How State Guest Zakir Naik Swiftly Became ‘KhalNaik’ for Pakistanis with His Bizarre Comments and ‘India Love’

The Pakistani establishment’s decision to invite controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik as a state guest in a bid to irk India has backfired spectacularly. His bizarre statements on issues like “excess baggage”, women’s rights, paedophilia, etc, and “running away” from a group of orphan girls have befuddled Pakistanis and become lip-smacking fodder for social media trolls. Many have been left wondering whether he is a religious preacher or a “stand-up comedian”.

Naik is presently on a month-long visit to Pakistan and is slated to deliver lectures in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. The Mumbai-born fugitive Islamic preacher is wanted in India for using hate speech to incite extremism and money laundering. His channel, PeaceTV, is outlawed in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, because of its controversial content. The United Kingdom and Canada have refused to let him in. He was given permanent residency in Malaysia by the previous government under Mahathir Mohamad.

Following his baffling comments, a social media user wrote, “Basically, Pakistanis called him so they know why India and other countries have banned him.”

Another said, “Who invited him? Please don’t invite such illiterate people next time.”

Excess baggage

Addressing supporters in Karachi, Naik slammed Pakistan International Airlines for not waiving charges for extra baggage while he was travelling to the country from Malaysia, and instead offering him a 50 per cent discount.

“While I was coming to Pakistan, our baggage weighed about 1,000 kilogrammes. I spoke to the CEO of PIA. The station manager assured me that he would do anything for me. When I told him that I had 500 to 600 kilogrammes of extra luggage, with some six people travelling with me, he offered me a 50 per cent discount. I told him that I would bring four more people since it would get even cheaper. I asked him to give it for free or leave it. I rejected the discount,” he said.

‘India is not wrong’

Naik also seemed to grow nostalgic about India.

“I was so hurt that the PIA could not even allow me to carry 300 kilos of extra baggage as a state guest. I don’t want your discount. I am saddened to speak the truth, but this is the state of affairs in Pakistan. In India, even when a Hindu sees me, they say ‘Dr Naik will always speak the truth’. In today’s date, India is not wrong, (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is. The respect that I get in India… People in Pakistan also like me nonetheless,” he said.

‘Say sorry to God’

In another viral video, Naik is seen scolding a Pashtun girl who asked him to explain the increasing incidents of “paedophilia” in Pakistan. During the event, the girl, who introduced herself as a resident of Lakki Marwat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, questioned Naik about the underlying causes of drug addiction, infidelity, and the notable rise in paedophilia.

At first, Naik joked dismissively, saying that men should follow women’s example and avoid going out without a purpose. The girl tried to go into more detail and expressed worries about the increasing normalisation of paedophilia in her community, but the preacher kept interrupting and asking her to keep quiet so he could respond.

Denying her claims, he asserted, “There is no mention of paedophilia in the Quran or any Islamic scripture,” and accused her of defaming Islam.

Naik added, “A Muslim can never commit sexual abuse against children,” advising her to “think 10 times before making such accusations”.

When the girl tried to further explain her point, Zakir Naik sharply told her, “This is a wrong question and you should say sorry to God.”

When pressed further, he said, “I wouldn’t reply and wanted her to say sorry first.”

This exchange drew angry reactions on social media. “Zakir Naik sounds terribly patronising answering a woman’s question during his speech in Pakistan. He even DELIBERATELY accused her of blasphemy in a religiously extremist society where mobs can lynch people to death upon such accusations. When will this man leave our country?” wrote an X user irked by Naik’s sermons.

Another user, who was livid over his comments on women, asked, “Does he mean any woman, single, divorced or widow who doesn’t prefer to remarry is a public commodity? What does it even mean? He can’t fathom the notion of any woman preferring to stay single out of her own free will? How this person can be considered a decent man let alone a religious scholar. He seems to have a Talibani mindset.”

Pakistan best route to Jannat?

In another speech, Naik stated that people living in Pakistan have a greater chance of reaching ‘Jannat’ (paradise) than those in the United States. The statement, which is now viral on the internet, has faced massive backlash.

Sharing the video on social media platform X, a user wrote, “Fugitive and Islamist hate preacher Zakir Naik says that chances of going to Jannat (heaven) while living in Pakistan are hundreds times higher than in USA. That’s true. Suicide bombers and terrorists are far more in Pakistan than anywhere in the world.” (sic).

Naik also criticised Muslims who choose to leave Islamic nations for non-Muslim ones, asserting that true fulfilment in life can only be attained by adhering to Allah’s commandments, rather than imitating others.

A Pakistani social media user wrote, “This man Zakir Naik is not only a fraudster but takes ridiculousness to a whole new level… he’s a disgrace.”

‘Don’t call them daughters’

Reporter and researcher Usman Chaudhary, who lives in Pakistan, posted a video showing Zakir Naik being welcomed by girls from an orphanage on a stage. Just before this, an official from the group was going to give him a gift to commemorate his arrival.

However, Naik was seen leaving the stage in a hurry, while the girls looked on, puzzled.

In a post, prominent UK social media user Imtiaz Mahmood said that Zakir Naik was upset that the girls had been introduced as “daughters” by the orphanage administrators, and that’s why he fled the stage.

“You cannot touch them or call them your daughters,” Zakir Naik reportedly said, referring to them as “non-mahram.”

Mahmood said Naik’s “argument is that these little girls are of marriageable age”, due to which they cannot be introduced as his daughters.

“Mahram” is derived from the word “haram,” and in Islamic terminology, it denotes a person who is not allowed to be married, such as a father and a daughter. “Haram” itself denotes anything sacred or forbidden. As a result, a “non-mahram” refers to someone who is either single or whose marriage is not considered “haram” in Islam.

‘No Indian guru can debate me’

When a Hindu boy questioned Naik about hardline Islam during one of his speeches, he became irate and proceeded to criticise other Indian spiritual figures.

“No Indian guru including, Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev and Baba Ramdev is capable of debating me. I won’t talk to you because you are a kid,” he added.

Pakistan’s conduct ‘no surprise’ for India

India had called Pakistan’s honouring of Naik “condemnable,” but also stated that it was not “surprising.”

“We have seen reports that he (Zakir Naik) has been feted in Pakistan. He has been warmly welcomed there,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a weekly media briefing. “It is not surprising for us that an Indian fugitive has received a high-level welcome in Pakistan. It is something which is disappointing and condemnable but at the same time it is not surprising.”