NIA chargesheet references 14 global Islamic preachers and expresses helplessness over control of provocative lectures

August 1, 2016 | Published by : Avinash Nandakumar

NEW DELHI August 1: Connecting the probe against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) latest chargesheet against Islamic State refers to 14 globally recognized preachers, based in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and Zimbabwe, whose lectures/sermons directly or indirectly influenced suspects.

Though these Islamic preachers have not been named as suspects or accused, the interrogation of arrested IS members has revealed that they heard and watched “provocative” lectures and speeches of these scholars.

Some of the well-known names mentioned in the NIA chargesheet include UK-based Anjem Choudhary, Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, Imran Mansoor, Mizanur Rahman and Abu Waleed, US-based Yasir Qadhi, Yusuf Estes, Hamza Yusuf and Ahmad Musa Jibril, Australia-based Musa Cerantonio, Shaikh Feiz Mohammad and Omar El Banna, Zimbabwe-based Mufti Menk and Canada-based Majid Mahmood.

Many of these preachers openly condemn the terror activities of outfits like IS and Al Qaida while some have supported and justified it.

The NIA chargesheet said arrested IS member+ Mohammad Farhan Shaikh from Mumbra, Maharashtra, “got self-radicalized during his stay in Ajman (UAE) by listening to provocative Islamic lectures and speeches of Anjem Choudhary, Yasir Qadhi, Majid Mahmood, Yousuf Estes, Mufti Menk, Hamza Yusuf, Hamza Tzortzis, Imran Mansoor and Omar El Banna”.

It added that “Farhan started actively collecting information on IS after declaration of caliphate in June 2014”.

The NIA chargesheet said, “Farhan created an email ID [email protected] for creating his Facebook account Khalid Ibn Waleed in August 2014, primarily to follow IS-related posts, images, videos and online lectures of Mizanur Rahman, Abu Waleed, Musa Cerantonio, Sheikh Feiz and Ahmad Jibril, who supported and justified the terrorist activities of IS through Quran and Hadees.”

It went on to say that “Farhan, under the influence of these Islamic preachers and having been impressed by the lectures of above speakers, became a supporter and follower of IS from September 2014”. He shared these lectures with his associates on Facebook and YouTube.

Earlier this month, the NIA had claimed t+ hat one of the arrested IS members used to listen to Salman Nadvi of Nadvathul Ulama in Lucknow, a known supporter of Khilafat and IS. Another member of IS’s India module listened to the ‘bayans’ of Maulana Shamsuddin Qasmi, an imam of Chennai’s Mecca Masjid.

Officials said they could not stop anyone from listening to speeches and some of the scholars named by the accused during interrogation were very popular and they also condemned violent activities.

“It is up to the respective countries they live in as to what action they can take against these preachers if there is anything wrong in their sermons,” said an official.

The agency’s probe into an IS module in Hyderabad earlier this month had revealed that Mohammad Ibrahim Yazdani was a follower of Zakir Naik and had even attended his camp in Mumbai, as first reported by TOI. NIA is already looking into Naik’s speeches.

Tags: #IS, #Islam, #NIA, #ZakirNaik