“If Zakir Naik can freely convert non-Muslim Malaysians, then the reverse must be permitted, too”

 

THE country’s lopsided policies on freedom of religion and preaching of non-Muslim religion are among the primary reasons for non-Muslim Malaysians to berate radical Islamist preacher Dr Zakir Naik.

If the celebrity Mumbai-born Indian national preacher is allowed to freely comment on the holy books of other religions to criticise their followers – whether with regard to the holy bible or Hindu/Buddhist scriptures – “then non-Muslims must also be allowed to do the same with the Quran to criticise Muslims”.

Such is the stance of moderate Muslim influencer Nasri Azhar who further viewed that if Zakir Naik “is allowed to openly invite non-Muslims to embrace Islam, then non-Muslims must also be allowed to openly invite Muslims to enter their religion”.

“But Malaysia’s biased policy on freedom of conversion and freedom to criticise Islamic holy book (Quran) academically and openly makes the situation even more biased if Zakir Naik is given the opportunity to speak openly on the issue of comparative religions and converting the public.”

Added the advocate of liberal Islam in his Facebook post: “Among the problems of many Malaysian Muslims is their lack of empathy and inability to imagine themselves in the shoes of non-Muslim citizens.

“In simple words, they consider as normal “we’re fine so long as others can’t do likewise to us” even though no sane person would consider such thought as normal.”

Earlier in his prose entitled “Why are many non-Muslims in Malaysia dissatisfied with Dr Zakir Naik?”, Nasri described as an “honest observation” that one of the main factors why non-Muslims are unhappy with the preacher is that “he often comments on their holy books out of context or often does cherry picking”.

That is by choosing some verses while ignoring other verses to draw conclusions.

For example, Zakir Naik once referred to the teaching on head cover for women in the Bible to show that the practice of head covering in Islam is supported by the Bible.

The Bible verse in question is: “But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.” (1 Corinthians 11:5)

Zakir Naik cannot equate the verse with supporting the practice of head covering for women in today’s Muslim society. Clearly 1 Corinthians 11:5 mentions head covering in the context of ritual worship as opposed to public life.

If the verse supports the practice of head covering in the public life of Muslim women today, then Zakir Naik should also remove his head cover in public life while reciting the following Bible verse: “Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head. (1 Corinthians 11:4).

Interestingly, few Muslims concurred with Nasri that “Zakir Naik shouldn’t go to the countries of others, engage the people in a debate and convert non-Muslims to Islam en masse”.

“This would surely hurt the hearts of non-Muslims,” opined one commenter. “If the opposite had happened, for example, a great Christian priest came to debate and then convert Muslims en masse to Christianity, Muslims would also have felt angry.”

Another reckoned that while Zakir Naik is free to preach, “he shouldn’t compare our religion with the religion of others for this is like promoting products … of course Apple would claim that its technology is more superior than Samsung’s”.

“If a pastor or monk preaches and starts comparing the Bible or the Vedas with the Quran or even quoting verses from the Quran and interpret them out of context, of course Muslims will be angry, too.

“That’s precisely how non-Muslims feel if he (Zakir Naik) preaches and compare Islam with the religions of others”. 

 - Focus Malaysia