About Dr Zakir Naik

Dr Zakir Naik

A medical doctor by professional training, Dr Zakir Naik is renowned as a dynamic international orator on Islam and Comparative Religion. He is the president of Islamic Research Foundation, Mumbai. He is 48 years old. Dr Zakir clarifies Islamic viewpoints and clears misconceptions about Islam, using the Qur’an, authentic Hadith and other religious Scriptures as a basis, in conjunction with reason, logic and scientific facts. He is popular for his critical analysis and convincing answers to challenging questions posed by audiences after his public talks.

In the last 17 years (by the year 2013) Dr Zakir Naik has delivered over 2000 public talks in the USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Guyana (South America), Trinidad, Mauritius and many other countries, in addition to numerous public talks in India. In 2012, his public talk in Kishanganj, Bihar, in India was attended by over one million people.

Amongst the billion plus population of India Dr Zakir Naik was ranked No. 82 in the ‘100 Most Influential People in India’ list published by Indian Express in the year 2009 and ranked No. 89 in 2010. He was ranked No. 3 in the ‘Top 10 Spiritual Gurus of India in 2009’ and topped this list in 2010. He is ranked in the top 70 list of the ‘500 Most Influential Muslims in the World’ published by George Washington University in the year 2011, 2012 and 2013.

He has successfully participated in several symposia and dialogues with prominent personalities of other faiths. His public dialogue with Dr William Campbell (of USA) on the topic “The Qur’an and the Bible in the light of Science” held in Chicago, USA, in April, 2000 was a resounding success. His inter-faith Dialogue with prominent Hindu Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the topic "The Concept of God in Hinduism and Islam in the light of Sacred Scriptures" held at Palace Grounds, Bangalore, on 21st Jan. 2006, was highly appreciated by people of both the faiths.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President & Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, presented the prestigious Dubai International Holy Quran Award’s ‘Islamic Personality of 2013’ Award on 29th July 2013, for providing outstanding services to Islam and Muslims at a global level in Media, Education and Philanthropy, to Dr Zakir Naik, along with a cash reward of UAE Dirhams 1 million (approx. Indian Rupees 1.7 crores) which he promptly donated to start a Waqf (endowment) fund for Peace TV Network. Dr Zakir at 47 years, was the youngest recipient of the award.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, the king and head of state of Malaysia, conferred Dr Zakir Naik the highest award of Malaysia the ‘Tokoh Ma’al Hijrah Distinguished International Personality Award for the Year 2013’ for his significant service and contribution to the development of Islam on 5th November 2013. Also presented to Dr Zakir was a citation plaque signed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Mohd. Najib Razak.

Shaikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of UAE and Ruler of Sharjah, presented Dr. Zakir Naik the ‘Sharjah Award for Voluntary Work’ for the year 2013, for his voluntary services for Islam on an international scale, on 16th January 2014 at a special ceremony in Sharjah.

Dr Zakir Naik appears regularly on many international TV channels in more than 200 countries of the world. He is regularly invited for TV and Radio interviews. More than a hundred of his talks, dialogues, debates and symposia are available on DVDs. He has authored many books on Islam and Comparative Religion.

The idealogue and driving force behind Peace TV Network is Dr Zakir Naik. He launched Peace TV English, in January 2006, it being the largest watched ‘Islamic’ as well as ‘any Religious’ Satellite TV channel presently in the world, with over 100 million viewership of which 25% are Non-Muslims. In its footsteps he launched Peace TV Urdu in June 2009 and Peace TV Bangla in April 2011. InshaAllah, he plans to expand Peace TV network to cover the ten major languages of the world.