UK ban is about politics, says Islamic preacher Zakir Naik

Dubai: Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has argued that the UK government's decision to deny him entry was politically motivated.

Naik, a highly popular Muslim preacher who is believed to have millions of followers around the world, was barred from entering the UK in May this year, shortly after David Cameron's Conservative party-led government took power.

"They were looking for someone [Muslim and] very popular to ban," he said.

Naik says a number of high-ranking British officials, including counter-terrorism officials, had spoken out against the decision to ban him. He believes he is a scapegoat but says the UK has chosen "the wrong goat to sacrifice", adding that no strong legal arguments can be made in favour of the ban.

He blames UK Home Secretary Theresa May.

Naik says an article in the UK's Sunday Times "snowballed' into a campaign against him, noting that the decision to exclude him came only 17 days after the article was published. He expects the British High Court to overturn the ban.

Naik, who once said that "every Muslim should be a terrorist", insists he was quoted out of context.

"I said that a terrorist is a person who causes terror. Whenever a criminal sees a policeman he is terrified. So for the criminal a policeman is a terrorist. In this context, every Muslim should be a terrorist to the anti-Muslim racist," he said.