KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 21): Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik told the High Court on Tuesday (Dec 21) that he did not mean to mock or belittle other religions in any of his talks.
Testifying in his defamation suit against Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P Ramasamy over the latter’s articles about him, Zakir said Ramasamy had interpreted his words out of context and purposely quoted them in a misleading manner.
He claimed that he did not even once mock or belittle other religions and that his talks are meant to spread the message of peace among the people of various religions, ethnicity and race.
During cross-examination by Ramasamy’s counsel Ranjit Singh, Zakir said he had no intent to mock or belittle other religions, adding however that it is not his fault if anyone misunderstands his words and feels like their religion is being mocked.
Ranjit: Is it your suggestion that you can only mock or belittle other religions if you intend to do so?
Zakir: Yes, intention is important, some people may misunderstand your statement, but the intention may have been good. If you misunderstand and feel hurt, it is not my fault.
Ranjit: Is it your suggestion that you can only mock or belittle another religion if you intend to do so?
Zakir: That’s what it means, mocking means that I purposefully want to do it. If my statement sounds rude to someone and I don’t intend it, that’s a different question.
Ranjit: Do you agree with me that you can say something hurtful about somebody else without intending it to be hurtful, yet the other person finds it hurtful? It can happen.
Zakir: No, I don’t think so. That should not happen, if a person presumes something absurd, that’s his problem.
The defence counsel proceeded to highlight that Zakir has in his witness statement claimed to have delivered more than 2,000 public talks in over 40 countries in the last 23 years, and he as a religious scholar should know that he must be wise with the words he uses.
Ranjit noted that some of the countries where Zakir had spoken are in Europe where the audiences would have been quite diverse.
Ranjit: That would mean you speak to very diverse people, correct?
Zakir: Yes, Muslims and non-Muslims.
Ranjit: Some who may not understand a lot of scripture, agree?
Zakir: Possibly.
Ranjit: For these people, you may not intend to insult them, but because they don’t understand scripture they might not be very logical people, they could feel insulted by your words, correct?
Zakir: Maybe, but in more than 2,000 lectures, never a single time has any non-Muslim during question and answer time told me that [they felt insulted].
Ranjit: You have to understand that the common man would be very afraid in public to debate you. Therefore what I am suggesting to you is this: With respect to you, it is not the intention that matters, it is words that matter. You may not intend to insult someone, but in fact, the words that we use, to the common man, can be deemed to be insulting.
Zakir: Yes, it can.
The Indian national is suing Ramasamy over four alleged defamatory statements. The DAP lawmaker allegedly made the first defamatory statement via a Facebook post on April 10, 2016.
The second was in the form of an article titled “Is Malaysia harbouring alleged fugitive Zakir Naik?” which was published by online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) on Oct 1, 2017.
The third allegedly defamatory statement was made on Aug 11, 2019 through the article “Naik should not question the loyalty of Hindus in Malaysia”, which was also carried by FMT.
Ramasamy was also alleged to have defamed Zakir through a video interview later on Aug 20, which the defendant gave to India-based media platform India Today.
The trial continues on Wednesday with further cross-examination of Zakir by Ranjit before Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz.