New Delhi: Darul Uloom Deoband, one of the largest Islamic seminaries in the world, has issued several fatwas against Dr Zakir Naik.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, Darul Uloom claims that Zakir Naik is a “Ghair Muqallidin” which refers to a person, or preacher whose perception of Islam is not in line with the four dominant school of thoughts in Islam – the Hanafi, Hanbali, Sha’afi and Maliki, named after their founding Imams.
Naik, a preacher with a global reach has had several fatwas pronounced against him. The Darul Uloom first issued fatwas against Naik in 2007.
“The statements made by Dr Zakir Naik indicate that he is a preacher of Ghair Muqallidin, he is of free mind…one should not rely upon his speeches,” one of Darul Uloom’s edicts, entered as “fatwa number 1541/1322=B/1429” in its official edicts list, reportedly states.
Another fatwa, numbered 352=363/B, rules that his knowledge of the religion is ‘not deep’, ‘not reliable’ and advises that ‘Muslims should avoid listening to him’.
“We are not going into whether Zakir Naik knows Quran or not. No, we are not saying that. We are saying it is important to follow one or the other maslak, all equally valid,” Abur Rahman Qasimi, a former Darul Uloom student and the founder of Meerat’s Hidaya madrassa, said.
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