THE CALAMITIES OF AHMED DEEDAT

- Ahmed Deedat gives no importance to the call to Tawheed. In fact Deedat, is a clear Jaahil (as will be shown inshallah) of this deen. Numerous times he has stated in his books and videos that he is not a scholar on Islam. On the other hand, he has often expressed or acknowledged that he is a ‘Muslim scholar of the Bible’.

- This reluctance to give Islamic learning priority over learning about Christianity is reflected in him exhorting the Muslim readers to memorize passages of the Bible to refute the Christians. In fact, Deedat even equates the usage of the Bible in gaining knowledge! (emphasis mine):

“Allah can transform nations and peoples by his Own Will, but He has given us the privilege of serving His Deen by personal self-sacrifice. To be an effective soldier in this battle, arm yourself with John 16:7 in one or more languages (see page 15) AND WATCH HOW ALLAH FILLS YOU WITH MORE KNOWLEDGE”. (Muhummed, the Natural Successor to Christ p.60).

It is therefore not surprising when Deedat then even encourages the reading of the whole book and even offers to give it out free to the Muslims!:

“You owe it to yourself to read it just once in your lifetime. After that, you will really appreciate the Holy Qur’an! If you do not own a Bible, and if you are a Muslim, you will get a free copy from the address at the bottom of this page”. (Is The Bible God’s Word? P.41)

So high is this on his agenda for dawah, that he even exhorts Muslims who can read Arabic to learn passages of the Bible in Arabic to give dawah! (Muhummed, the Natural Successor to Christ p.15). In this same booklet, Ahmed Deedat mentions how he spoke to an Egyptian Christian woman at the airport in Cairo in his ‘broken Arabic’. But when he quoted the Bible to her it was in ‘meticulous Arabic’!!! (ibid page 14). This shows us how little importance he gives to learning the language of the religion he is propagating. This is even more visible when he recites the Quran in his videos; it is clearly obvious that he can’t recite properly. This emphasis on memorizing passages from the scriptures of the people of the book is clearly not from the manhaj of the dawah. Such is the man’s ignorance and stubbornness, that when he is asked by people as to why he doesn’t speak Arabic, he turns the attention away from his own shortcomings and instead starts attacking the Arabs instead. An example of this is in an interview which he had with the Nid’a ul Islam magazine (may-June 1996) when he was on a tour of Australia. Upon mentioning that he was confronted by an Arabic professor from the Emirates about his inability to speak Arabic, Deedat proceeded to launch a vicious attack on the Arabs accusing them of doing no dawah at all to the Arab Christians:

“What have you been doing for one thousand four hundred years, you have been living in Lebanon….You were the masters of Egypt for 1400 years, what did you do?, what did you do? When they were swearing at Allah, what did you do? Did you talk to them, now you want to know how Deedat does the job, Deedat stirs friction and creates reaction, you are not doing your job. Your Shaykhs and Imams, they are not doing their jobs… you have no right to point the finger at me, the Muslim, you have no right, you bloody hypocrite, you have no right, you read the Qur'an in Arabic, you understand. Allah is telling you: "O people of the book do not go to extremes in your religion." Is that what you are telling the Christians, are you? Where in Egypt, where in Saudi Arabia, are you telling them. Are you telling the Christians, Allah says: "And do not say three." Are you telling them that, you have customers there, you Arab Muslims, you have customers there, you do not have to learn another language, are you telling them not to say that. What kind of Muslims are you,…In a thousand years you could not convert 1000 Jewish families to Islam, 800 years you have ruled Spain, after 800 years you were kicked out, after 800 years, there was not one guy left to say the Azan, that is how good you were. Come, come, answer me now, you Arabs?”.

Deedat’s amazement with himself with respects to the dawah, leads to such arrogance and the absence of any form of humility. It is as if no one has called the Christians to Islam effectively since the time of the Prophet (e), except him !!!!! It is interesting to note, that this was Deedat’s last world tour before he was taken out of the public light (alhamdollilah) with his stroke.

- Deedat’s ignorance of Islam and the Sunnah leads him to propagate the deviant Quranic translation of Abdullah Yusuf Ali throughout his booklets and videos. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that it was Ahmed Deedat and his IPCI organization who spread this filthy translation to all corners of the world. Almost every single booklet produced by Deedat and his organization has some kind of advertising of this translation. According to Deedat, this is a “…learned commentary…” (Al-Qur’an –The Miracle of Miracles page 55) and: “…If you own this one, you do not need another.” (Christ in Islam page.6). In his translation, Abdullah Yusuf Ali denies the reality of the virgins of paradise, paradise itself, the reality of the Jinn, and legalizes bank interest (among other deviant views) I also remember seeing Deedat in person in East London about eleven years ago propagating this translation and giving a brief biography of this deviant. It is interesting to note, as per Deedat’s own account, Abdullah Yusuf Ali was found dead in a gutter, being totally penniless, by a policeman doing his nightly rounds in London, in the early 20th century. No one knew who he was and no one could identify him for a long time. Thus, his body was sent back to the Indian subcontinent and both he and his translation were unknown; that is until Ahmed Deedat got hold of it and broadcast it across the globe.

