Web Search www.YaHind.Com Islam gains huge new following after 9/11 By: Syed Zia ur Rahman RIYADH - Renowned Islamic scholar Dr. Zakir Naik has said that the more western media is trying to distort and suppress Islam, the stronger it has emerged. As a result, while Christianity has grown by 47 percent in terms of a new converts since September 11, 2001, Islam registered a whopping 235 percent surge in its following during the same period. Dr. Naik was speaking on "Islam - the solution, not the problem for mankind" at King Fahad Cultural Center on Friday night. The auditorium was filled to capacity, with cheers from the audience punctuating his speech as he reeled off statistics or quoted the Qur'an, Bible and other scriptures chapter verse to back up his arguments. Ahmed Izzat, Egyptian Islamic scholar, chaired the meeting, which was organized by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) in collaboration with Islamic Research Foundation International of Bombay. Dr. Naik spoke on a variety of topics - from deliberate attempts to misrepresent Islam to Islamic resurgence in the wake of 9/11 and Islamic solution to economic ills. The theme of his speech was that Islam is the solution, not the problem, facing the mankind. The way forward was to study it without the blinkers of prejudice. In this context, he mentioned that the cumulative wealth of the world's three richest men was equal to the GDP of 47 poorest countries in the world. Similarly, if the world's 52 richest men gave zakah equal to 2.5 percent of their wealth, it would eradicate poverty in the world. He said Islam also provides solution to the incidence of crimes by imposing deterrent punishment on the criminal. By contrast, as in the US and European countries, when the criminals treated in a humane fashion, he would relapse into crime as soon as he serves out his term. No wonder, said Dr.Naik, the incidence of rapes which stood at 1756 per day in 1990 shot up to 2730 rapes daily in 1996. Speaking about the distorted image of Islam, Dr. Naik said many in the west were studying the Qur' an out of curiosity whetted by the media onslaught. Once they imbedded its real image, they embraced it. Thus 34,000 accepted Islam in the US alone since 9/11. Similar was the result when Salman Rushdie wrote "The Satanic Verses" to run down Islam. More were attracted to, rather than repelled by, this faith. Regarding the media labeling of Muslims as fundamentalists, he said it is a misnomer, since any one who follows the fundamentals of a particular subject is a fundamentalists. "Unless a scientist is thorough with the fundamentals of science, he will not be a scientist…As far as I a concerned, I am proud to be a fundamentalist Muslim, since I strive to participate the fundamentals of Islam. And I know, there is not a single fundamental of Islam as against humanity as a whole." Tracing the origin of the term 'fundamentalism', Dr. Naik said it originated during the early phase of Protestant movement in the US. The American Christians believed that the message of the Bible was from God. "The Oxford English Dictionary in one of its early editions defined fundamentalist as a person who strictly adheres to the ancient doctrines of any religion. However, there is a slight change in the more recent editions of this dictionary. It defines a fundamentalist as a person who strictly adheres to the ancient doctrines of any religion, especially Islam." Asked about media attacks on Islam as "religion of extremism", Dr. Naik said the concept of extremism is alien to Islam. "However, in Islamic history there were always groups which tried to enforce a rigid and narrow understanding of Islam. They attached undue importance to points of detail that have no central position in Islamic thought. This is contrary to Islamic approach, which always follows the middle-of-the-road approach." Dr. Naik said the western media was putting a wrong spin on extremism. Extremism in Islam should always be understood in the positive sense. "What is wrong in being an extremist if one is extremely kind, extremely generous, extremely helpful." he said amid cheers from the audience. However, the media was conveying the wrong impression about Islam by highlighting acts of terrorism or others crimes committed by bad sheep in the community and tarnishing the image of the Muslim community as a whole, he added. 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