Mumbai: Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's father Dr, Abdul Karim Naik, a physician and educationist, passed away at his home in Mazgaon area of Mumbai early this morning after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 87.
"He suffered a cardiac arrest at 3.30 AM at his home in Mazgaon and could not recover from that. Abdul had been keeping unwell from sometime. He was laid to rest at Naryalwadi Qabristanin the same area," an associate of Zakir Naik said.
Born in Ratnagiri in coastal Maharashtra, Dr. Abdul Naik, a doctor, served as the president of the Bombay Psychiatric Society, a private organisation of mental health professionals, in 1994-95. He had also been active in the field of education, according to news agency PTI.
Asked about Zakir Naik skipping the funeral, his aide said, "He wasn't able to attend. It was too short a time. He will soon be here to pay respects to his father."
Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), too, is under the radar of security agencies and will be soon banned under the anti-terror law.
According to an official source in the Union Home Ministry, IRF will be declared an 'unlawful association' under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act after investigations by the Home Ministry found it to be allegedly having dubious links with Peace TV, an international Islamic channel accused of propagating terrorism.
Naik came under the scanner after, citing the Bangladeshi newspaper 'Daily Star', it was widely reported that one of the perpetrators of the July 1 terror attack in Dhaka, Rohan Imtiaz, ran propaganda on Facebook that said he was inspired by Naik to carry out the crime.
The Daily Star later on distanced itself from the reports attributed to the newspaper and tendered unconditional apology to Zakir Naik.
Interestingly, the allegations against Zakir Naik and his organisation were raised when he was away from India. Reports said Zakir Naik has decided to remain out of the country following the allegations and the government's intention to take action against him.
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