Zakir Naik, a medical doctor by profession is renowned for his dynamic oratory skills on Islamic teachings and Comparative Religion. He is the president of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) in Mumbai, which serves the purpose of clarifying Islamic viewpoints and misconceptions about Islam. The research team is a self-proclaimed user of the Qur'an, authentic Hadith and other religious scriptures as a basis, in conjunction with reason, logic and scientific facts, for a wide range of commentaries.
In the last 15 years, Naik has delivered more than 1500 public talks in the U.S.A., Canada, U.K., Italy, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, U.A.E., Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Botswana, Malaysia and Singapore. These are in addition to his numerous televised public talks in India. Naik is 46 years old and has been popular for his critical analysis and convincing answers to challenging questions posed by audiences at the ends of his public talks. To his devoted fans, he is an epitome of Islamic knowledge; others might know him as the Islamic scholar who makes negative remarks about other religions. To many of us, he is a walking, talking example of a human memory drive that can, at an instant's notice, recall selective quotes from a deep and vast store of scripture.
But the moment we take our minds away from his stardom and magic memory, we have to reckon with the fact that he has little formal education in Islamic theology and history. He is basically a media phenomenon who uses his medium to reach millions of people worldwide through international satellite TV channels, cable TV networks, the Internet and the print media. The trouble is that no one seems to be hitting the pause button while Naik is talking in order to check a statistic or verse that Naik has just quoted.
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