naik does not possess “knowledge and wisdom,” then it is not correct to say that he only quotes verses from the Quran and Hadith. He simply cites chapter numbers, verse numbers, and the like. What is the point of that?
The true scholars are in Pakistan. They quote from the Quran and Hadith and then interpret these texts with their own logic, reasoning, knowledge, and eloquence in such a way that it brings peace to the heart.
Everything was fine in Pakistan, and people were living “according to Islam.” Then Zakir Naik came along and disrupted everything. We had accepted a little bit of interest as permissible “according to Islam.” We had created allowances for giving and taking small bribes. We knew the technique of building mosque toilets with illicit earnings. We considered it permissible to sell chemically altered milk under the name “Al-Madina Milk Shop.”
We had perfected the art of earning unjust profits and then performing Umrah to “please God.” We used the fatwas on temporary marriage to legitimize prostitution and had built a music industry using the hadiths that permitted playing the tambourine. We had started praying for the success of our lowest-quality films and considered their success a blessing from God. Our actresses had learned to say “Inshallah” about the success of their films.
We forced our daughters into marriages without their consent and, to protect our property, began marrying them off to the Quran instead of a tree. Our women had started veiling their hearts and eyes, while our men had learned to stone these women with their eyes. Many of us had learned to emphasize “rights of people” over prayer and had exempted ourselves from praying. Meanwhile, our worshippers had invented a fatwa that allowed them to seek forgiveness for violating the rights of others directly from God.
The list is very long. We had structured our entire lives “according to Islam.” Then Zakir Naik came along and, with his chapter numbers and verse numbers, left us nowhere. Who knows what kind of Islam he has been preaching to the world?
Islam is what we have painstakingly interpreted in Pakistan. And here comes Zakir Naik telling us that we are not following Islam. Who is he to tell us? We know Islam better than him. We have both the complete “faith” and… our world in our pockets.
