The True Way

SHEIKH AHMED DEEDAT

Ahmed Hussein Deedat (July 1, 1918 – August 8, 2005) (Urdu: احمد حسين ديدات) was a Muslim writer and public speaker of Indian South African descent.^[1] He was best known for his numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as pioneering video lectures, most of which centered around Islam, Christianity and the Bible. He also established the IPCI, an international Islamic missionary organization, and wrote several booklets on Islam and Christianity which were widely distributed by the organization. He was awarded the prestigious King Faisal Award in 1986 for his 50 years of missionary work. One focus of his work was providing Muslims with theological tools for defending themselves against active Proselytizing by Christian missionaries. He used English to get his message across to Muslims and the non-Muslims in the western world.^[2]  

Early Years 1918–1942

Ahmed Deedat was born in the town of Tadkeshwar, Surat District, Gujarat, India in 1918.^[3] His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after the birth of Ahmed Deedat. At the age of 9, Deedat left India to join his father in what is now known as Kwazulu-Natal. His mother died only a few months after his departure. Arriving in South Africa, Deedat applied himself with diligence to his studies, overcoming the language barrier and excelling in school, even getting promoted until he completed standard 6. However, due to financial circumstances, he had to quit school and start working by the time he was the age of 16.

In 1936, while working as a furniture salesman, Deedat came across missionaries at a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast. The missionaries in their efforts to convert people of Muslim faith, would often accuse the Prophet Mohammad of having "used the sword" to bring people to Islam. Such accusations seemed to offend Deedat and such attacks were to form a major influence on Deedat's subsequent interest in comparative religion.^[4]

Deedat took a more active interest in religious debate after he came across a book entitled "Izhar ul-Huqq" (Truth Revealed), written by Rahmatullah Kairanawi, found while he was rummaging for reading material in his employer's basement. This book chronicled the efforts of Christian missionaries in India from a century earlier. The book had a profound effect on Deedat and led to the purchase of his first Bible and holding of debates and discussions with trainee missionaries, whose questions he had previously been unable to answer.^[4]

His foray into Bible Studies took a more serious turn when he started attending Islamic study classes held by a local Muslim convert named Mr. Fairfax. Seeing the popularity of the classes, Mr. Fairfax offered to teach an extra session on the Bible and how to preach to Christians about Islam.^[4] Deedat and a few others were delighted at the opportunity. However, only a few months into the project, Mr. Fairfax had to pull out of his engagement, and Deedat, who was by this point quite knowledgeable about the Bible, took over teaching the class. Which he did for three whole years thereafter and later credited for expanding his horizons significantly towards missionary work.

Early Missionary Work 1942–1956

Deedat's first lecture, entitled "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace", was delivered in 1942 to an audience of fifteen people at a Durban movie theatre named Avalon Cinema.^[5]. Over time, Deedat's popularity as a public speaker grew in Durban, to the point that he was invited to speak in other cities in South Africa. A decade later he was filling City halls with audiences numbering in the thousands in cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town.

A major vehicle of Deedat's early missionary activity was the 'Guided Tours' of the Jumma Mosque in Durban. The vast ornamental Jumma Mosque was a landmark site in the tourist friendly city of Durban. A sophisticated program of luncheons, speeches and free hand-outs was created to give an increasingly large number of international tourists often their first look at Islam. Deedat himself featured as one of the guides, hosting tourists and giving succinct introductions to the Islamic Religion and the relationship between Islam and Christianity.^[6]

IPCI and as-Salaam 1956–1986

By 1956, missionary work in the form of frequent public speaking engagements and the popular guided tours of the Jumma Masjid had begun to pay dividends. Enquiries about Islam from the general public in South Africa had started to pour in at an increasing rate. Soon it became apparent that working from the mosque office was not going to be sufficient to handle the demand for literature and to facilitate an increasing number of people showing more than simply tourist level interest in Islam.

Among Deedat's close friends were Goolam Hoosein Vanker and Taahir Rasool, whom many refer to as 'the unsung heroes of Deedat's career'.^[7] In 1957, Deedat, together with Vanker and Rasool, founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) with the aim to print a variety of books on Islam and offer classes to new Muslims converts.^[8]

In 1958, Deedat also established an Islamic seminary called As-Salaam Educational Institute on a donated 75-acre (300,000 m²) piece of land located in Braemar in the south of Natal province.^[9]

With these newly founded missionary organizations as his backbone, Deedat engaged into a broader range of activities over the next three decades. He conducted classes on Biblical Theology and conducted numerous lectures.^{[citation needed]} Da`wah (inviting people towards Islam) became the dominant factor of his life, with audiences at his lectures often reaching in excess of forty thousand. He also wrote a large number of booklets, distributing millions of copies of these and other free literature across the world.

