Dr. Zakir Naik Speech in Oxford University. Part 5
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00:00My name, I'm a lawyer, a historian, and also a theologian.
00:08You get a very excellent exposition of the Koran and Islam,
00:16but Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all Abrahamic faiths.
00:25A Jew could have said the same thing by quoting the Torah and the Talmud.
00:40A Christian could have said almost everything you said
00:43by quoting both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
00:48And I do not know whether we should be trying to say one religion is superior or more truthful than another.
01:00And if we do go down that line, what does that lead to?
01:05That's what led to the Crusades, etc.
01:09You mentioned about justice and peace.
01:12Of course, the Christian Bible mentions more.
01:16There are more verses about justice and peace than there are about the Holy Spirit.
01:22And of course, Christians were pacifists until 313.
01:28So what is the difference between what you are saying and Judaism and Christianity?
01:38And what would that lead to?
01:40That's a very good question.
01:42And I do agree with him that if you read the books of Judaism, the books of Christianity,
01:48you will find verses of peace.
01:50Even my lecture ever did I say that any religion is against peace or any religion is in favor of terrorism.
01:56I always said all religions are against terrorism.
01:59What I made one statement in my speech that the verse of the Quran chapter 5 verse number 32.
02:05This verse which is so emphatic, I do not find a similar verse in any of the scripture because
02:12I am a student of comparative religion saying that if you kill one innocent human being,
02:18it is as though you have killed the whole of humanity.
02:21And if you save one innocent human being, it is as though you have saved the whole of humanity.
02:26It was only one verse.
02:27So that generally, I do agree that most of the religions, almost all, they speak about peace.
02:33That's the reason Jesus has peace be upon him.
02:36If you read the Gospel of Luke chapter number 24 verse number 36, when he goes to the upper room,
02:41he says, when he wishes apostles, shalamu alaikum, which means same, peace be upon you in Hebrew.
02:47So the greetings of Jesus Christ peace be upon him too, when he met the people were shalamu alaikum,
02:52which meant same in Arabic, assalamu alaikum, may peace be on you.
02:57Regarding you saying that one religion superior to the other religion,
03:01I believe Almighty God sent only one religion.
03:05He has not sent different religions.
03:07What the Quran says, he has made human beings into different tribes, different colors, different languages,
03:14so that they may recognize each other, not they may despise each other.
03:18The only religion that God has sent to all his messengers, whether it be Moses,
03:24whether it be Jesus peace be upon him, Moses peace be upon him,
03:27Muhammad peace be upon him.
03:28It was to submit their will to Almighty God.
03:32I believe all these messengers right from Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad peace be upon them all.
03:40All of them brought the same message that believe in one God and worship him alone and only him
03:46and submit your will to that Almighty God.
03:50Hope that answers the question.
03:51Good afternoon, Dr. Nike.
03:54My name is Izzy Westbury.
03:55I'm the secretary here at the Oxford Union.
03:57I have a very short question to ask.
03:59You talk about the hijab being something that served to protect a woman.
04:03Surely it's extremely patronizing and degrading to prevent a woman from making that decision for herself.
04:09How could you answer that?
04:11What's your question, sister?
04:14I said in your speech, you talk about the hijab being something that serves to protect a woman.
04:19But how is it not extremely patronizing and degrading and not allowing the woman to make that decision herself?
04:24Sister posed a very good question that when I say that hijab is required for a woman,
04:29isn't it not degrading for the woman to patronize it?
04:33Isn't it degrading?
04:35If you read the Quran, the Quran and Islam has prescribed hijab.
04:41That means the woman should be covered.
04:43The only part that can be seen are the face and the handle up to the wrist.
04:46This is for the modesty.
04:48And it is not only mentioned in the Quran.
04:51It is also mentioned in the Bible.
04:54If you read the Bible in the first Timothy, chapter number two, verse number nine,
04:58it says that women should be dressed up with shamefacedness.
05:03They should rest up with sobriety and should not wear braided hair or gold or pearls.
05:09It further mentioned in the first Corinthians, chapter number 11, verse number five, six.
05:13The woman that does not cover her head, then she dishonors her head.
05:16Her head should be shaved off.
05:18Anyway, I don't agree with this.
05:19I'm just quoting you from the Bible.
05:21Same way if you go to the Vedas, it says that the woman should cover the head.
05:25So all the religious scriptures, they talk about the woman covering their head.
05:29It is for modesty.
05:30It is not to degrade the woman.
05:32And if you analyze those allegations made against me saying that Dr. Zakir Naik says that if they don't wear hijab,
05:39you know, that if you wear Western clothes, there are chances the woman will be raped.
05:44It is a misquotation again.
05:46What I said that if women were revealing clothes, they have more chances of being raped.
