| | | | | | | | | Sheikh Ahmed Deedat : Debate With American Soldiers (1/11) - 599 sec Part (2/11): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qai6rm7Ra4c
Sheikh Ahmed Deedat debates with the American soldiers of the First Gulf War in Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Ahmed Deedat
In 1986, the King Faisal Foundation awarded the King Faisal International Prize for SERVICE TO ISLAM, to a South African who is more or better known than many dignitaries in their own countries. This was the first time that this prestigious award has been awarded to a South African.
The recipient of this award was a man totally dedicated to his faith and its propagation and who was not afraid to challenge any one to a debate to settle once and for all the matter, who has the good news right?
He was none other than Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, reverently known and called UNCLE by those who hold him in high esteem and admiration.
The award came after a lifetime of struggle to propagate Islam and to defend Islam against the onslaught of the missionaries.
Finally, he was given recognition by the international Muslim community that he deserved and focused more sharply the attention of the Muslim world on the most important aspect of his work, the challenge to propagate Islam. This was his life long ambition to focus the Muslim world's attention and resources on the propagation of Islam, and at last he succeeded. What a moment of jubilation, achievement and personal gratification for Sheikh Deedat the award was, a turning point in his life.
Sheikh Deedat did not have much formal schooling, but he was self-taught through experience and a penchant for reading, debating, discussion, and a profound sense of commitment to a mission and goal. He was driven and goal oriented. He was focused and never let up until the job was done. He was sharp, perceptive, forthright, fiery, and daring in his challenge of those whom he debated, particularly against those who equal his missionary zeal and sense of audacity. Formal schooling did not destroy his creative prowess, his tenacity, ambition, drive, and sheer daring to swim upstream.
Sheikh Deedat was more a scholar of the Bible than the Qur'an, and was more familiar and adroit with its teachings. He had an insight and perspective of the Bible which made many Christians he came into contact with rethink and re-examine their faith, particularly those aspects of the Bible and the Qur'an that deal with the divine mission and life of Prophet Jesus.
On May 3, 1996, Sheikh Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down, and also meant that he could no longer speak or swallow. He was flown to a hospital in Riyadh, where he was taught to communicate through a series of eye-movements. 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. He continued to receive hundreds of letters of support from around the world. During these years, rumors spread throughout the Internet that he was already dead, and even some websites that contained his pamphlets mentioned as early as 2002 that he was dead.
On August 8, 2005, Ahmed Deedat finally succumbed to his prolonged illness and died at his home in Trevennen Road, Verulam in the province of KwaZulu Natal. Tags: Ahmed Deedat debate American soldiers Bible God Allah Muslim Christian missionaries religion sheikh islamic daw'ah dawah  | | | | | | | | | | The Life And Time Of Sheikh Ahmed Deedat (1/6) - 607 sec Part (2/6): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s6yloncRe4
Sheikh Ahmed Hussein Deedat (1918 - 2005), was a Muslim scholar of Comparative religion, an author, lecturer, and an orator. He was best known for witty inter-religious public debates.
Early life:
Ahmed Deedat was born in Surat, India in 1918. His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after the birth of Ahmed Deedat. At the age of 9, Deedat went to join his father in what is now known as Kwazulu-Natal. His mother died few months after Deedat left for South Africa. Applying himself with diligence to his studies, Deedat was able to overcome the language barrier and excel in school, getting promotions until he completed standard 6. But had to start working at 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. In between the deep racial divides, the religious ideology was used by the authorities to numb and pacify the masses. This is considered to be a major influence on Deedat's interest in comparative religions.
Another inspiration on his intellectual development came from the book "Truth Revealed" by Rahmatullah Kairanvi on the concept of holding inter-religious public debates. The book was written especially in response to the missionary efforts of Reverend C.C.P Fonder, the head of the Christian Mission of India, in 1864.
Lectures and Debates:
Deedat's first lecture, entitled "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace," was delivered in 1942 to an audience of 15 people at a Durban movie theater. Within a short space of time, the numbers grew and people crossed the racial divides which were then prevalent in apartheid South Africa, to listen to him, and to participate in the questions and answers sessions which followed his lectures.
With the increased success, Deedat engaged into broader range of activities over the next three decades. He conducted classes on Bible studies and conducted numerous lectures. Da`wah (inviting people towards Islam) became the dominant factor of his life, with the audiences at his lectures reaching forty thousand. In 1957, Deedat, together with two of his friends, founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) and remained its president until 1996.
According to David Westerlund, Deedat's aimed at providing Muslims with theological tools for defending themselves against the intense missionary strivings of many Christian denominations. He used English instead of Arabic or any other language to get his message across to Muslim minorities in the western world.
Not knowing Hebrew or Greek, Deedat's trademark was his verbatim quotes from secondary Christian sources combined with selected passages from English translations of the Bible to give credibility to his argument that the Bible supported the Islamic creed and was at variance with the doctrine of the Trinity and other foundational Christian teachings. In terms of his memorization of Biblical texts, he had no peer in the non-Christian world.
International coverage:
In 1986, he visited Saudi Arabia for a conference, and in his first television interview, became notable in the Arab world with his dynamic personality and knowledge of comparative religion.
He subsequently visited Australia, Denmark, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom on lecture and debating tours.
In the United States, he became famous for a debate with the American Reverend Jimmy Swaggart at the University of Louisiana.
Honors and awards:
(1) King Faisal International Award. 1986
(2) President, Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) (1957-1996)
Death:
On May 3, 1996, Sheikh Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down, and also meant that he could no longer speak or swallow. He was flown to a hospital in Riyadh, where he was taught to communicate through a series of eye-movements. 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. He continued to receive hundreds of letters of support from around the world. During these years, rumors spread throughout the Internet that he was already dead, and even some websites that contained his pamphlets mentioned as early as 2002 that he was dead.
On August 8, 2005, Ahmed Deedat finally succumbed to his prolonged illness and died at his home in Trevennen Road, Verulam in the province of KwaZulu Natal. Tags:Sheikh Ahmed Deedat comparative religion Islam Christianity Judaism Hinduism debate lecture dawah Quran Muslim biography |
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