Author: Khushwant Singh
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: November 3, 2007
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=06f7254f-ebfd-4aed-93dc-1bc5e61713a4
At the recent Book Fair in Delhi there was
a stall selling Islamic literature. Friends who went round the stalls told
me that among the hottest sellers was Answer to Non-Muslim Common Questions
About Islam by Dr Zakir Naik (Madhur Sandesh Sangam).
The learned doctor, who has a phenomenal memory
when it comes to quoting chapters, verses and lines of the scriptures, has
chosen 20 questions, most often asked by non-believers: they include polygamy,
burqa, drinking, eating pigmeat, afterlife, and kafirs. I have heard Zakir
Naik hold forth on these and other subjects several times on television before
large receptive audiences, who hear him spellbound. I disagree with almost
everything he has to say about misconceptions about Islam. Though by definition
(a kafir), I don't believe in God, satan, angels, devils, heaven or hell,
I feel hurt and angry because I am emotionally and rationally bothered by
the sorry plight of Muslims today. I find Naik's pronouncements somewhat juvenile.
They seldom rise above the level of undergraduate
college debates, where contestants vie with each other to score brownie points.
I will deal with only four of the twenty topics he deals with - two of minor
and two of major importance. Why is eating pigmeat forbidden in Islam? Dr
Naik tells us that the "pig is one of the filthiest animals on earth."
Agreed, it eats garbage, including human and
animal excreta. He further adds, "The pig is the most shameless animal
on the face of the earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to
have sex with its mate" I admit I was not aware of this swinish aberration.
He goes on to list 70 different types of diseases caused by eating pigmeat.
He does not tell us why the vast majority of non-Muslims, non-vegetarians
of the world relish pigmeat in different forms: ham, bacon, pork, sausages,
salami etc.
Many Pacific island economies depend on breeding
pigs. I for one have not heard of great epidemics caused by consumption of
pig meat. Why is alcohol forbidden to Muslims? Actually, what is forbidden
by the Quran is drunkenness, not drinking. However, Dr Naik construes it to
be a sin.
He says, "Alcohol has been the scourge
of human society, since time immemorial. It costs enormous human lives and
terrible misery to millions throughout the world."
He lists 19 diseases, including eczema, caused
by intake of liquor. One does not have to quote the scriptures to prove that
excessive drinking ruins one's health, impoverishes families, leads to bad
behaviour and crime. It is plain common sense. People all over the world overdo
it and suffer. Those who drink within limits enjoy it. I have been drinking
for 70 years. I have not been drunk even once in my life, never fallen ill
nor offended anyone.
I am 94 and still drink everyday. My role
model is Asadullah Khan Ghalib. He drank every evening and alone. I look forward
to my sundowners. For me and for millions of others, drinking has nothing
to do with religion. Let us see what Dr Naik has to say about two more serious
subjects: polygamy and hijab (veil).
"The Quran is the only religious book
on the face of this earth that contains the phrase "marry only one,"
he asserts. And explains the verse on the subject "marry women of your
choice, two, three or four; but only fear that ye shall not be able to do
justice (with them), then only one". And since "ye are never able
to be fair and just as between women. Therefore, the verdict is in favour
of one wife at a time. "Hindus are more polygamous than Muslims,"
writes Dr Naik.
There are more women than men in the world;
so what are women who can't find unmarried men do except become co-wives of
married men? Or become "public property?" So goes the learned doctor's
argument.
He does not deign to deal with the situation
as it exists today. Every other religion other than Islam, Christianity, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism now forbids men from having more
than one wife at a time.
Muslims are the sole exception though only
a miniscule minority, mainly Arabs, have multiple wives. Apply for a visa
to some country like Indonesia and Malaysia and you will have to fill a column
naming up to four wives accompanying you. The answer to the problem of women
out-numbering men is not polygamy, it is freedom to engage in extra-marital
relation or have them staying single. It is better than having a harem.
Dr Naik is in favour of women wearing burqas
from head to foot, girls not going to mixed schools or colleges, nor going
into professional institutions in which they have to expose their faces etc.
This amounts to denying them, equal rights with men. In my view, shared by
all my Muslim friends, burqa is the single most reprehensible cause for keeping
Muslims backward (it is synonymous to jehalat - ignorance and backwardness).
The sooner it is abolished, the better. He castigates the western society
in no uncertain terms: "Western talk of women's liberalisation is nothing
but a disguised form of exploitation of her body, degradation of her soul
and deprivation of her honour.
"Western society claims to have uplifted
women. On the contrary, it has actually degraded them to the status of concubines,
mistresses, and society butterflies who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure
seekers and sex marketers…." All I can say in reply is "Dr.
Naik, you know next to nothing about the Western society and are talking through
your skull cap. People like you are making the Muslims lag behind other communities."
