A public talk to clarify the #1 misconception about Islam and Muslims.
PEACE TO THE WORLD
The much awaited
talk by Dr. Zakir Naik on the topic
‘Is Terrorism a Muslim monopoly?’
Took place in
Mumbai in front of a jam packed crowd, at the Shanmukhananda auditorium
on 11th Sept 2006. He also gave a similar lecture at Jeddah
in the last week of September, 2006.
The stage was set for Dr. Zakir Naik to present his much needed views
on this important topic.
Dr. Zakir Naik said that historic
records proved that a large number of terrorist acts in the 20th and
21st century were committed by non-Muslims. The so-called global phenomenon
of “Islamic terrorism/militant Islam” was a creation of the western
governments and their media outlets, he said.
“Politics lies at the
heart of labeling Muslims across the globe as perpetrators of terror
acts,” he added.
Dr. Zakir, who is one of the
Muslim world’s leading and most prolific speakers, quoted from the
scriptures of other religions and proved that associating killing with
Islam is incorrect.
“It says in the Book of
Numbers that whoever worships other than God should be killed,”
he said, referring to the Bible, yet such militant verses were conveniently
ignored by the Western media.
“In every religion there
are black sheep and the media keep putting these people forward. This
is a media conspiracy and a way of pushing people away from Islam.”
he added.
The public
talk in progress…
On Islam, terrorists and
terrorism
Dr. Zakir Naik said, “No
religion encourages terrorist acts or violence. The word ‘Islam’
itself means ‘Peace, obtained by submitting yourself to the Almighty’.
Anyone, be it Muslim or non-Muslim, who kills an innocent Muslim or
a non-Muslim, kills the entire humanity. However, Islam goes a step
further to say that if one saves innocent lives, the whole of humanity
is saved. Injustice is the root cause of terrorism...”
He continued, “Palestinians
are called terrorists just because they are fighting to get their land
back.” By citing examples of LTTE (in Sri Lanka), IRA (in UK), Lord’s
Salvation Army, which trains the young children to conduct terrorist
attacks, and many other non-Muslim terrorist outfits he further said
that, the lives claimed by these outfits are more than the ones by the
Muslim terrorists.
Dr. Zakir said Naxalites/Maoists
across India and the LTTE in Sri Lanka were non- Muslim terror organisations,
which had had developed pan regional bases beyond national boundaries.
Other such non-Muslim terror outfits included the United Liberation
Front of Asom, National Democratic Front of Bodoland and All Tripura
Tiger Force in the Northeast, Naik noted.
Drawing on international examples,
Dr. Zakir said that the Japanese Red Army, Lord’s Salvation Army and
the ETA in Spain were also non-Islamic in character and composition.
“So nothing is more removed
from truth as to suggest that Muslims have monopolized terrorism,”
said Dr. Naik. He said the Irish Republican Army, which was considered
to be terrorist group, has a history of 100 years of violence against
the British, but the British government doesn’t seem to be scared
about them as they are about radical Islamic groups.
Besides, he also mentioned,
“Even a single killing by a Muslim is condemned by Islam, whatsoever
the reasons.”
On the Media, Judiciary
and Politicians
Dr. Zakir appreciated the Indian
media for being unbiased and upright while reporting the communal riots.
He further expressed that it is the plot of the Western media to destroy
Muslims.
He also said that the media
controlled by the political authorities is biased and does not portray
the truth or reality. He stated, “Islam does not justify using
wrong means to reach the right goals. People should not take the law
in their hands.”
“India has seen maximum number
of communal riots in recent years. Politicians have been using the ‘Divide
and Rule Policy’ to secure their vote banks. However, the masses should
not get instigated by them. Terrorism is a monopoly of politicians.
People, regardless of their religion, wish to live harmonious lives,
but politicians feed the feeling of hatred amongst them,” he opined
while speaking about the role of politicians in the society today.
Dr. Zakir Naik addresses the gathering.
“We should learn how to
turn the tables and convey the real meaning,” said Dr. Zakir,
while calling on Muslims to dispel the media’s vilifying of Muslims
and the importance of having Muslim television channels and newspapers.
Later at a private Iftar organized
for journalists at Jeddah, Dr. Zakir called on Muslim businessmen across
the world to boycott the US dollar and predicted that such a move would,
within two years, see the end of the US as an economic superpower.
Having described the war on
terror as an excuse to take control of Middle Eastern oil reserves,
Dr. Zakir called on businessmen to boycott the dollar. “Former
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has provided us with a strategy
to stop the US, which is to target the US economy. The first thing we
should do is to stop dealing in dollars... America is presently in debt,
the dollar is in debt and half the finance of the country is in debt,”
he claimed.
Dr. Zakir added that if governments
were unwilling to boycott the dollar then businessmen and businesswomen
should themselves individually boycott the currency and advised them
to deal in riyals, dirhams, gold and euros.
“Use the euro as an alternative.
The process of having an Islamic currency would take time and so we
shouldn’t wait for that,” he said, adding, “Now if someone insists
on dealing in dollars then make sure you change currency as soon as
possible. When you change the currency then the banks will send the
dollars back to the US — within two years their economy will collapse.
For us to achieve this, we need our businessmen to stop dealing in dollars.
Once their economy collapses then their position as an economic superpower
will end.” Dr Naik said.
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