Islamic Preacher Zakir Naik to Give Religious Lectures at Qatar World Cup

Zakir Naik, an Islamic preacher and public orator who focuses on comparative religion, will reportedly deliver a speech in Qatar during the FIFA World Cup in 2022. The FIFA World Cup began in Qatar on Monday. Naik left India in 2016 after being charged with money laundering, inciting hatred between groups, and other offences. 

According to Mint report, he has landed in Qatar and will be giving religious teachings throughout the competition.

Following the prohibition on his organisation, the Islamic Research Foundation, and his inclusion in a FIR, Naik left India in 2016. In Malaysia, where he had been residing after leaving India, he was likewise banned from giving public lectures in 2019. His Peace TV network is banned not only in India but also in Bangladesh, Canada, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom, according to The Tribune report. The ban in India was extended for an additional five years last week.

“Naik has also been further inspiring the Muslim youth and terrorists in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts,” the Ministry of Home Affairs notification had said while banning IRF.

The IRF has engaged in activities that the Union home ministry claimed are detrimental to national security, have the potential to disturb communal harmony and peace, and threaten the country’s secular fabric.

The Union government is of the opinion that the IRF and its members, especially its founder and president, Zakir Abdul Karim Naik alias Zakir Naik, have been encouraging and supporting their supporters to promote or attempt to promote, on the basis of religion, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different religious communities and groups that are prejudicial to the integrity and security of the nation, it said.

It is believed that Naik’s speech inspired the 2016 bombing in Dhaka, which killed 20, and the Easter 2019 bombing in Sri Lanka, which killed over 250 people, according to The Tribune.

News about Naik’s presence at the football world cup circulated over social media, as per NDTV. According to Al Arabiya News, a presenter for the Qatari state-owned sports channel Alkass, Faisal Alhajri, “Preacher Sheikh Zakir Naik is present in Qatar during the World Cup and will offer many religious lectures throughout the tournament.”

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