05:52What I was doing, the same newspaper, Sunday Times, which spoke against me one year before,
05:58on the March of 9th, 2009, Sunday Times carried an article.
06:02In Britain, one out of seven feel that the woman who were sexy revealing clothes, she should be hit.
06:10I'm sorry, I don't agree with it.
06:12This is the statistics that was given in the Sunday Times on the 9th of March, 2009.
06:18That in Britain, one out of seven Britishers believe that the woman who were revealing and sexy clothes should be hit.
06:25I disagree with this.
06:26Furthermore, one more article came in 2005.
06:30In the same newspaper, Sunday Times, it said that 26% of the Britishers, they feel that wearing revealing clothes is partially or totally responsible for the rape.
06:43So what I say that the more modest you are dressed up, you are respected more.
06:49So Islam has prescribed the modest hijab for the woman not to degrade her but to uplift her.
06:56I do agree there may be cultural differences.
06:59Islam cannot force anyone to adopt it.
07:02There are cultural differences.
07:03For example, I'll give you an example.
07:06That some societies, what they feel, that even looking at the woman is a modest.
07:11Some societies feel looking is no problem, but touching a woman is a modest.
07:16Some of the societies feel shaking hand is no problem.
07:19Some societies feel kissing is no problem.
07:21Some societies feel doing anything as long as both agree is no problem.
07:25Different societies and different cultures have got different rules and regulations.
07:30When I went to America, while I was giving a talk, one of the Americans told me,
07:35You Eastern woman, you are immodest.
07:38I was shocked.
07:39I said, why do you call the Eastern woman immodest?
07:42He told me, you Eastern woman, you expose your belly.
07:47So in American Western country, exposing belly is immodesty.
07:52In India, exposing belly is not immodesty, wearing shorts is immodesty.
07:57So what if you realize sister, there is different culture, there is different system.
08:01Islam cannot force anyone to adopt.
08:04It's clearly mentioned in the Quran in Surah Bakrach, chapter number 2, verse number 256.
08:09Like Rafid Deen, there is no compulsion in religion.
08:11But if some women want to adopt the hijab, because they feel modest and they feel respected,
08:18I feel no other woman should disagree.
08:20And when I've been to UK, I've seen hundreds and thousands of women who do cover their hair,
08:25and who feel that they are uplifted because of this modesty.
08:29I hope that answers the question.
08:37Good evening, Dr. Zakir Naik.
08:40My name is Dr. Ramsey from Oxford, Ambassador of the Universal Peace Federation,
08:47and one of the members of the Muslim Council of Britain.
08:51I would like to say you are doing an excellent job.
08:54God bless you.
09:00Now my question.
09:03Dr. Zakir Naik, in your opinion, is Islamophobia a real phenomenon?
09:10And if so, how do you suggest it can be tackled?
09:18Does the responsibility lie with the Muslim community?
09:24Or should Western society be doing more to breach this barrier of fear?
09:31I'm talking about the fear.
09:33All phobias are fear, fear of unknown.
09:38I was asked a very good question that is Islamophobia a real phenomenon?
09:43How should it be tackled?
09:45Is it the responsibility of the Muslim community to do it?
09:49Yes, there is Islamophobia, especially in this 21st century.
09:55And as I mentioned in my speech,
09:57I believe one of the major reasons for this Islamophobia is the media.
10:02And I said in my speech that the media spreads several misconceptions about this religion of Islam.
10:10I do agree it is the duty of us Muslims that we should spread the true teachings of Islam.
10:17I am aware that there are black sheep in the Muslim community.
10:21I am not saying all Muslims are 100% pious, all are good.
10:24There are black sheep in every community including Muslims.
10:26What does the media do?
10:28They pick up the black sheep of the Muslim community and they portray on the media as though they are exemplary Muslims.
10:34What we have to do is we have to portray the right teachings of Quran and the saying of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
10:43And if any Muslim is involved in doing acts which are against religion of Islam, which are acts of terrorism, killing of innocent human beings,
10:53It is the duty of us Muslims that we should tell such people it is haram.
10:58There are some people who are being misguided and they have been brainwashed into saying that killing innocent human beings is part of Islam.
11:09You will get reward.
11:10It's our duty as the mainstream Muslims to try and convey the right message of Islam and prevent such Muslims from being misguided.
11:19That's point number one. Point number two, it's our duty to tell the government of the country where you are living that Islam is a peaceful religion.
11:28And what I believe that Muslims should be part of the solution, they should not be part of the problem.
11:35The government should not think that Muslims are part of the problem, they should think Muslims are part of the solution.
11:42And that advice I even give to the police of India and the police of Bombay and I interact with the police force very often.