International Fame 1985–1995

By the early 1980s, Ahmed Deedat's work was beginning to be known outside his native South Africa. In 1985, for instance, he twice rented the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London to debate Christians contemporaries in front of a packed audience. His international profile was significantly boosted, when in 1986 he was awarded the King Faisal Award for his services to Islam in the field of Dawah (Islamic missionary activity). The award squarely brought Deedat into the international limelight and the attention of the Muslim communities worldwide. As a result, at the ripe old age of 66, Deedat began a new phase in his lifetime mission of empowering Muslims to preach to Christians, a ten-year long period of international speaking tours around the world. He travelled far and wide to Muslim communities from Australia at one end to North America at the other end. Some of his known tours include:

• Saudi Arabia and Egypt (on several occasions)
• United Kingdom (on several occasions between 1985 and 1988, including Switzerland in 1987)
• Pakistan, where Deedat met Zia al-Haq, UAE and Maldives Islands (Nov–Dec 1987), where Deedat was honored by President Gayhoom.^[4]
• US Tour Number 1 (late 1986 featuring debates with Swaggart, Robert Douglas and several lectures including two in Arizona)
• Sweden and Denmark (late 1991 featuring three debates)
• US and Canada Tour (1994 tour featuring debate in Canada and lectures in Chicago)
• Australia Tour (his last tour in early 1996 just before his stroke)

Debates

Video Cover of the Great Debate with Anis Sharrosh

Deedat's first well-known debate occurred in August 1981 when he debated well-known Christian apologist Josh McDowell in Durban, South Africa.^[13] Many of his debates were later broadcast online on Youtube, among other sites.

Debates with Anis Shorrosh

Deedat's memorable tussles with Palestinian-American missionary Dr. Anis Shorrosh first came to public attention when Shorrosh appeared among the audience during the Q&A sessions^[14] on two separate occasions during Deedat's summer 1985 tour of the UK (where he debated Dr. Floyd E. Clark in what is now considered another one of his early international works)^[4]. Thereon ensued some back and forth between the camps of Deedat and Shorrosh and the result was two highly contentious debates, the first of which, entitled Is Jesus God?^[4] took place right away in Dec 1985 at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London. The second debate was organized with much fanfare and held in Birmingham, UK on August 7, 1988; entitled The Quran or the Bible: Which is God's Word.^[4] This debate spanned a total of 240 minutes including the Q&A session.

Debate with Jimmy Swaggart

Deedat's most famous moment came when he managed to land a debate with televangelist Jimmy Swaggart at a time when Swaggart was one of the leading faces of Evangelical Christianity. The debate entitled Is The Bible the Word of God?,^[4] was held in Swaggart's hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in November 1986 at the University of Louisiana, where it was attended by about 8,000 people.

Deedat never managed to truly capitalize on the international fame of his opponent, however, when over the following six months and subsequent five years, Swaggart was caught twice in damaging sex scandals and lost most of his international following and stature as a tele-evangelist. The debate, however, did capture the imagination of the Muslim world and the Muslims minorities in Europe and North America.

Other Notable Debates

In Ahmed Deedat's US tour of 1986, Deedat also debated Dr. Robert Douglas, PhD (Zwimmer Institute) at the University of Kansas in November 1986 in a debate entitled Crucifixion: Fact or Fiction.^[4] Deedat's last major debate entitled Was Jesus Crucified?^[4] took place at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada on July 17, 1994 featuring Wesley H. Wakefield (Bishop General of the Bible Holiness Movement of Vancouver).

In Oct–Nov 1991, Deedat toured Scandinavia where he held three debates and several speeches. Two of these debates where held on successive nights against Pastor Stanley Sjöberg in Stockholm, Sweden. The first of these was entitled Is the Bible the True Word of God?^[4] and the second debate was Is Jesus God?.^[4][15] Deedat then traveled to Denmark where he debated Pastor Eric Bock in Copenhagen in a debate entitled Is Jesus God?^[4]

Deedat and the Pope

In 1984, he challenged John Paul II to a public dialogue in the Vatican Square, but the Pope responded that he only agreed to a closed conference in his cabin.^[4] However, Deedat wrote back that he insisted "that such meeting should be public,". When the Pope stopped answering, Deedat distributed a pamphlet in January 1985 headlined His Holiness Plays Hide and Seek With Muslims.^[16]

Illness and Death 1996–2005

On May 3, 1996, Sheikh Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down because of a Cerebral Vascular Accident affecting the Brain Stem, and which also meant that he could no longer speak or swallow.^[10] He was flown to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where he was reported to be fully alert and hence taught to communicate through a series of eye-movements via a chart whereby he would form words by acknowledging individual alphabets read out to him; this way he would form complete sentences.^[10]

He spent the last nine years of his life in a bed in his home in Verulam, South Africa, encouraging people to engage in Da'wah (Islam propagation). He was looked after by his wife, Hawa Deedat, and was reported to have no bed-sores.^[10] He continued to receive hundreds of letters of support from around the world, and local and international visitors continued to visit him and pay homage to his work.^[4]

On August 8, 2005, Ahmed Deedat died at his home on Trevennen Road in Verulam in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He is buried at the Verulam cemetery.^[11] Hawa Deedat died on Monday August 28, 2006 at the age of 85, just one year after her husband at Deedat’s home.^[12]

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