NEW DELHI, Oct 8: The controversial India-origin Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who is on a state visit to Pakistan, is getting trolled on social media for the comments he is making during his speeches in cities across the country.
His latest statement, wherein he is seen advising single women who are looking to get married, is the centre of the current row. Social media users in Pakistan trolled the fugitive preacher saying “Who invited him? Please don’t invite such illiterate people next time.”
Another user wrote, “Basically, Pakistanis called him so they know why India and other countries have banned him.” Naik, who is living in Malaysia, began a nearly month-long visit to Pakistan last week and is now making waves on the internet for making bizarre statements.
“Zakir Naik sounds terribly patronising answering a woman’s question during his speech in Pakistan. He even DELIBERATELY accused her of blasphemy in a religiously extremist society where mobs can lynch people to death upon such accusations. When will this man leave our country?” wrote another X user irked by Naik’s sermons.
Another user, who was livid over his comments on women, asked, “Does he mean any woman, single, divorced or widow who doesn’t prefer to remarry is a public commodity? What does it even mean? He can’t fathom the notion of any woman preferring to stay single out of her own free will? How this person can be considered a decent man let alone a religious scholar? He seems to have a Talibani mindset.”
Naik was left fuming during his Pakistan visit after the country’s national carrier refused to waive charges for extra baggage while he was travelling to the country. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) reportedly offered the fugitive preacher a 50 percent discount which he grudgingly refused. In a viral video, Naik drew a contrast between India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, saying even a Hindu officer would allow him to carry luggage for free.
Reacting to this controversy, one X user said, “Who even travels with 1000kg of luggage? And remind me, which religion encourages demanding favours and exemptions from rules? Maybe he could’ve set an example by paying for the extra kilos like everyone else instead of expecting and demanding special treatment.”
“If Zakir Naik had not visited Pakistan, how would we have realized that India was right to ban both his entry & his Peace TV channel? We are always quick to label India as Islamophobic without taking the time to understand/consider India’s perspective on their matters,” another user said while rebuking the Islamic preacher.
Last week, Naik chided a Pashtun girl when he was asked about pedophilia during one of his speeches. When asked about hardcore religious society and the issue of pedophilia during one of his sermons, Naik said, “This is a wrong question and you should say sorry to God. When pressed further, he said, “I wouldn’t reply and wanted her to say sorry first.”
After hearing the remarks of the controversial preacher on pedophilia, another user wrote, “And it only took one Pashtun woman, Palwasha from the remote areas of Lakki Marwat to expose a giant misogynist disguised as a religious preacher.”
During one of his speeches, Naik earlier said those residing in Pakistan have a better chance of going to ‘Jannat’ (paradise), than those living in the United States, a statement condemned by even those living in Pakistan. Reposting the same, a Pakistani national wrote, “This man Zakir Naik is not only a fraudster but takes ridiculousness to a whole new level… he’s a disgrace.”
India last week had described as “condemnable” the way Pakistan feted Naik but added that it was not “surprising.” “We have seen reports that he (Zakir Naik) has been feted in Pakistan. He has been warmly welcomed there,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing. “It is not surprising for us that an Indian fugitive has received a high-level welcome in Pakistan. It is something which is disappointing and condemnable but at the same time it is not surprising,” he had said.
(Manas Dasgupta)