11:48And I tell them that you should take the Muslims in confidence and the best is to have an interaction.
11:57I have addressed many police officers from very different countries and we should try and have a question on succession and remove the misconceptions in their minds and prove to them that Islam is one of the most tolerant religions.
12:11It's a peaceful religion.
12:12It's a peaceful religion.
12:13And if you know the teachings of Islam, surely the least person that you have to fear is a true Muslim.
12:20I'm not talking about the black sheep of the Muslim community.
12:23Hope that answers the question.
12:27Dr. Naik, I'm Yasmin, I'm a student at the university and my question is sort of related to the last question.
12:36And you talked about you wanted to come to the UK because you wanted to reach out to Muslims who you felt that the government were not able to reach out to.
12:45And I wondered why, in your opinion, you felt that the government were failing in this way to reach out to Muslims in Britain.
12:53Dr. Naik, I have a question that I wanted to come to UK to reach out to those Muslims who the government could not reach out to.
13:01Sister, there is a slight confusion.
13:03I said, Charles Farr, the director general of the office of security and counter terrorism felt that I could reach out to those Muslims who the government could not reach out to.
13:14He felt that, not me.
13:15And I think, again, because the information which the Home Department has that Peace TV is the most popular Islamic satellite channel in UK, watched by the Muslims as well as the non-Muslims.
13:27And the most popular speaker, according to the Home Department, not according to me, according to the Home Department is Dr. Zakir Naik.
13:34So I repeated what he thought that I could reach better.
13:37Maybe he thinks that my speeches have influenced and he may have read my speeches in context.
13:42That's the reason he was not in favor of the Home Secretary that she passed the execution order.
13:49Hope that answers the question.
13:51Do you think that he has a point?
13:53Do you think that in some sense the government are failing to reach out to Muslims in Britain though?
13:59If you ask my opinion that do I agree with the thoughts of Charles Farr that the government is failing out?
14:06Yes, I do agree with him.
14:07I do agree because as I said in my earlier answer that the government should not think that Muslims are part of the problem.
14:15The government should think that Muslims are part of the solution.
14:18Because a Muslim, there are many Muslims who are British citizens and it is a duty of every Muslim to follow all the laws of the country staying in as long as the law does not force him to do something which is prohibiting the religion or prevents him from doing something which is compulsory religion.
14:37As far as India is concerned, I do not know of any rule or any law in the constitution which forces a Muslim in India to do something which is prohibited.
14:48Neither does it prevent me from doing something which is compulsory.
14:52So I am a practicing Muslim and I am proud to be an Indian.
14:56So I am proud to be an Indian Muslim.
14:58Similarly, there are many Britishers who I feel may be feeling the same.
15:02They may be Muslims and they may be following the laws of the country.
15:05So they are British Muslims.
15:07So I feel that the government should take in confidence and what they should do that they should see to it that this maligning by the media should stop.
15:17And the best example, best example is myself.
15:21I mean there are many, there are 100 million views of Peace TV.
15:25And there are millions of people who tell that I am the ambassador for peace.
15:28They say I am a peaceful person.
15:30There are many heads of states of several foreign countries.
15:34Many.
15:35They have called me as the state guest.
15:37So do you mean to say all these heads of states of several countries.
15:41The president, the prime minister, the king, the sheikh.
15:44They meet me.
15:45Do you mean to say they are meeting a person who is promoting terrorism?
15:49A person who spreads hate?
15:50So what I am saying that this is all again manipulated by the media.
15:55So the government should not fall prey to the media and take any decision easily.
16:00What they should do?
16:01They should give a chance for the person to clarify.
16:04And then I am sure that most of the misconceptions will be removed.
16:09And I am sure that UK would be a more peaceful country to live in.
16:14Hope that answers the question.
16:22Before this evening, due to the limitation of the satellite link.
16:25However, I would ask you now to join with me in thanking Dr. Knight for his speech
16:31and pass it back to Peace TV to finish the evening.
16:34And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I remain James Sangman and your president.
16:39I would like to thank the Oxford Union, especially the president of the Oxford Union, Mr. James Langman, for making this event possible.
16:51And I really appreciate with the way they invited me for this talk.
17:10And at least now, the people of UK can really see a live telecast that I am a person who gives the message of peace.
17:19In a live telecast, there is no editing.
17:22There is no manipulation.
17:23You can have more faith in these live telecasts rather than clippings from YouTube which can be manipulated.
17:30I would like to thank the members of the Oxford Union once again.
17:33And I hope very shortly, once the exclusion order is reversed,
17:38I would like to personally come to the Oxford Union and meet the members of the Oxford Union.
17:43Thank you very much.
17:45Thank you very much.
18:16Can we spill a little love? Can we spill a little bread for the children of wars?