Ahmed Deedat
Great Islamic Scholar of the Bible?

That at least is the common Muslim praise for him. Let us examine this claim.

Recommended introductory articles:

  • Another Choice: The Teachings of Ahmed Deedat
  • Deedat in the Balance (Excerpts from The Muslim Digest, South Africa)

    • Many Muslims know of Ahmed Deedat who is attacking the Bible and the Christian faith in debates and a large number of publications. But most are not aware that John Gilchrist has written several books and booklets giving a thorough Christian response to Deedat's material as well as on other topics of importance in the dialog between Christians and Muslims.

    General Ahmed Deedat fan sites (private and professional) are:

  • Challenge to Christendom
  • Ibrahim Shafi's Islam Page
    and more: [1], [2], ...     From these and others I have extracted the below links to Deedat's material.

    Update on Ahmed Deedat (11 July 2005): Once in a while we are asked whether the (in)famous Muslim debater Ahmed Deedat is dead or alive. In various places, even on some Muslim websites, one can find claims that Deedat has died (e.g., *, *, *, *, *, *, *, *, *, *, *). This is not true. If Deedat had died, one would expect to find obituaries for him all over Muslim cyberspace. This is not the case. The following three articles will give some background information why it has become so quiet about this man: Personal letter to Deedat (November 1993), Open letter to Deedat (August 1994), and finally Deedat's Downfall, a summary article reporting the consequences of persistently ignoring God's warning, and Deedat's current health condition.

    Another update, four weeks later: Ahmed Deedat died on 8 August 2005. The information in the above mentioned three articles is still highly relevant.

    Nevertheless, Deedat's literature continues to be spread and used widely. The following rebuttals will remain an important resource to evaluate and counter his his anti-Christian arguments.

    Material by Ahmed Deedat Christian Responses
    Crucifixion or Crucifiction? [1]
    Resurrection or Resuscitation? [1] [2], [3], [4], ...
    What is the Sign of Jonah? [1], [3], ...     		The Crucifixion of Christ: A Fact, not Fiction
    What Indeed was the Sign of Jonah?
    Is the Bible God's Word? [1] The Textual History of the Qur'an and the Bible: [1], [2]
    Partial responses: The Deedat - Shorrosh Debate,
    Do you attribute these errors to God?
    Christ in Islam: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8] Christ in Islam and Christianity
    What the Bible Says about Muhammed: [1], [2] [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], Is Muhammad Foretold in the Bible?
    The God That Never Was: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]  
     
    Responses to Deedat's COMBAT KIT: [One]
    (an agnostic was inspired by Deedat and compiled a Hadith Combat Kit collecting Vulgar Ahadith)
    "Was Christ Crucified?" - The Deedat / McDowell Debate
    The challenges of Sheikh Deedat & their answers (PDF) by Father Zakaria Botros
    (Source; this site also contains further books that are referenced in the one that is linked here)
    The Debates of Ahmed Deedat vs. Dr. Anis Shorrosh
    First debate (1985): [Transcript (not yet online) in Islam Revealed]
    Second debate (1988): [Tapes are available]
    Other debates of Deedat available online

    Interesting is that in the booklet "The God that never was", Ahmed Deedat doesn't even dare to mention the name of the person he is trying to make fun of (John Gilchrist: "a man in Benoni", "lawyer", have a look in the third paragraph). He seems to fear some of the readers might go and look up Gilchrist's booklets and Deedat would be exposed for what he is. John Gilchrist on the contrary always references his rebuttals carefully to Deedat's publications so that the reader can check for himself who speaks the truth.

    And this fear seems to be prevalent among the Islamic web site maintainers as well. None of those offering Deedat's material think it to be "worth the effort" to give reference to John Gilchrist's responses, even though most of them know about this web site.

    Further responses to Deedat:

  • The charge that the Bible uses pornographic language and therefore cannot be from God
  • Deedat's ignorance in his comments about Greek

    Ahmed Deedat isn't the only one doing this kind of quality Bible interpretation ... A spoof on Bible interpretation, takes it from the humorous side. But it is "seriously funny" and sadly right on the mark...

    Books by John Gilchrist
    Answering Islam Home Page