Zakir Naik is a very hated personality among many religions. After fearing arrest in India, he fled to Malaysia which typically gives refuge to anti India people close to the Sonia Gandhi. Other example being the Arms broker Quattrorichi accused for Bofors scandal.

I watch almost every video, Q&A session of Zakir Naik. It is a fact that he attracts a lot of audience. Majority of them are Muslims, but there are people from all other religions who come to his shows, and they are given preference.

One of his other big strengths is that: he has cultivated deep knowledge on all other major religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism etc. He seems to me to have a deep level of understanding on Vedas, Gita, Puranas, New testament, Old Testament, Book of Deuteronomy etc.

Coming to my point, what can he learn from his narrative and how we can apply his strategy to Hinduism?

  1. In his speeches he respects all religions and the important personalities. For e.g., he accepts Lord Jesus as an important Prophet and gives all due regards. He quotes verses in Bible saying that Lord Jesus(pbuh) has more things to say in his next incarnation, and claims that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is that incarnation. He accepts all sacredness of Bible, but tries to prove that people have corrupted the Bible and Holy Quran is closer to the true teachings of Lord Jesus(pbuh) . Holy Quran says that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the final messenger of God. In a way he tries to prove that Christianity is a form of Islam or rather a subset of it. The current day Christians have diverted from original Bible (as per him Holy Quran is the true Bible and message from God). He even at one point went ahead and claimed that, “I am a better Christian than any other Christian”
  2. Lets now come to his narrative on Hinduism. He seems to be well studied on Vedas, Bhagwat Gita and Puranas like Vishnu Purana. He uses verses of Vedas to prove that there is lot of similarity between Hinduism and Islam and Hindus have diverted from Vedas and Quran is closer to Vedas. For e.g. he uses quotes from Vishnu Purana to prove the fact the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the Kalki avatar of Lord Vishnu. He quotes Vedas to prove that idol worship is an anti-Hindu practice and there is one single God. He even once claimed that “He is a better practicing Hindu that any other Hindu”

In nutshell, I find his strategy extremely scientific and shrewd.

He doesn’t criticize any other religion rather praises all of them, but tries to make all other religions as part and Coherent with Islam.

What can Hindus learn from him?

  1. Hindus need to have scholars having deep familiarity of scriptures of all other religions i.e. Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
  2. We follow the same strategy: Convince people that Islam is also a part and Hinduism. I think this would be much easier for Hindus. Why? First, Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. People worship Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, Maa Laxmi, Maa Durga and many more. What’s the harm if Hindus accept Allah as a God and let Muslims pay obeisance in the same manner they do. Second, there are sects in Hinduism who don’t believe Idol worship, Arya Samaj for example, I see no harm in Muslims being related to Arya samaj(or similar) for that matter.

Govt. may have driven Zakir Naik to Malaysia, but please note, in a digital world, due to this action he has become more powerful and popular. People like him need to tackled intellectually not physically.

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