After UK, Canada bans Zakir Naik

Canada cancels travel visa of Islamic preacher
Indian televangelist was scheduled to speak at Toronto conference
23 Jun 2010

NEW DELHI, INDIA—Canada has cancelled the travel visa of a controversial television preacher from Mumbai who was scheduled to speak at an upcoming religious conference in Toronto.

Officials from the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi telephoned popular Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik earlier this week to say the 44-year-old doctor’s five-year, multiple-entry visa to Canada has been cancelled, said a colleague of Naik’s at the Islamic Research Foundation in Mumbai. The visa was issued just last year.

A physician by training, Naik has become one of the most influential religious scholars in India. He was described as one of the 100 most powerful Indians in a recent survey by the Indian Express newspaper and is a polarizing figure. Naik been quoted as saying “every Muslim should be a terrorist” and that Jews are “our staunchest enemy.” He’s also condoned the death penalty for homosexuals and Muslims who convert from Islam to other religions.

Last week, he was barred from attending a conference in London after the British Home Ministry said the department had discovered evidence “of his unacceptable behaviour.” Canada followed suit a few days later.

What may have prompted U.K. and Canadian authorities to stop Naik’s entry was a video clip that has circulated on the Internet in which he says, “If he (Osama bin Lade) is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. If he is terrorizing the terrorists, if he is terrorizing America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, I am with him Every Muslim should be a terrorist.”

But Naik’s brother, Naik Mohammad, said the video clip, labelled 2007, was actually filmed in 1996, long before Bin Laden orchestrated the September 11 terror attacks.

“In modern democracies, you don’t pass judgment without hearing from the party,” Mohammad said in an interview. “My brother has never met Bin Laden and doesn’t know him. But we aren’t worried about this. A ban would not stand up to any legal test. When he said those things about Bin Laden, no one had heard of him and Bin Laden hadn’t planned the 9/11 attacks.”

Those who have found inspiration in Naik’s teachings include Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-American arrested last year for planning suicide attacks on the New York subway; Rahil Sheikh, accused in a series of train bombings in Mumbai in 2006; and Kafeel Ahmed, who died during a failed suicide attack on Glasgow airport in 2007.

UK bans hate preacher Zakir Naik, said every Muslim should be a terrorist

Via Link

Home Office sources said Dr Naik had been filmed on a website making inflammatory comments such as “every Muslim should be a terrorist”.

He said: “When a robber sees a policeman he’s terrified. So for a robber, a policeman is a terrorist. So in this context, every Muslim should be a terrorist to the robber.”

He has also been filmed saying: “There are many Jews who are good to Muslims, but as a whole … The Koran tells us, as a whole, they will be our staunchest enemy.”

In a web posting from 2006 he said: “Beware of Muslims saying Osama Bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them … we don’t know.

“But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don’t know what he’s doing. I’m not in touch with him. I don’t know him personally. I read the newspaper.

“If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, every Muslim should be a terrorist.”

He is also reported to have said suggested that western women make themselves “more susceptible to rape” by wearing revealing clothing.

He reportedly said: “Western society has actually degraded [women] to the status of concubines, mistresses and social butterflies, who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers”

Indian preacher Zakir Naik is banned from UK

18 June 2010 18:43 UK
Mr Naik is seen by some as an authority on Islam An Indian Muslim preacher has been banned from entering the UK for his “unacceptable behaviour”, the home secretary says.

Zakir Naik, a 44-year-old television preacher, had been due to give a series of lectures in London and Sheffield.

Theresa May said that visiting the UK was “a privilege, not a right”.

The home secretary can stop people entering the UK if she believes there is a threat to national security, public order or the safety of citizens.

That includes banning people if she believes their views glorify terrorism, promote violence or encourage other serious crime.

However, somebody cannot be banned just for having opinions that other people would find offensive.

Ms May said: “Numerous comments made by Dr Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behaviour.

No entry: Theresa May has used exclusion power for first time “Coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right and I am not willing to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK.

“Exclusion powers are very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate on issues.”

This is the first person who has been excluded from the UK since Ms May became home secretary last month.

Mr Naik is based in Mumbai (Bombay) where he works for the Peace TV channel.

The BBC’s Sanjiv Buttoo says that he is recognised as an authority on Islam but also has a reputation for making disparaging remarks about other religions.

Peace TV itself describes him as “a medical doctor by professional training… and a dynamic international orator on Islam and comparative religion”.

“Dr Naik clarifies Islamic viewpoints and clears misconceptions about Islam using the Koran,” the channel’s website says.

A spokesman for Mr Naik said it was “deeply regrettable” the UK government had “bowed to pressure” from certain groups to exclude him.

He said Mr Naik had been holding talks in the UK for 15 years and the decision to bar his entry was disappointing.