A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Should Zakir ‘Abd al-Karim Nayk’s speeches be viewed as inflammatory? ”   Zakir Abd al-Karim Nayk is a self-proclaimed expert of religions who has made a career bashing Christianity, and to a lesser extent, Hinduism.   He is not trained in the theology of these religions, and has no knowledge of the languages of their scripture, whether Koine Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, or Sanskrit.   But that never stopped him from deliberately mischaracterising the theological and jurisprudential positions of two major world religions.   Zakir is also not a scholar of Islam.   He does not know Arabic, but that has not stopped him from claiming to be some sort of expert on Islam.   He has used his so-called credentials as a Muslim preacher to advance the positions of the Wahhabi sect, and attack mainstream Islam.   There is no shortage of videos or material online and elsewhere...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   From conversations, it is clear there is a divide in perspective between many converts and born Muslims.   And as well-meaning as the born Muslims are, they do not always get it.   Our coming to Islam does not mean we repudiate and insult our culture, our previous religion and our families.   we should refuse to cut off our heritage to please some bigot from the “heartland” of Islam.   People like Shaykh Ahmad Husayn Diydat ( r.a. ) and Zakir ‘Abd al-Karim Nayk are not our great callers of Islam.   They are not necessarily our heroes.   They are the attacks dogs of an emasculated Muslim community that thinks they can only feel good by bringing others down.   Do Muslims think people will rush to Islam just because someone can find some error here or there in the Bible?   Non-Muslims find “errors” in the Qur’an and the ahadits all the time.   Has that caused hundreds to leave Islam?   So wh...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Muslims who are serious about understanding Christianity should not be taking their notes from people such as Shaykh Ahmad Husayn Diydat ( r.a. ) or Zakir ‘Abd al-Karim Nayk.   They are not scholars of the religion.   They did not avail themselves to the theological, liturgical and ecclesiastical writings of the Church Fathers and the great thinkers of the Christian tradition.   They do not read the works we have in Koine Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin.   Their criticism is limited to mere translations of a version of the Bible with no understanding of context and the rich tapestry of history behind it.   It is hypocritical for Muslims to do that, and then complain that Christians take the Qur’an out of context. I have not met a single Muslim scholar of Christianity who has impressed me.   I have met a lot of pretenders, and more than a few outright frauds.   No real scholars.   Memorising portions of...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The Vice-President, Da’wah , of Darul Arqam after me, Ariff Sultan s/o Yousoff Sultan, was a Zakir ‘Abd al-Karim Nayk fan.   As part of the proposed Darul Arqam talks, Zakir Nayk wanted his son to give a talk on Islam.   Fariq Nayk was born in 1994, meaning he was about 15 years old then.   The proposed topic was about Christianity.   The question I posed then, is the question I pose now: in what way is he qualified?   Because he is Zakir Nayk’s son?   Darul Arqam's Executive Committee agreed to this asinine proposal.   I was a Council member then, and a dissenting opinion.   So, I wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office, and copied the Ministry of Home Affairs and Police HQ, regarding the permit.   Can we imagine, if we had some Christian teenager giving a talk about how Islam is wrong?   We spend years studying the religious sciences, and some child is going to teach us?   Based on wha...

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.  I...