One of the terrorists was inspired by his preaching.
Dileep Thekkethil
The investigation into the radicalization of the youth who carried the horrendous attack inside Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka is pointing at the Indian televangelist Muslim preacher ZakirNaik who is infamous for his Islamic supremacist speeches.
The investigation into the Dhaka attack has revealed that the two attackers were followers of the Mumbai-based preacher who is the founder of Peace TV, which is a banned channel that some channel operators illegally telecast.
Peace TV was founded in 2006 in Dubai and Naik has been preaching his teachings through the channels, reaching close to 200 countries across the world. He later started two other channels Peace TV Urdu and Peace TV Bangla. It seems like the two terrorists killed in the café were followers of the Peace TV Bangla.
Even though the government has refused to air Peace TV in India it has been widely reported that a few section of TV operators has been telecasting it illegally. With the new developments, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked the state governments to make sure that cable operators and Multi Service Operators are banned from telecasting Peace Channel.
Times of India quoted a source saying “Punitive action will be taken against those who are found to be in violation and are broadcasting unlicensed channels.”
The Bangladesh government, on the other hand, has started investigating the televangelist’s speeches and asked the Indian government to examine the content as well as the context of the controversial preacher’s sermons.
Naik is a follower of Salafi sect of Islam, also known as Wahhabism after its founder Muhammed ibn Abs al-Wahhab. The followers of Wahhabism are a very peculiar brand of Islam who are opposed to any liberal reforms in Islam.
According to people who have heard Naik’s speeches, he first appears as a tolerant and gentle preacher who welcomes questions from non-Muslims about Islam. But a thorough examination of the speech will reveal signs of Islamic supremacist. Also, Naik through his speech has claimed that all scientific discoveries, inventions, as well as wonders of the world, have already been mentioned in Islamic scriptures.