Qatar has invited terror-accused absconding Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to deliver religious lectures during the 2022 football World Cup. Several reports and verified twitter accounts confirmed that Naik has been invited as a ‘dignitary’ to deliver sermons to spread the message of Islam during FIFA World Cup 2022.

Naik had refused to call Osama Bin Laden a terrorist, and also defended a Pakistani temple bombing by arguing that Islamic countries had to forbid the building of temples.

Zakir Naik fled Bharat in the wake of Dhaka cafe terror attack of July 2016. He is accused of spreading hatred, funding terror and money laundering. He has found refuge in Muslim-majority Malaysia which has granted him permanent residency.

Late in 2016, Bharat outlawed Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) on the grounds of spreading hate and animosity among various religious communities and groups. In March 2022, the IRF was declared an unlawful association and outlawed for five years by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). According to the MHA, Naik has been praising known terrorists and advocating that every Muslim should be a terrorist.

Ghanem Nuseibeh, who runs a strategy consultancy in London and is Chairman of the UK-based non-profit ‘Muslims Against Anti-Semitism’, criticized this move by Qatar in a series of tweets –

Qatar invites Indian extremist preacher Zakir Naik to preach at @FIFAWorldCup. Naik was banned from entering Britain in 2010 for his extremist preaching. He is now at the Qatar World Cup radicalising Muslim youth attending #Qatar2022

Only 5 of the 32 teams are Muslim majority countries. Why is Qatar insisting on forcing Islam onto football fans?! This is much more dangerous than politicising the World Cup.

Every step Muslims take towards modernity, integration and moderation, Qatar puts its efforts into radicalising whoever it can. We know it funds Alqaeda, Muslim Brotherhood etc but I never thought they’d go as low as openly preaching extremism at World Cup.”

Qatar, especially its state-sponsored media outlet Al Jazeera, has been at the forefront of the narrative war targeting Bharat and Hindus for alleged atrocities against Muslims, whereas the ground reality in the entire subcontinent is completely opposite.

Qatar was also one of the first nations in the Arab world to criticize Bharat over the Nupur Sharma affair, when the former BJP spokesperson was labeled a ‘blasphemer of Islam’ by dubious ‘fact checker’ Md. Zubair who distorted the comments she made during a TV debate. The incitement of global Muslim sentiment on that issue led to multiple incidents of mob and individual violence in Bharat, ultimately leading to death of at least 2 persons, Kanhaiyalal Teli & Umesh Kolhe, injuries to dozens more, and destruction of property.

Many netizens are asking whether Bharat will summon Qatar’s ambassador for inviting Zakir Naik, just like Qatar had summoned our ambassador over Nupur’s comments. Incidentally, what Nupur said about Islam’s Prophet in the what-if scenario she had presented to her Hindu-baiting co-panelist Tasleem Rehmani, has been confirmed as a valid part of Islamic scripture by Zakir Naik. 

Qatar’s move to give a platform to a hate preacher like Zakir Naik is not surprising, given that the fascist Islamic monarchy had also given citizenship to Indian artist MF Hussain after he landed in legal trouble in Bharat for drawing offensive paintings of Hindu deities in the nude.

Thousands of migrant workers and their families, mostly from Bharat and other subcontinental nations, are demanding compensation from FIFA and Qatar authorities for abuses, including unexplained deaths, that workers suffered preparing for the 2022 World Cup. As per one estimate, at least 6750 workers have died (2711 from Bharat) while building stadiums and other infra for the sporting event. Qatar continues to drag its feet on the matter, and is silent on the question of compensation.

The discrimination, exploitation and denial of basic rights to migrant non-Arab workers is an issue that plagues the entire Middle East. While Hindus are denied freedom of religion and many languish in the region’s jails for alleged ‘blasphemy’ and other crimes, even subcontinental and African Muslims are treated as lesser humans in the region where Islam originated.

FIFA comes out in defense of Qatar, questions Western hypocrisy

Western footballs fans and Western media have been up in arms over the World Cup 2022 being awarded to Qatar, purportedly over their human rights abuses and promotion of Islamic fundamentalism. Just days before the inaugural match, Qatar had also banned beer sales at World Cup stadiums, something which has not gone down well with fans.

Incidentally, Al Jazeera has done numerous programs criticizing beef ban in most states of Bharat, so netizens wondered if the Islamist media outlet would turn a spotlight on its home nation and question the beer ban?

However, FIFA President Gianni Infantino accused Western countries of hypocrisy saying they were not in a position to give moral lessons to other nations. In a fiery news conference in the Qatari capital on the eve of the tournament, the Swiss Italian said Europe should address its past crimes before pointing fingers at Qatar.

“I’m European. For what we Europeans have been doing around the world in the last 3,000 years, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people,” Infantino told hundreds of reporters on Saturday.

“How many of these European or Western business companies, who earned millions and millions from Qatar and other countries in the region – billions every year – how many of them addressed the rights of migrant workers with the authorities?”

“Because of European immigration policy, 25k migrants died have since 2015. So if we take a few steps back – why does nobody ask for compensation for these migrants? Are their lives not worth the same?,” he further asked.

Infantino does have a point, and other anti-colonial activists have also argued that the West is using the Indian worker deaths as a moral shield to hide their disdain at an Arab Muslim country hosting a tournament they believe is theirs alone.

However, it must be stated that the World Cup has been hosted in Asia and Africa previously, so the criticism directed against Qatar and FIFA does have substance, notwithstanding the obvious Western hypocrisy.

The Bharatiya government is also yet to make any official statement on Zakir Naik’s arrival in Qatar, and the issue of migrant workers deaths and ill-treatment in the Arab nation. VP Jagdeep Dhankar has arrived in Qatar to represent Bharat in the WC inauguration ceremony today.