Zakir's presence triggers a phenomenon in T'ganu
The visit of international scholar Dr Zakir Naik to Terengganu on April 9 to 14 triggered a phenomenon in society on religious discourses.
For the first time, more than 100,000 people regardless of race, religion and political ideology gathered to listen to four series of lectures held in the districts of Kuala Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Besut and Kemaman.
The Zakir Naik Tour programme, which was organised by the state government, received positive responses from all quarters and his visit to Terengganu left many memories when a student converted to Islam at his last lecture in Kemaman.
State Health, Woman, Family and Community Development Committee chairperson Muhammad Pehimi Yusof said the effort of the government to organise the programme impacted greatly on the people in the state who took the opportunity to attend the lectures.
"We did not expect his every lecture to be attended by thousands of people... actually, we did not expect the attendances to be so high because we thought, if a lecture was held in Kuala Terengganu, maybe Besut and Kemaman will have less audience, but the responses were still great.
"Currently, it has become a trend for society to turn up in droves to glean religious knowledge and the state government should plan more knowledge programme like this because it is the core of the community to guide the family and oneself," he told Bernama in Kuala Terengganu today.
Air Putih state assemblyperson Wan Abdul Hakim Wan Mokhtar said the programme was seen to be in line with the Terengganu Baharu Transformation principle implemented by the state government.
"Indeed, the programme is very successful and we could see thousands of people attending every programme, regardless of political ideology, they could sit en masse to listen to the lectures of Zakir and this is one principle of unity brought by the state government.
"We could also see, non-Muslims were also attending the lectures and this is a unity to be very proud of when the public get together in a programme and forget their ideologies," he added.
- Bernama
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