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Why banning Zakir Naik is not enough to prevent Islamic extremism

  • Authorities have taken all possible procedural measures to stop all operations of Zakir Naik.
  • In India also multiple cases of Muslim youths leaving homes to join Islamic State (IS) have been reported.
  • The Islamic fundamentalist preachers and extremist groups are abusing the theory of end. 
Why banning Zakir Naik is not enough to prevent Islamic extremism

 

The government has imposed a five-year ban on Dr. Zakir Naik, the Islamist preacher, who propagated radical thoughts through various channels. His website has been blocked, operations of his supposed NGO Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) has been suspended, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is investigating and searching his premises for possible objectionable materials and clues. 

 

Currently, it is believed that Naik is in Dubai after his name was implicated in the Dhaka terror attack. 

 

The authorities have taken all possible procedural measures to stop all operations of Zakir Naik and to halt his various propagating tools. However, his social media accounts are yet to be blocked. 

 

These measures are impressive but are they enough to stop the extremist, radical thoughts and its preachers from spreading in this internet savvy world? 

 

One search in any of the social media website and there are hundreds of pages, groups, individual profiles, and hyperlinks appear that supports, propagates, and spread materials that are enough to misguide, mislead, and provoke people to act irrationally.  The presence of such social media posts also proves that the preacher must be brought to book and also state vigilance is required keep a check on the preachees.

 

The Dhaka attack itself is an example of why state vigilance is required on the young and vulnerable Muslim youths torn between socio-economic struggle and religious ambiguity.  In India also multiple cases of Muslim youths leaving homes to join Islamic State (IS) have been reported, and some have accepted of getting inspired by Naik.

 

More recently, an IS sympathiser was arrested in Rajasthan who raised funds from India, UAE, and Bangladesh and was the same through hawala to IS since past two years. 

 

Almost every religion predicts a doomsday, armageddon or end of time in which battle needs to be fought, and the Islamic fundamentalist preachers and extremist groups are abusing the theory of end of time to lure young Muslims to join Islamic State (IS). 

 

The only tool that facilitates all these actions and movements is nothing else but social media and the internet. 

 

This leads to a simple conclusion that monitoring, regulating, and hypervigilance of online activities is as important as banning and arrests. 

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