A couple of days ago I wrote a post for the Guardian’s Comment is Free website saying that I had heard that the Home Office was actively considering banning Dr Zakir Naik – who was due to arrive in the UK tomorrow to begin a lecture tour that was scheduled to see him appear at Sheffield Arena, London’s Wembley Arena and Birmingham’s LG Arena in the NEC. Well, I have just heard that the Home Office have indeed issued an exclusion order against Zakir Naik.
This is just the latest in a series of exclusion orders that the UK government has issued preventing popular Islamic speakers from visiting the UK on specious grounds to do with the terror threat. Too bad about all the nonsense regarding free speech we keep getting lectured about. When it comes right down to it, what so often matters unfortunately is power and influence, not high sounding principles. That is a shame.
Inayat's Corner 
Shocking really, especially as it is a decision based not upon the content of Zakir Naik’s speeches, but media hype and stoking from certain ‘campaign groups’.
I blame Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. What on earth is he doing? I thought he was a friend of Muslims? I voted for him as he seemed the only genuien mainstream politican who understood the issues facing Muslims – this being one. This is a very very dangerous move towards an authoritarian state and it is the duty of all right thinking members of society to stand up against this decision today – and I hope this includes a demonstration outside Nick Cleggs Office.
good point abs! we shoudl do a demo agianst clegg!
you should be blaming the zionist lobby. This is why this happened, and for no other reason.
we really have to work on the bds movement, at all levels
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Alhamdolillah…
Nick Clegg has never been a friend of the Muslims . In fact he belongs to the Lobby group Friends of Israel. He also sacked Baroness Tong who was alleged to have said something about Israel when in fact she did not.
I voted for the liberal democracts and I feel betrayed by them already.
Zakir Naik should never be allowed to preach. He promotes hatred and terrorism. He should be sent back to ancient history where he wants to be. Period.
Brother, he(Dr.Zakir) wants to spread Islam, which is nothing but spreading peace & humanity. I think you can’t understand humanity. So, please understand it. Don’t be motivated by the media, it can make any thing. It can change the total world. So don’t believe in media. You can believe in media but can’t believe the true preachings by Dr. Zakir? Actually,the ban on Dr.Zakir naik is from a single quote of his whole speech, which he gave some years ago. Taking a single quote from the whole speech.. is it right? Think it about.. The quote which is taken by the media is not complete, there is still continuation.So before not knowing every thing, don’t blame anybody…. I hope you can understand brother.
it was always inevitable considering the likes of gove, and david ‘i am a zionist’ cameron who are largely led and influenced by the irrational politics of the murdoch , telegraph, mail and douglas murray – think tanks ilk .
theresa may as with hague and fox are right-wing pro zionist hawks so why should one expect any policy change with respect to muslims in the uk and uk wars which are looking as if they are due to expand further into iran and pakistan.
the ban is about denying articulate and intelligent muslim leaders, if they cant be killed they are banned (estimates and reports of some 500 tribal leaders killed in southern afghansitan by isaf-nato forces and death squads in iraq have already been reported widely elsewhere)) . dr naik challenges coherently and effectively the politics of the islamophobes , this is his real crime . however the likes of geert wilders are embraced and welcomed since he endorses the deceits and lies that are propagated by media, think tanks and politicians. he himself perpetrates the same crime.
recently al aqsa sat. tv has been denied access by the french into europe and this type of response will only increase in europe since the usa have instituted a policy of denying any broadcast media that is deemed to be anti american. ( i dont know since i have never had access).
in reality disregarding what one might think of dr naik , the decision is a big mistake , if there was ever a certain way to ensure muslims dont have a sense of belonging or a stakehold in society then this is the way to do it along with cctv cameras to monitor muslims every move.
think about it what would we think if such a policy was implemented with regard to jewish people, cctv – denial of freespeech and privacy, a 70% increase in stop and search and the increasing criminalising of a community all for some neo conservative extremist ideology.
where is the mcb when one really needs them ? where is the muslim voice ?
“I voted for the liberal democracts and I feel betrayed by them already.”
all parties had regime change which elected via the media support for neo-con ideologues, clegg is no different in this .
there is no mainstream party other than the likes of respect which does so indirectly that seeks to promote islam and muslim interests.
groups such as mcb have proven themselves to be ineffective both at street level and with their interactions with government. govt has to know that there is a real movement and popular support with powerful backers.
muslim writers are even less accommodated in the msm, and no effort has been made to create a space in that media apart from the tokenism and the constraints that each publication demands.
there is a viable alternative political view, anti war orgs, think tanks, journalists businesses and politicians that has a sizeable constituency that need to be tapped to create the lobby that demands freedoms justice and an antidote to the unchallenged far right and neo conservative ideology.
so whilst you might vote liberal one has to go beyond that and seek change from inside and make them ‘pay’ for your vote.
thats how the islamophobe lobbyists ensure govt follows their remit.
