Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (bahasa Hindi: ज़ाकिर अब्दुल करीम नायक; lahir 18 Oktober 1965; umur 51 tahun) adalah seorang pembicara umum Muslim India, dan penulis hal-hal tentang Islam dan perbandingan agama. Secara profesi, ia adalah seorang dokter medis, memperoleh gelar Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) dari Maharashtra, tapi sejak 1991 ia telah menjadi seorang ulama yang terlibat dalam dakwah Islam dan perbandingan agama. Ia menyatakan bahwa tujuannya ialah membangkitkan kembali dasar-dasar penting Islam yang kebanyakan remaja Muslim tidak menyadarinya atau sedikit memahaminya dalam konteks modernitas. Zakir Naik adalah pendiri dan presiden Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), sebuah organisasi nirlaba yang memiliki dan menyiarkan jaringan saluran TV gratis Peace TV dari Mumbai, India.Zakir Naik lahir pada tanggal 18 Oktober 1965 di Mumbai (Bombay pada waktu itu), India dan merupakan keturunan Konkani. Ia bersekolah di St. Peter's High School (ICSE) di kota Mumbai. Kemudian bergabung dengan Kishinchand Chellaram College dan mempelajari kesehatan di Topiwala National Medical College and Nair Hospital di Mumbai. Ia kemudian menerima gelar MBBS-nya di University of Mumbai. Tahun 1991 ia berhenti bekerja sebagai dokter medis dan beralih di bidang dakwah atau proselitisme Islam.
Naik mengatakan ia terinspirasi oleh Ahmed Deedat yang telah aktif di bidang dakwah selama lebih dari 40 tahun. Menurut Naik, tujuannya adalah "berkonsentrasi pada remaja Muslim berpendidikan yang mulai meragukan agamanya sendiri dan merasa agamanya telah kuno" dan adalah tugas setiap Muslim untuk menghilangkan kesalahpahaman tentang Islam untuk melawan apa yang ia anggap sebagai bias anti-Islam oleh media Barat setelah serangan 11 September 2001 terhadap Amerika Serikat. Ia telah berceramah dan menulis sejumlah buku tentang Islam dan perbandingan agama[8] juga hal-hal yang ditujukan untuk menghapus keraguan tentang Islam. Sejumlah artikelnya juga sering diterbitkan di majalah India seperti Islamic Voice.
Thomas Blom Hansen, seorang sosiolog yang memegang posisi akademik di berbagai universitas, telah menulis bahwa gaya Naik mengabadikan Qur'an dan hadits dalam berbagai bahasa, dan bepergian ke berbagai negara untuk membicarakan Islam bersama para teolog, telah menjadikannya sangat terkenal di lingkungan Muslim dan non-Muslim. Meskipun ia biasa berbicara kepada ratusan hadirin, dan kadang ribuan hadirin, justru rekaman video dan DVD ceramahnya yang banyak didistribusikan. Perkataannya biasa direkam dalam bahasa Inggris, untuk disiarkan pada akhir pekan di sejumlah jaringan TV kabel di lingkungan Muslim Mumbai, dan di saluran Peace TV, which he co-promotes. Topik yang ia bicarakan mencakup: "Islam dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Modern", "Islam dan Kristen", dan "Islam dan Sekularisme", di antara yang lain.
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic preacher, and the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). He is also the founder of the "comparative religion" Peace TV channel through which he reaches a reported 100 million viewers. He has been called an "authority on comparative religion", "perhaps the most influential Salafi ideologue in India", "the rock star of tele-evangelism and a proponent of modern Islam" and "the world's leading Salafi evangelist". Unlike many Islamic preachers, his lectures are colloquial, given in English, not Urdu or Arabic, and he wears a suit and tie rather than traditional garb.Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a medical doctor. He has published booklet versions of lectures on Islam and comparative religion. Although he has publicly disclaimed sectarianism in Islam, he is regarded by some as an exponent of the Salafi ideology, and, by some, as a radical Islamic televangelist propagating Wahhabism. His preaching is currently banned in India, Bangladesh, Canada and the United Kingdom. He is said to have more critics within the Islamic community than those outside it.
Zakir Naik was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He attended Kishinchand Chellaram College and studied medicine at Topiwala National Medical College & BYL Nair Charitable Hospital and later the University of Mumbai, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS). In 1991 he started working in the field of Dawah, and founded the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). Naik's wife, Farhat Naik, works for the women's section of the Islamic Research foundation (IRF). Naik said in 2006, that he was inspired by Ahmed Deedat, an Islamic preacher, having met him in 1987. (Naik is sometimes referred to as "Deedat plus", a label given to him by Deedat himself. Naik founded the Islamic International School in Mumbai. and United Islamic Aid, which provides scholarship to poor and destitute Muslim youth. He is also a board member and adviser of iERA.
The Islamic Research Foundation website describes Naik as "the ideologue and driving force behind Peace TV Network". Naik's channel is to promote "Truth, Justice, Morality, Harmony and Wisdom for the whole of humankind", mentions its website. The Indian government banned the Peace TV channel in 2012;[39][40] According to the New York Times quoting an anonymous Indian journalist, the Mumbai police have barred him from holding conferences in recent years "because he stirs controversy", and Indian satellite providers have refused to broadcast his television channel, Peace TV. In 2016, during a press conference Naik claimed himself as a Non-resident Indian (NRI).
