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August 16, 2006

UK: Welsh Objection To Islamist's Visit

The famous preacher on Islam, Dr Zakir Naik (pictured left), will be due speak publicly in Cardiff this Saturday (19 August), at the St David's Hall. The Western Mail reports that a Welsh MP, David Davies of Monmouth, has voiced strong objections to the arrival of the Islamist showman.

Davies states: "Cardiff County Council ought to step in immediately to prevent this hate-monger from having a platform for his obnoxious views. If a British Nazi party wanted to promulgate the annihilation of ethnic minorities, I can't imagine they would be given a public platform. Here is a man who believes people who change their religious beliefs should face the death penalty. Some of the rest of his views are, I think, arguably in breach of various laws aimed at keeping public order."

"The vast majority of moderate British Muslims will, I am sure, find his views as appalling as I do. Mainstream Muslims need people to help them stand up against the kind of repression this man seeks to promote, especially Muslim women."

David Davies is right that Dr Zakir Naik's views are appalling, but wrong on Muslim opinion. Naik is popular, and his books, DVDs and audiocassettes are bestsellers in Islamic bookstores across Britain.

Naik was born in October 1965, and is based in Mumbai, India. He trained as a doctor. He is the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation. According to Wikipedia he does believe in punishing those who leave Islam with death. He supports women wearing the hijab or Muslim headscarf. He believes that in Islamic law, a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man.

Naik supports polygamy, saying it benefits men and women, and states that India would be better off if Hindus and Muslims were all subjected to sharia law, saying: "Muslims in India would prefer the Islamic criminal law to be implemented on all Indians since it is the most practical."

One of Naik's strongest critics is Ali Sina, founder of Faith Freedom International, who regards Naik as a cheap showman. Naik is certainly a showman, but he is not cheap. It will cost £15 ($28.40) for an adult to view Naik at St David's Hall on Saturday, and £10 ($19) for a child. The event is a conference, entitled "Educating the Educators". It is sponsored by the Al-Khair Foundation, based in Croydon, south London.

The show has already been seen in Glasgow, Birmingham, Batley, and Harrow. Tomorrow it will be at Croydon, and on Monday it will end at Brighton. The proceeds will be used to fund an Islamic school. From the images on the poster for the event, I can identify the anti-semite from the Muslim Association of Britain, Azzam al-Tamimi who has said that he would like to be a suicide bomber against Israelis. Perhaps David Davies, MP for Monmouth, should have focused his attentions on al-Tamimi, who certainly supports terrorism.

One of Naik's silliest statements concerns his belief that a person is, literally, what he or she eats: "The pig is the most shameless animal on the face of the earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to have sex with its mate. In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives; many say "you sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife." If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs"

Cardiff County Council have said: "This event was booked as part of a UK-wide tour which aims to raise the consciousness of the Muslim community about the importance of education. The council has made further inquiries into the nature of the conference and as things stand we find no reason to suspect that it will be used as a platform to espouse extremist views. The council is also satisfied that it will not constitute a threat to public security, but we will continue to monitor the situation with South Wales Police."

Saleem Kidwai, who is Secretary Genral of the Muslim Council of Wales denies that Naik is an extremist. He states: "I don't think he has said anything contradictory to our faith. He has a very good knowledge of the Bible, Koran and other religions."

The Muslim Council of Wales is one of the bodies that signed the infamous letter which threatened that if the UK government did not change its foreign policies to satisfy British Muslims (a mere 3% of the demographic) then there would be more instances of terrorism.

Naik has given 600 public talks in various countries, states the Islamic Research Foundation, which include U.S.A., Canada, U.K., Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, South Africa, Mauritius, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hongkong, Thailand and Guyana.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 16, 2006 6:59 PM

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Posted by: Sir Henry Morgan at August 17, 2006 6:02 PM

Posted by: Giraldus Cambrensis at August 17, 2006 6:15 PM

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