“Zakir Naik should never be allowed to preach. He promotes hatred and terrorism. He should be sent back to ancient history where he wants to be. Period.”
one should never declare ones ignorance so effectively and explicitly so readily.
he does not promote terrorism , it is his use of terrorism to make a political point that has been misconstrued deliberately – more so since he was to give speeches to around 30 000 in the uk . it is the 30 000 that irks the government since they dont buy into the government propaganda. increasingly dissent is being disallowed.
in the telegraph naik is said to have stated : “So for a robber, a policeman is a terrorist. So in this context, every Muslim should be a terrorist to the robber.”
in what manner does this promote terrorism? is there a deficit in the comprehension of the english language ?
he does not advocate hate, nor war nor violence. he is clear about his faith.
one should not confuse his detailing and explanations of the koran with out of context , misunderstood quotes and references.
what i find interesting is that in government and in the media – it is not muslim scholars who explain islam to the mass uneducated brits (of islam) but those who advocate the current war policies and the islamophobic content in the media.
so you learn from non muslims about islam, you learn about ‘islamism’ or ‘fundamentalists’ not from those individuals or groups or from islamic scholars but from advocates inside of the neo conservative tribes. in fact the irony is that muslims (and non muslims) now learn about so called islamism and other extremism from these islamophobic advocates.
so how do you think that you have a informed and objective insight of what you call hate and terror?
Zakir Naik is a salafi / wahhabi extremist. Do you really expect him not to say wacky things? He’s pretty good when it comes to comparative religion, but aside from that, he’s no shaykh or scholar. I wouldn’t take any sort of fiqh or aqeedah knowledge from him, he’s way off base when it comes to that.
Abdullah: Even if Naik was to say ‘wacky’ things – and his talks are usually on the topic of comparative religion it should be remembered – it is not against the law. If Naik were to break the law then he could always be prosecuted. And btw, no one is forcing you to go and listen to Naik.
Geert Wilders gets the red carpet treatment he even made a speech in parliment for the UKIP party, were as people like dr Zakir Naik get banned the same way the media edits verses from the Glorious Quran and puts them out of context they’ve started doing the same thing to muslim scholars, there’s over 2 million muslims in this country weres our voice…
“He’s pretty good when it comes to comparative religion, but aside from that, he’s no shaykh or scholar”
he has never claimed to be a shaykh or scholar, he always states that he takes advice and direction from scholars. he clearly says that his field is comparative religion.
“Zakir Naik is a salafi / wahhabi extremist. Do you really expect him not to say wacky things? ”
in islam only god is able to give final judgement.
@@@Wendy- It’s pretty amazing wouldn’t you say a person preaching hate to make a partner for peace. Zakir Naik is so full of shit. You say comparative religion may I ask you where in the Holy Quran is it written that you have to undermine another religion to preach Islam ?? I think the opposite in fact is true. But as far as I have seen Naik…his ‘comparisons’ always become offensive. A man selling religion for making a quick buck. He has an amazing tongue I must say cause he amazes people who don’t even bother to check if what he said is right or wrong. You love it when he is lambasting just about any other religion. It’s like you winning a mini battle against the other prominent faiths in the world, it feels good. If he is that damn good then why doesn’t he just leave other religions alone and just preach his religion if people find it good let them pick it up. Problem is people like Naik live on these sort of controversies and love t when there are idiots around who understand little or nothing and others wont just argue cause they are afraid of this self proclaimed scholar who has so many ardent fans and just wag their tails along.
Undermining someone else culture and way of living and a person who believes those kafir countries are “the land of war” expect his enemies to greet him with open arms. It’s a strange hypocrisy that these Islamists expect to be treated with the respect and deference that they never take the trouble to show. towards others. Britain, and most of Europe is having a huge problem with fanatical Muslims who talk of violence openly on the street.
As Thomas May said ‘Entering British soil is a privilege not a right’. That should be the end of the conversation.
Rocketeer: ‘But as far as I have seen Naik…his ‘comparisons’ always become offensive.’
So what if he does offend some people? That’s free speech. As long as he is not actually breaking the law he should be able to say what he likes. The Zakir Naik affair has certainly helped expose the hypocrisy of those odd defenders of ‘freedom’ who strangely only seem to covet those freedoms when it means offending Muslims.
inayatscorner- So what if he offends ‘SOME’ people :s ???
You are talking about a whole nation or maybe nations rather, if that is ‘SOME’ to you. In the U.K Muslims are minorities yet they have the right to protest in British soil no matter what the issue is no one stops them. Just imagine in Iran or maybe Pakistan if a Hindu or a Christian preacher went and started preaching against Islam or the lifestyles………..Riots would erupt. While pointing fingers at others we tend to forget our own lacking.
“The Zakir Naik affair has certainly helped expose the hypocrisy of those odd defenders of ‘freedom’ who strangely only seem to covet those freedoms when it means offending Muslims.”
I think the last paragraph in my previous post should have been enough of a reply to the above text…
Peace
“western women are more susceptible to rape” – Dr. Zakir Naik
“If Osama bin Laden is terrorizing America, I am with him” – Dr. Zakir Naik
“every muslim should be a terrorist!” – Zakir Naik