Amazed by Dr Zakir Naik's talk

Last night 7th October I went to watch Dr Zakir Naik LIVE at Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur with my kids. This was my first time ever listening to his talk. He has been on a Malaysian tour for a few weeks now.

In the beginning, I was becoming a bit worried as he started to explain the meaning of Jihad in Islam. He talked about the Arabic definition of Jihad coming from the root word 'Jahada' meaning to strive and struggle. I agree with what he said but I was becoming concerned that he might be one of those 'apologetic' Muslims who restrict the meaning of Jihad to the struggle against one's own nafs...something which all human beings MUST do all the time as we struggle against our inner desires. That struggle for me is never ending until our last breath...

As the talk progresses however, I was completely amazed by his quotation not just of the Qur'an but also of the other scriptures. He went on to quote many Ayat in the Qur'an which talks about fighting (Qitaal) and giving examples on how he explains the command of fighting in Islam to non-Muslim by quoting their own scriptures on fighting. Fighting in the battlefield is undoubtedly a command from Allah SWT (Qur'an 2:216; 2:246; 9:5 and many others) and has been one method of striving and struggle to make the Truth prevail over the Falsehood (Qur'an 9:33). All men are obliged to be part of the army of Jihad under the Khilafah and to fight for Truth and Justice; and to fight against oppression; to observe all the rules and laws of fighting and NOT to oppress others.

Alhamdulillah Allah SWT has given Dr Zakir such a strong memory in memorizing the Qur'an and other scriptures and being able to explain very eloquently about the Deen and being able to answer questions thrown at him in a very sharp and clear way. However, Dr Zakir's message last night is that all Muslims are daie i.e. da'wah carriers and we have a duty to convey Islam to all people but I would like to add that da'wah is also to Muslims, to remind one another and the seeking of the knowledge of Islam is an obligation on all of us. Not everyone is given the talent to be an orator as Dr Zakir but there is no argument that is better than the Qur'an so even if we are no good at public speaking but inshaAllah with the knowledge of Islam, we will always hold the Truth and we can always convey the Truth.

May Allah reward Dr Zakir for his efforts and thank you for coming to Malaysia!