Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic preacher, and the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF).He is also the founder of the "comparative religion" Peace TV channel through which he reaches a reported 100 million viewers. He has been called an "authority on comparative religion", "perhaps the most influential Salafi ideologue in India", "the rock star of tele-evangelism and a proponent of modern Islam" and "the world's leading Salafi evangelist".Unlike many Islamic preachers, his lectures are colloquial, given in English, not Urdu or Arabic, and he wears a suit and tie rather than traditional garb.
Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a medical doctor. He has published booklet versions of lectures on Islam and comparative religion. Although he has publicly disclaimed sectarianism in Islam, he is regarded by some as an exponent of the Salafi ideology, and, by some, as a radical Islamic televangelist propagating Wahhabism. His preaching is currently banned in India, Canada, United Kingdom and Bangladesh.[30][31] He is said to have more critics within the Islamic community than those outside it.
