Will Salman Assist Zakir Naik?

King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Dr Zakir Naik on 28 February 2015.

Dr Zakir Naik was invited to Saudi Arabia by King Salman and was awarded the King Faisal
International Prize for Services to Islam on 28 February 2015. With this gesture by the Saudis, most expected to see a strong backing for Dr Zakir by the Saudis. In particular, the frequent attacks by western powers on the da'awah efforts of Dr Zakir were expected to seize.

On notable occasions, Zakir Naik was denied entry into major European countries who happen to be strong allies of Saudi Arabia. In June 2010, Dr Zakir was denied
entry into Canada and then the UK for the oxford union debate accusing him of extremism; Saudi Arabia remained a close ally of the UK. Mutual trade between Saudi Arabia and the UK is worth an estimated $25 billion annually. Saudi imports from India amounted to $7 billion or 2.7% of India's overall exports in 2015 while exports to India amounted to $21.4 billion or 5.5% of India's overall imports in the same year.

Things have never been bad for Dr Zakir as they have been recently, the Hindu-Indian government of Nahendra Mordi has decided to extinguish the da'awah work of Dr Zakir in India for good. On 7th July 2016, the Indian government formally accused Dr Zakir of being the motivation behind the 1st July 2016 cafe attacks in Bangladesh that led to 29 deaths and injured 40 others.

Prior to the accusations, Dr Zakir was out of India on his usual da'awah tours and so was not around to be arrested and physically humiliated. The Indian government however went on to accuse the 52 year old of being a sponsor of terrorism, his programs on his media outfit, peace TV, were banned from been aired and on 15th November 2016, the Indian government closed down the offices of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) across India pronouncing a 5 year ban on the Islamic da'awah organisation.

Also, on 25th January 2017, the Indian government added another  allegation to the list him of money laundering. Dr Zakir Naik has not been able to visit India since last year and was not able to attend the funeral of his father, Dr Abdul Karim Naik, who passed away on 30th October 2016 at 87. The inability of the Indian government to get their hands on Dr Zakir has made them turn their attention to his close associates who still reside in India. On 16th February 2017, a close aide of Dr Zakir, Amir Gazdar, was arrested on allegations of money laundering and appeared in court a day later. On 18th July 2017, the Indian government revoked the passport of Dr Zakir leaving him stateless.

With all these recent acts of aggression by the Indian government against Dr Zakir and by extension Muslims and Islam, the Saudi monarchy has not been heard saying anything to defend  the one they said deserved the King Faisal International Prize for Services to Islam award in 2015 rather; mutual relations between India and Saudi Arabia have continued unabated. On 2nd April 2016, the anti-Islam Hindu leader, Nahendra Mordi, was received by King Salman in Saudi Arabia and was conferred the 'Order of King Abdul Azeez' (Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honour).

Hostilities towards a Nobel Laureate by any authority on Earth never goes  without rebuke. We see this in the zeal with which western leaders come in to fight on the behalf of laureates who get harassed by their homelands. Notable mentions are: Aung San Suu Kyi and Liu Xiaobo; to mention just a few. This makes the silence of the 'awarders' of the 'Muslim world's' equivalent of the Nobel prize quite shameful.

It was reported by Saudi-allied media outfits that the Saudi government granted Dr Zakir Saudi citizenship, but this was never confirmed by any Saudi official. If true, it still will be of no use because he already has a permanent residence permit in Malaysia which has granted him full security.

It is not known if underground discussions between Dr Zakir and King Salman are taking place even though that will be of no significance as the awarders of the Nobel Prize never talk under ground when a recipient is being bullied. Will Salman assist Dr Zakir Naik in clearing his name of all the false allegations? No one knows, but if that assistance does not come soon; it will simply prove right the school of thought that says the awarding of Dr Zakir Naik on 28th February 2015 by King Salman was just a publicity stunt to have a photo-shoot with the world's most influential Muslim to boost its acceptance