"Saying Merry Christmas Is 100% Wrong" — Zakir Naik's Old Video Resurfaces

Launched in 2006, Peace TV is owned by Zakir Naik, who is its founder and president.

In the video, the preacher is seen answering a 16-year-old Muslim boy who asked how saying "Merry Christmas" to his non-Muslim friends could somehow be blasphemous.

Zakir Naik says that if a Muslim doesn't know what Christmas is celebrated for and wish "Merry Christmas", then Allah may forgive them. However, if Muslims knowingly wish "Merry Christmas", then they are bearing witness that Allah begot a son (Jesus Christ) on 25 December.

On the Facebook page "Dr Zakir Naik - True Islamic Orator", where the video was uploaded earlier this month, it has more than 1,700 reactions, close to 900 shares, and 30,000 views at the time of writing.

The message, however, was quickly rebutted by former minister Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim.

"If this is what Zakir uttered then all the muftis in the country 'better collect your pension benefits and retire'. Next, he might ordain same on Kong Xi Fa Cai and Diwali," Rais tweeted on 14 December.

"I still say he should be sent back to India. Can someone check in KDN (Home Ministry) how he got his PR (permanent residency) and WHO gave it to him?"

Meanwhile, Zakir Naik has since claimed that he does not have a Twitter account.

"I've got no Twitter account at all," Malaysiakini quoted the Indian preacher as saying at the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 earlier today, 20 December.