Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed urged
Malaysians today not to blindly accept the teachings of preachers whom he said
may just want popularity, amid controversy surrounding Dr Zakir Naik’s link to
the Dhaka terror attack.
The popular Mumbai-based Muslim televangelist, who has 14
million followers on Facebook and 200 million viewers of his Peace TV channel,
is reportedly under investigation in India and Bangladesh after news reports
claimed that two of the militants who killed 22 people last Friday in the
Bangladeshi capital had been inspired by his sermons.
“You have to question. You cannot accept blindly what
preachers tell you,” said Nur Jazlan.
“These are the unintended consequences of practising a
ritualistic form of religion and not questioning more, where you rely on
preachers who themselves may be doing it for their own benefit, fame, and
prosperity,” he told Malay Mail Online.
Indian English-language newspaper The Times of India
reported today that India’s counter-terrorism body, the National Investigation
Agency (NIA), was looking to question Dr Zakir upon the Indian preacher’s
return from Saudi Arabia and that Indian agencies were looking into his
speeches.
Besides the Dhaka attackers, Mohammad Ibrahim Yazdani, head
of the Islamic State’s module in Hyderabad, India, was reportedly inspired by
Dr Zakir and had attended one of his congregations in Mumbai in 2010, besides
following his speeches on television and YouTube since 2004.
The Times of India reported Bangladeshi information minister
Hassanul Haq Inu as saying that legal experts were examining Dr Zakir’s
speeches and sermons and pledged action if the Salafist preacher’s statements
were found to have “fanned” terrorism.
Rohan Imtiaz and Nibras Islam were two of the five Dhaka
gunmen who were reportedly inspired by Dr Zakir, with Rohan allegedly posting
on Facebook a quote he attributed to the preacher that “every Muslim should be
a terrorist”.
Although Dr Zakir has been denied entry to Canada and the
United Kingdom after he reportedly expressed support for terrorist group
al-Qaeda, the Malaysian government has welcomed the Islamic Research Foundation
president and even awarded him the “Tokoh Maal Hijrah” award in 2013 for his
contributions to Islam.
Source –Malay Mail Online-
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