Readers will be glad to hear that the hate preacher, Zakir Naik, will not be returning to the United Kingdom.
You can read the judgement here.
It is a devastating failure for the man.
UPDATE
For the benefit of our Naik supporter in the comments below, here are a few of the statements brought to the attention of the court:
“Statement 1: As far as a terrorist is concerned, I tell the Muslims that every Muslim should be a terrorist… What is the meaning of the word terrorist? Terrorist by definition means a person who terrorises. When a robber sees a policeman he’s terrified. So for a robber, a policeman is a terrorist. So in this context, every Muslim should be a terrorist to the robber… Every Muslim should be a terrorist to each and every anti-social element. I’m aware that terrorist more commonly is used for a person who terrorises an innocent person. In this context, no Muslim should even terrorise a single innocent human being. The Muslims should selectively terrorise the anti-social element. And many times, two different labels are given to the same activity of the same individual… Before any person gives any label to any individual for any of his actions, we have to first analyse, for what reason is he doing that?
Statement 2: Beware of Muslims saying Osama Bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them… we don’t know. But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don’t know what he’s doing. I’m not in touch with him. I don’t know him personally. I read the newspaper. If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, every Muslim should be a terrorist. The thing is, if he’s terrorising a terrorist, he’s following Islam.
Statement 3: How can you ever justify killing innocent people? But in the same breath as condemning those responsible we must also condemn those responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
Statement 4: If you are going to ask and say that based on the news that I get from the media, whether it be BBC, CNN, etc, then if I agree with that news I have no option but to label [Osama bin Laden] a terrorist, but the glorious Quran says… whenever you get information about something, check it out before you pass it to the second person or the third person. As far as Osama bin Laden is concerned… I cannot base my answer just on the news reports, unless the news reports are verified. But one thing I can say for sure that he was always called as a prime suspect on CNN… prime suspect number one – no proof. Based on the reports of CNN and BBC, I cannot say that he is a terrorist at all. I am neither saying he is good, and neither saying he is bad.
Statement 5: Strongest in enmity towards the Muslims are the Jews and the pagans… It [The Quran] does not say that the Muslims should fight with the Jews… the Jews, by nature as a whole, will be against Muslims… there are many Jews who are good to Muslims, but as a whole… The Quran tells us, as a whole, they will be our staunchest enemy.
Statement 6: It is a blatant secret that this attack on the twin towers was done by George Bush himself.
Statement 7: Today, America is controlled by the Jews, whether it be the banks, whether it be the money, whether it be the power. Nobody can become a president of the USA without walking the Star of David.
Statement 8: American citizens themselves have a hundred other hypotheses for who is the person who was responsible for September 11th. You go on to the internet… American journalists, American historians… this thing could not have been done by bin Laden… I’m not saying what they’re saying is wrong, or what they’re saying is right, I don’t know. I’m just giving you information that you might not be aware… Some of the people even say that George Bush himself did it.
Statement 9: The pig is the most shameless animal on the face of the earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to have sex with its mate. In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives; many say, ‘you sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife.’ If you eat pigs, then you behave like pigs.
Statement 10: If a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his/her new religion then, it is as good as treason. There is a ‘death penalty’ in Islam for such a person. Punishment is death. In many countries the punishment for treason is also death. If an army general discloses his army’s secrets to another country then there is a ‘death penalty’ or life imprisonment for such a person according to the laws of most of the countries. Similarly if a Muslim becomes non-Muslim and propagates his/her new religion then there is a ‘death penalty’ for such a person in Islam.
Statement 11: If a person does not want peace to prevail what can we do?… We have to be careful of the Jews. Not ever fight them, unless they come and fight you. That’s a different thing. Imagine what’s happening in Palestine, what’s happening in other parts of the world, so brothers, for peace to prevail you have to follow the guidance of the Quran… The Quran doesn’t say the Jews should be enemies but they will be so.”
Readers will be familiar with some of these statements, and the context in which they were spoken. One led directly to the near-lynching of a man.
