Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (Arabic: زاكر نايك) (born: October 18, 1965) is an Indian Islamic scholar, public speaker, and writer on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. By profession, he is a medical doctor, attaining a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Maharashtra, but since 1991 he has focused on preaching Islam.<ref name="IRF">Islamic Research Foundation - Introduction (Dr. Zakir Naik)</ref>
Zakir Naik is also the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organization that owns Peace TV network.<ref name="IRF" />
Biography
Zakir Naik was born on October 18, 1965 in Mumbai, India. He is of Konkani descent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>His first educational institution was St. Peter's High School (ICSE) situated in Mumbai. After which he joined Kishinchand Chellaram College in the same city. After his higher secondary degree he studied medicine at Topiwala National Medical College and at Nair Hospital in Mumbai. He completed his MBBS degree from University of Mumbai. In 1991 he gave up his activity as a physician and started working for Dawah or preaching of Islam.<ref>http://drzakirnaik.com/Home/AboutMe/tabid/54/Default.aspx - Biography from the website of Zakir Naik constructed by his students.</ref>
According to Naik, the goal is to "concentrate on the educated Muslim youth who have become apologetic about their own religion and have started to feel that their own religion is outdated."<ref name="H17">Hansen (2001) p. 177</ref>
Lectures
Thomas Blom Hansen, a sociologist at the University of Edinburgh, has written that Naik's style of memorizing the Qur'an and hadith literature in various languages, and travelling abroad to debate Islam with theologians, has made him extremely popular in Mumbai. Although he usually speaks to audiences of several hundreds, it is the videotapes of his talks which are widely distributed. His talks are usually recorded in English, to be broadcast at weekends on several cable networks in Mumbai's Muslim neighborhoods,<ref name="H17" /> and on the channel Peace TV, which he copromotes.<ref name="Mazumdar" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Topics he speaks on include: "Islam and Modern Science", "Islam and Christianity", and "Islam and secularism", among others.<ref name="H17" /> He is the president of the Islamic Research Foundation, which he founded.<ref name="Mazumdar">Template:Cite web</ref>
