Zakir: Punish me if you can prove ‘insults’

PETALING JAYA: Controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik, who has been accused of insulting Hindus, has said he is ready to face punishment if there was proof that he had insulted anyone.
“I’m a preacher, I have to talk about Allah. Am I insulting someone? If you have proof that I’m insulting, I’m ready for the punishment,” he said while delivering a talk in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night.
Zakir’s preaching session, held at the national hockey stadium in Bukit Jalil, ran to about six hours, during which four people made a public conversion to Islam.
Zakir, who is based in Mumbai, India, is in Malaysia on week-long preaching tour organised by the Terengganu state government.
There has been opposition to his tour from Hindu and ethnic Indian organisations, who say that he regularly insults Hinduism in his lectures. Police reports have been lodged against him and the authorities have been urged to have him deported.
Zakir described legal action against him as equivalent to filing a case against the Quran. “If you want to file a case against me in Malaysia, you have to file a case against the Quran,” he is reported to have said.
He lamented that there were people who wanted to stop him from preaching the oneness of God. “Can you believe, in a Muslim country? If it happens in India, no problem. In a Muslim country someone is saying, ‘don’t say God is one.’ I’m not here to insult any religion … (but) how can I stop saying this – He is one?” Zakir said, according to Malay Mail Online.
He cited scriptures from several religions in attempting to show that other religions supported the belief of one God.
However, Hinduism is often stereotyped as being polytheistic, while there is often intellectual controversy about whether the religion is polytheistic, atheistic or monotheistic.
Last night, Zakir is reported to have told the crowd: “I tell people, simple, let us agree that there is only one book which is the word of God. I have a simple solution, let us agree on what is common in the scriptures. Let’s agree to what’s common, I’m not trying to create divisions, I’m trying to get the Hindus and Christians and the Muslims together.
Among those present last night were cabinet minister Shahidan Kassim and Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.
SEE ALSO:
Ramasamy: Zakir’s visit a result of Malay-Muslim hegemony
Sarawakian, Punjabi, and two women convert at Zakir rally
Najib invites preacher Zakir Naik for breakfast


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