Dr. Zakir Naik invites Pope Benedict XVI for open interfaith       
dialogue, Muslim Scholar Seeks Debate With the Pope - Friday, 27 October 2006

Eminent world's Famous scholar of comparative religion Dr. Zakir Naik has
invited Pope Benedict XVI for an open inter-faith dialogue.
The Pope`s recent statement, which included a quote from a 14th century
Byzantine emperor, sparked outrage in the Muslim world. In his latest
efforts to calm down the Muslim anger the Pope invited diplomats from 20   Islamic countries at his summer residence in south of Rome .

This extraordinary gathering was seen as the latest effort by Benedict XVI
to quell the furor stirred two weeks ago by controversial remarks he made
about Islam. He is attempting to channel the emotion into what he calls an
authentic and respectful dialogue.

Dr. Naik sees the Pope`s statement on Islam as pre-planned. "He (the Pope)
knew very well what he was speaking at University of Regensburg in Germany
on September 22," he said.

"The Pope`s apology to the Muslims was at all not an apology rather it was
putting salt on the wounds," said Dr. Naik, adding that the Pope should
have explicitly apologized and retracted his statement.

Benedict XVI seems to be toeing the same line of neo-con as that of President George Bush, he said.
Dr. Naik said if the Pope wants to initiate an authentic dialogue then he
is more than willing to participate in such an inter-faith debate.

"I am more than willing to participate in the inter-faith dialogue with
Pope Benedict XVI. I am ready on any topic he (the Pope) wishes as long as
it focuses on Quran and the Bible," Dr. Naik said. He said he can go to
Rome or Vatican to meet the Pope.

"I can go to Rome and to Vatican on my own expense if an Italian visa is
arranged for me," he told ONLINE after delivering his lecture on "20 most
common questions about misconceptions of Islam," organized by Sri Lankan
Embassy in Riyadh , attended by a number of ambassadors, diplomatic staff
and members of the Sri Lankan community.

Dr. Zakir Naik during the past three years has delivered over 600 lectures
in the US and Canada . "I am absolutely ready for an open and public
debate with the pope under live international TV coverage," he said.

Let the 1.3 billion Muslims and 2 billion Christians around the world
listen to the debate based on equal slot of time allotted to both sides,
he said. "It is not only a debate but also a question and answer session
allowing the people to ask queries," he said. He said he is not in favor
of closed-door meeting with the Pope, as was suggested by his predecessor
Pope John Paul II, when South African-based Islamic scholar Ahmed Deedat
invited him for open dialogue, he said.

"Pope John Paul told Shaikh A. Deedat to come to his
cabin for a debate," he said and added why does the inter-faith dialogue
be held behind closed doors? Dr.Zakir Naik said the best way to counter
the onslaught on Islam is that the Muslims should have their own media.

"Unfortunately, most of the international media is controlled by the
Western (lobby). Unless you (Muslims) have your own media they
(Westerner's) can very conveniently convert black into white, day into
night, a hero into a villain and a villain into a hero," he said.

Dr.Zakir Naik, who has launched his own religious satellite channel called
"Peace TV", said Muslims do have their own media but what he meant by
international media is similar to the Time and Newsweek and TV channels
such as the BBC and CNN, when Muslims can project their views and convey  the message in right perspective.

"I have a future plan to launch a news channel," he said. He said there
are at least 100 Muslims that he knew, who can take such an initiative and
launch at least 10 satellite channels.

People should not wait for Muslims organizations such as IIRA or OIC to
take steps in this direction, he said.

"Any individual businessman can take the initiative if Muslim bodies such
as OIC or IIRA are not coming forward in this direction," he said.

Dr.Zakir Naik has also endorsed former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir
Muhamamd`s views that the Muslims should stop to operate US
dollar-denominated bank accounts. "I have been preaching (that) Muslims
should stop dealing in dollar," he said. He also called on the Muslim
world to launch an Islamic
currency to counter dealing in dollar.

Muslim countries should not peg their currencies to the dollar. "By that
time the individuals and businessmen should stop dealing in dollar," he
said. He said he has been mobilizing the people wherever he goes asking
them not to keep dollar accounts or even the currency.

The moment you exchange dollars you simply convert that amount with any
currency such as riyal, dirham, dinar or be it yen or euro "but not to
keep in dollar-denomination account," he said.

Muslim Scholar Seeks Debate With the Pope - Friday, 27 October 2006

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