Radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik recently stirred a controversy when he boycotted a group of orphan girls when he was invited as a guest at an orphanage in Pakistan on Wednesday (Oct 2). The video of him getting restless when a group of orphaned girls arrive on stage went viral with Pakistani people schooling him on his “misogynistic behaviour.”.....See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Naik was of the opinion that these girls were “na-mahram” to him and hence he would not interact with them in any way.
In Islam, the term na-mahram is used to refer to an unmarried woman who is not directly blood-related. Naik said, “You cannot touch them or call them your daughters.”
In the viral video, Naik can be seen walking off stage as soon as the women walk up to him at the event hosted by the Pakistan Sweet Home Foundation, which supports orphaned girls. When the organiser made an announcement for the felicitation of the girls, he referred to them as Naik’s “daughters,” which the Islamic preacher deemed inappropriate.
Naik then said, “You cannot touch them or all of them your daughters, adding that these girls are considered “non-mahrams”. Pakistanis call it “peak misogyny”.
“Dr. Zakir Naik is a religious scholar and guest in Pakistan but I find this act of his so abominable – peak misogyny and sanctimony on display. How embarrassing and rather disturbing it must have been for these poor little girls!”, lawyer Saria Benazir wrote on X.
Noted economist Yousuf Nazar made even a direct remark.
“Pakistan doesn’t need more fundos like Zakir Naik, it already has too many”, he wrote.
Journalist Abbas Nasir even blamed the government for inviting him and called PMLN a “write-off”.
“I was wondering how Zakir Naik came to Pakistan. Turns out he was invited by the PMLN government; and 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,” he wrote on X.
Naik is scheduled to deliver a series of public speeches in major Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, as reported by Pakistani newspaper The Tribune.
This is not the first time that Naik has created controversies over his radical thoughts about Islam.
Since 2016, Naik has been residing in Malaysia following the initiation of legal proceedings against him by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA).
This action stemmed from the July 2016 Dhaka terror attack, where one of the perpetrators confessed to being influenced by Naik’s sermons on his YouTube channel.
(With inputs from agencies)