Muscat – The fugitive Islamist preacher Dr. Zakir Naik is likely to be deported from Oman, meanwhile the Indian agencies are in touch with the Omani authorities to detain him during his upcoming visit on Thursday, according to News18 report.
Two lectures by Naik are scheduled to take place in Oman. The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of Oman is hosting his first lecture, “The Quran a Global Necessity”, which is scheduled for the first day of Ramadan, likely to be on Thursday.
The second lecture, titled “Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] A Mercy to Humankind”, is scheduled for March 25th, at Sultan Qaboos University.
Business Today reported that the local Indian consulate is in contact with Omani authorities to detain him till he’s brought back to India. According to the report, India will probably send a legal team for follow-up after arrest. It further stated that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had discussed the issue with the Omani Ambassador.
Dr. Naik originally belongs to Mumbai, India. However, he has been living in exile in Malaysia since 2017, as a runaway fugitive, after the Indian government pressed charges against him over money laundering and terrorism.
Dr. Naik endorses suicide bombing “if used during the war”, as a last resort.
In one of his lectures, Dr. Naik quoted the banned Muslim Brotherhood preacher of Saudi Arabia, Salman Audah, as “one of the great scholars of Islam” to support his views on the permissibility of suicide missions, especially in the Israel-Palestine conflict against the Jewish settlers.
In June 2010, the UK and Canada refused to let Naik enter. Theresa May, who was the home secretary at the time, forbade Naik from entering the country after learning of his plans to give presentations in Sheffield and London. “Numerous comments made by Dr. Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behaviour”, May said in her exclusion order.
Dr. Naik exemplified Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan in a lecture in Kuala Lampur, as “one bold Muslim leader”, who is fighting with the odds, and “May Allah support him”.
Director of Nordic Research & Monitoring Network Mr. Abdullah Bozkurt tweeted in 2020, “Radical Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik comes out defending Turkey’s corrupt President Erdogan, praises him as a Muslim leader on Prophet’s way, endorses his move to convert Hagia Sophia into mosque, says even destruction of house of a worship is permitted in Islam”.
Also, Dr. Naik’s Peace TV became a conduit in introducing extremist Pakistani preacher Dr. Israr Ahmed, and other Muslim Brotherhood preachers, to the Indian Muslims.
In November 2022, during the Fifa Worldcup, Qatar invited Dr. Naik, to teach the FIFA fans about Islam.
