QURAN

The Qur’an^[1] (Arabic: القرآن‎ al-qur’ān, literally “the recitation”; also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran or Al-Qur’ān) is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God.^[2][3][4][5]

Islam holds that the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad by the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) over a period of approximately twenty-three years, beginning in 610 CE, when he was forty, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death.^[2][6][7] Followers of Islam further believe that the Qur’an was written down by Muhammad's companions while he was alive, although the primary method of transmission was oral. Muslim tradition agrees that it was fixed in writing shortly after Muhammad's death by order of the caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar^[8], and that their orders began a process of formalization of the orally transmitted text that was completed under their successor Uthman with the standard edition known as the "Uthmanic recension."^[9] The present form of the Qur’an is accepted by most scholars as the original version authored or dictated by Muhammad.^[10]

Muslims regard the Qur’an as the main miracle of Muhammad, as proof of his prophethood.^[11], and as the culmination of a series of divine messages. These started, according to Islamic belief, with the messages revealed to Adam, regarded in Islam as the first prophet, and continued with the Suhuf Ibrahim (Sefer Yetzirah or Scrolls of Abraham),^[12] the Tawrat (Torah or Pentateuch),^[13][14] the Zabur (Tehillim or Book of Psalms),^[15][16] and the Injeel (Christian Gospel).^[17][18][19] The Qur'an assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in Jewish and Christian scriptures, summarizing some, dwelling at length on others, and, in some cases, presenting alternative accounts and interpretations of events.^[20][21][22]. The Qur'an describes itself as book of guidance. It rarely offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence.^[23]

A MUSLIM

A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم‎), pronounced /ˈmʊslɪm/, is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah^[1] (Arabic: مسلمة‎). Literally, the word means "one who submits (to God)". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive.^[2] Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah. Muslims believe that Islam existed long before Muhammad and that the religion had evolved with time from the time of Adam until the time of Muhammad and was completed with the revelation of verse 3 of Surah al-Maeda:

ALLAH

PROPHET MUHAMMAD

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh (Arabic: محمّد; Transliteration: Muḥammad;^[2] also spelled Mohammed or Muhammed)^[3][4][5] (ca. 570 Mecca[مَكَةَ ]/[ مَكَهْ ] – June 8, 632 Medina),^[6] is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God (Arabic: الله‎ Allāh), the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the Qur'an 33:40–40. Muslims thus consider him the restorer of the uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.^[7][8][9] He was also active as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, military general, and, according to Muslim belief, an agent of divine action.^[10]

Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca,^[11] he was orphaned at a young age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn)^[12] acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.^[9][13][14]

DR.ZAKIR NAIK

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (Hindi: ज़ाकिर अब्दुल करीम नायक; born 18 October, 1965) is a Indian Muslim public speaker, and writer on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. By profession, he is a medical doctor, attaining a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from Maharashtra, but since 1991 he has become a preacher involved in Islamic proselytism (da'wah)and Comparative Religion. ^[1] He states that his main goal is to revive the crucial fundamentals of Islam that most of the Muslim youth are either oblivious to or poorly understand in context of modernity.

Zakir Naik is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF)^[1][2] —a non-profit organization that owns and broadcasts the free-to-air TV channel network Peace TV from Mumbai, India.

BIOGRAPHY:

Zakir Naik was born on October 18, 1965 in Mumbai, India and is of Konkani descent.^[3] He attended St. Peter's High School (ICSE) in the city of Mumbai. Later he joined the Kishinchand Chellaram College and then studied medicine at Topiwala National Medical College and Nair Hospital in Mumbai. He then received his MBBS degree from the University of Mumbai. In 1991 he gave up his activity as a medical doctor and started working in the field of Da'wah or proselytizing of Islam^[4]

Naik says he was inspired by the late Ahmed Deedat^[5] who had himself been active in the field of Da'wah for more than forty years^[6]. According to Naik, his goal is to "concentrate on the educated Muslim youth who have become apologetic about their own religion and have started to feel the religion is outdated"^[7] and that it was the duty of every Muslim to remove perceived misconceptions about Islam to counter what he considers as the Western media’s anti-Islamic bias in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks upon the United States. ^[8] He has lectured and authored several books on Islam and Comparative religion^[9] as well as those directed towards removing misconceptions about Islam.^[10][11] Some of his articles are also frequently published in Indian magazines like the Islamic Voice.^[12][13][14]

Thomas Blom Hansen, a sociologist who held academic positions at various universities, has written that Naik's style of memorizing the Qur'an and hadith literature in various languages, and travelling abroad to debate Islam with theologians, has made him extremely popular in Muslim and non-Muslim circles. Although he usually speaks to audiences of several hundreds, and sometimes thousands, it is the videotapes and DVDs of his talks which are widely distributed. His talks are usually recorded in English, to be broadcast at weekends on several cable networks in Mumbai's Muslim neighborhoods,^[7] and on the channel Peace TV, which he co-promotes. ^[2][15] Topics he speaks on include: "Islam and Modern Science", "Islam and Christianity", and "Islam and secularism", among others.

TERRORISM AND JIHAD: