Nearly 4,000 attend Fariq Naik's talk in Penang

Nearly 4,000 people attended a talk by Fariq Naik, son of famed Muslim preacher Dr Zakir Naik, held at Dewan Tunku Syed Putra in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), here last night.

Fariq, 22, who completed his A Level (CIE, UK), at the Islamic International School and Junior College, Mumbai, India delivered a talk titled 'Misconceptions About Islam'.

In the one hour 15 minutes talk organised by the International Islamic Propagation Organisation (IPSI), Fariq addressed several issues and topics pertaining to Islam that were often posed by non-Muslims such as polygamy, jihad and the wearing of hijab.

Most of the audience met after the talk expressed their excitement and satisfaction over Fariq's approach in delivering the talk, which was easily understood.

A housewife Safiah Abdul Satar, 56, described the talk as very easy to understand but for her, it was still not enough due to time constraints and there were still so much things she wanted to learn about the misconceptions on Islam.

A USM student Baharuddin Abu Bakar, 25, said the talk was a very useful platform for him in dealing with the misconceptions about Islam among his non-Muslim friends and on the real picture of Islam.

"Sometimes, although we, as Muslims have learned about the religion, we still lack the knowledge in answering questions (pertaining to Islam) from non-Muslims," he said.

He said that Fariq managed to deliver the talk as good as his father with the use of fluent and understandable English.

Fariq, when approached by Bernama after the talk expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome from the audience.

"Alhamdulilah... the programme is very nice... crowded, All praise be to Allah.

"We should try to present the misconceptions of Islam and present the research from al-Quran and Hadith. So this misconception, I try to clarify to the non-Muslims," he said.

Fariq's involvement in delivering religious talk began as early as the tender age of eight, when he followed his father's dakwah (preaching) programme.

He started giving short talks in English and Arabic in front of hundreds of people in Chennai, Pune, Dubai, Italy, Trinidad and other cities in the world.

Also attending the talk were Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon and state Mufti Datuk Wan Salim Mohd Noor.

The event, which was attended by people from all walks of life began with a talk entitled "Knowing Islam" by IPSI founder Kamarudin Abdullah.