The “Donald Trump” of Muslims

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

I could not understand why this “Zakir Naik” is so popular with certain groups of people.  They would even attend the talk of his son, who is even less qualified.  No one can name a single one of Zakir ‘Abd al-Karim Nayk’s teachers.  Shaykh Ahmed Diydat (r.a.) was never his teacher. 

His supporters say he is famous because he is qualified.  And they also say he is qualified because he is famous.  He is so “brilliant that he does not need a teacher.”  He is “great scholar” because thousands follow him, as if our learned were identified by popular acclaim instead of scholarship.  He is “calling people to Islam,” despite the fact that he contradicts the Qur’an, the sunnah and the actual scholars of Islam. 

I see the sort of following that would draw.  In summary, Zakir ‘Abd al-Karim Nayk is the “Donald Trump” of Islam and people who are his supporters are just like Trump supporters.  It is a personality cult where they like him because he says the same offensive things they would like to say, and they can feel pious without any of the signs of piety.  And just like Trump wanted to build a Wall between the United States and Mexico, and ask the Mexicans to pay for it, Zakir wants to build a wall between Muslims and non-Muslims and then ask non-Muslim to accept Islam.  The sobering reality is not that we have a Donald and a Zakir, but that we have so many idiots supporting them.