- Deedat’s ignorance of Islam led him to propagate the ‘19’ numerical theory about the Quran. Again, he spared no ends in propagating something which he never really researched into or investigated. It seems as if Ahmed Deedat is more bent on reading and researching every single version and verse of Biblical literature than on issues concerning Islam. This theory is based upon the abjad system, a system which comes from the Jewish Black Magic, Cabala. The founder of this theory, Rashad Khalifa, claimed that the number 19 and its multiples were the key to interpreting the Quran. When discrepancies were found in his theory he started to add and delete words from the Quran in order to keep the theory sound. He also claimed that some verses were actually not from the Quran because they didn’t agree with his theory. He went on to claim that he knew the exact date of the day of judgement through this theory and also claimed that he was a Prophet. After a decade or more of propagating this theory, Deedat was forced to retract and openly renounce the theory and its originator. Because of his ignorance and impetuous zeal, Deedat was made to look ridiculous in front of all those he had refuted and debated with respect to this subject. Even worse, those whom he had debated now used this as a proof against Islam. It has to be noted however, that despite this open retraction, Deedat’s own book on this theory ‘Al-Quran: The Ultimate Miracle’ is still advertised in his dawah booklets which are still printed, sold and distributed to this day.

- Deedat’s ignorance about Islam and how to give the dawah of Islam led him and his organization to publish a booklet entitled: “From; The 100: - A ranking of the Most Influential persons in History” by Micheal H. Hart, a Christian academic. The booklet is a reproduction of an entire chapter of Hart’s book in which he rates the Prophet (e) as the most influential person in history. To Deedat, this is a way of telling the world that even the non-Muslims acknowledge our beloved Prophet. However, the man’s ignorance of his own religion led the world to seeing the following calamities in Hart’s chapter on the Prophet (emphasis mine):

“There were, however, in Mecca a small number of Jews and Christians; IT WAS FROM THEM NO DOUBT THAT MUHAMMAD FIRST LEARNED OF A SINGLE, OMNIPOTENT GOD WHO RULED THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE” (Pp. 2-3)

“In Mecca, he had a few followers. In Medina, he had many more, and he soon acquired an influence THAT MADE HIM A VIRTUAL DICTATOR” (p. 3)

“Muhammad, however, WAS RESPONSIBLE for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral principles.” (p.5)

“MOREOVER, HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THE MOSLEM HOLY SCRIPTURES, THE KORAN, A COLLECTION OF CERTAIN OF MUHAMMAD’S INSIGHTS THAT HE BELIEVED HAD BEEN DIRECTLY REVEALED TO HIM BY ALLAH….

THE KORAN, THEREFORE, CLOSELY REPRESENTS MUHAMMAD’S IDEAS AND TEACHINGS AND TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT HIS EXACT WORDS” (p. 6)

Subhanallah! Yes, Micheal Hart does say that the Prophet is the most influential person in history, but clearly the man is a dirty kaafir who doubts the source of the Prophet’s revelation and abuses him by calling him a dictator. He is simply following the trend of his salaf from the orientalists who would praise the Prophet whilst simultaneously casting aspersions upon the source of revelation that was given to him. This however, is to be expected from such people. The real issue at hand is again, Mr. Ahmed Deedat. On the inside cover of the booklet we see Deedat holding a copy of Hart’s book and on page 1 he makes a brief mention of what the book is about. On the inside cover and the first page, he mentions that this chapter has been reproduced ‘by special arrangement’ with the publishers of the book. In his booklet, ‘Muhammed the greatest’, Deedat calls Hart’s work ‘this novel book’ and says about Hart: “…we cannot help admire the man’s research and honesty.” (page 4). This clearly indicates that he has read this chapter of this book, yet he still printed hundreds of thousands of copies of this calamity!!! Was he blind when he didn’t see these blatant rebuttals against the best of creation?!!! Knowingly or unknowingly, Ahmed Deedat and his IPCI have assisted in the attack against Islam and its beloved Prophet. To date, I don’t know of the IPCI or Ahmed Deedat making an open apology or retraction against the printing and production of Hart’s words against the Prophet. In fact, I saw a picture of Deedat recently on an Ikhwaani organization’s website dating backing to 1998. In the picture Deedat is bedridden in South Africa looking very ill. Next to him are two men, one of whom is holding the booklet with Hart’s chapter. Deedat, although bedridden still has the capacity to communicate whatever he feels, as I clearly remember an introduction which was dictated by him to the Ikhwaani based Muslim Directory in the UK about 2 years ago (with his thumb print as a signature). In this instant, Deedat clearly didn’t object to having Hart’s evil words placed next to him for a photo shoot.

