Analysis of Zakir Naik’s claims

17:51

25 Dec 2014

Miracles / I'jaz, History of Science

The Masked Arab

Zakir Naik

This episode of the Masked Arab’s video blog (vlog) critiques Dr. Zakir Naik, a well-known Muslim televangelist, president of Peace TV.  The Masked Arab uses clips from a Peace TV commercial and two of Naik’s lectures to show the errors in Zakir Naik’s presentations.

He begins with an anecdote, common among Muslim televangelists, that suggests people become atheists because they believe in science and technology, a statement to which the Masked Arab, who identifies as an atheist, agrees.  Naik then suggests that the “manual” for complex machinery should be sought from its manufacturer (again, a common metaphor), suggesting that the manual for people is scripture, specifically the Qurʾān.  The Masked Arab rejects this, suggesting the everyone is lying about the manuals.  He then begins to step through various errors in Naik’s presentations.

The first interpretation that the Masked Arab addresses is Naik’s presentation of the Big Bang, interpreting verse 21.30 of the Qurʾān.  The Masked Arab points out that it is similar to Sumerian mythology, which existed long before the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad.  He next addresses Naik’s assertions about the Qurʾān’s discussion of the moon’s light being “reflected light”.  The Masked Arab presents the history of science regarding the light from the moon, demonstrating that it was also known long before the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad.  He takes particular offense at Naik’s assertion that nūr, which Naik asserts means “reflected light”, means anything other than “light”, and goes through all the Qurʾānic verses in which it merely means light.

Naik is next shown discussing the shape of the Earth, which he says is geospherical, like an ostrich egg, which he says is the translation of daḥahā in verse 79.30 of the Qurʾān.  Using al-Ṭabarī’s Qurʾānic exegesis, a well known scholarly work, he shows that this was not understood to mean the Earth is spherical, and several other places in the Qurʾān suggest that the Earth if flat.  He also notes that several Greek scholars who predate the Prophet Muḥammad by centuries knew the planet was spherical and even measured the circumference of the Earth.

Naik is then quoted as saying he did not learn in school that the Sun rotates around its own axis, which the Masked Arab says was known by Galileo (16th century), so ought to have been known by Naik’s school in 1982.  The Masked Arab notes that no known exegesis of 21.33, the Qurʾānic verse that Naik interpreted to mean that the Sun rotates around its own access, has interpreted the verse thus.  The Masked Arab includes here a clip from a recent Arabic-language TV show that is still suggesting that the Sun travels around the Earth, because one should put aside science to follow the Qurʾān, indicating that a few Muslims do not understand Naik’s verse that way at all.

The last group of material addressed here is Naik’s assertion that the Qurʾān miraculously describes the water cycle, which Naik claims was unknown until the mid nineteenth century.  The clip shows Naik rattling off verse after verse in which the water cycle is described, to cheers and applause from his audience.  The Masked Arab examines the verses and finds that some do not mention water at all.  He says verse 39.21 is the most detailed, but doesn’t mention anything that wasn’t known by Greek science well before the time of the Prophet Muḥammad.

The Masked Arab closes the vlog by suggesting that Naik is more interested in making money (through receiving contributions solicited in the opening commercial) than credibly presenting science.

The closing screen provides The Masked Arab’s contact information.

Evaluation:

The Masked Arab is fairly sarcastic about Naik’s understanding of Qurʾānic material, but presents premodern exegetical material fairly.  His understanding of Arabic, given that he is a native speaker, is excellent.  (His videos are generally available in both English and Arabic versions.)  It should be noted, however, that most presenters of iʿjāz material assert that the Prophet Muḥammad was illiterate and therefore unlearned, and thus could not have known the Greek scientific material, which presumes learning in the modern mode, that is, through reading books.  In the premodern and ancient eras, when books were still a luxury, learning often occurred through the spoken word, thus literacy in the narrowest sense was not required in order to be educated.

The science presented by the Masked Arab is accurate; Naik’s is not.

The historical information provided by the Masked Arab is accurate.