- Deedat’s desire to give dawah to the non-Muslims leads to him often quote from non-Muslim academics, orientalists and critics of Islam. In fact, he often praises them simply because they praise the Prophet (e), as he says in ‘Muhammed the Greatest’ (page 14):

“We must all admire them!”

From amongst the most praised in his booklets, is the famous writer and historian Thomas Carlyle. About him Deedat says:

“Carlyle was a man of genius and God gifted him with the art of articulation.” (Ibid p.19) and:

…one of the greatest thinkers of the past century…” (Al-Qur’an- The Miracle of Miracles p.46).

Deedat’s aim in quoting Carlyle is to show how such a famous and ‘great’ individual praised the Prophet (e) which in turn shows everyone the truth of Islam and the Prophet. However, if Carlyle had really been that ‘great’ or sincere, then he would have simply become Muslim. Obviously, he didn’t. In fact, he had no intention of becoming Muslim as Deedat well knows. On page 20 of ‘Muhammmed the Greatest’ Deedat quotes Carlyle as saying (his emphasis):

“AS THERE IS NO DANGER OF OUR BECOMING, ANY OF US, MAHOMETANS, I MEAN TO SAY ALL THE GOOD OF HIM I JUSTLY CAN.”

Then Deedat says:

“In other words he, as well as his elite audience, were free from the fear of converting to Islam, and could take a chance in paying some compliments to Muhammed (pbuh). If he had any fears regarding the strength of their faith, he would not have taken that chance.”

Carlyle’s enmity towards Islam is clearly known by Deedat (despite his praise of the Prophet), and he outlines this in one of his booklets. In ‘Al-Qur’an- The Miracle of Miracles’ (page 6) Deedat quotes Carlyle’s view about the first English translation of the Quran by George Sale (his emphasis):

“WE ALSO CAN READ THE KORAN; OUR TRANSLATION OF IT , BY SALE, IS KNOWN TO BE A VERY FAIR ONE”.

George Sale, as Deedat also outlines after this quote, was another vicious enemy of Allah and His Messenger. Carlyle clearly couldn’t have respected the Quran and the Prophet himself that much if he praised George Sale! In fact, he did not respect the Quran at all, as Deedat himself admits when he quotes Carlyle as saying about it (Ibid ,page 46, his emphasis):

“A WEARISOME CONFUSED JUMBLE CRUDE, INCONDITE ;- INSUPPORTABLE STUPIDITY…”. Then Deedat says:

“Incondite, meaning, a badly constructed literary or artistic composition:…”.

All of this clearly speaks for itself. As mentioned, Deedat knows about the reality of Carlyle, yet he still persisted in praising him and using his words. In fact, Deedat even makes an excuse for him for these views of his (my emphasis):

“There are times when Carlyle uses words and expressions which might not be too pleasing to the believing Muslim, BUT ONE HAS TO FORGIVE HIM, AS HE WAS WALKING A CULTURAL TIGHTROPE, AND HE SUCCEEDED EMINENTLY.”

(‘Muhammed the Greatest’ page 20)

After reading Carlyle’s admission about his desire not to become Muslim and his real views on the Quran, one wonders, what on earth propelled Ahmed Deedat to praise and quote from this stubborn disbeliever??? All that one could offer as an answer is that the man is clearly jaahil and has had no cultivation upon the correct understanding of Islam. These are the fruits of living in the lands of the kuffar, whether it be in the West or the East (Deedat has lived in South Africa for well over half a century and is still there).

- The calamities continue. As a result of his ignorance of Tawheed, the Sunnah of the Prophet (e) and the Quran, Ahmed Deedat makes some amazingly naïve statements about the Jews; statements which resound with the echo of the multi-faith dialogue apologetics. He says on page 53 of his booklet ‘Arabs and Israel, Conflict or Conciliation?’ (emphasis mine):

“Muslims Closest to Jews…..

IN HIS THEOLOGY, HIS ANCESTRY AND IN CULTURAL VALUES, THE MUSLIM IS THE CLOSEST TO THE JEW. THE JEW BELIEVES THAT GOD ALMIGHTY IS ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE! GOD IS NOT SEEN AT ANYTIME! NO MAN CAN SEE GOD AND LIVE! AND THE MUSLIM AGREES WHOLEHEARTEDLY WITH THE JEW; SAYING “WE BELIEVE AS YOU BELIEVE.” THE JEW SAYS: “DO NOT EAT THE FLESH OF THE SWINE!” THE MUSLIM SAY “WE WILL NOT EAT IT.” THE JEW SAYS: “DON’T EAT BLOOD!” THE MUSLIM AGREES WITH THAT AND WILL NOT TOUCH IT EITHER. THE JEWS SAYS “ CIRCUMCISION!” THE MUSLIM SAYS, “WE ARE ALL CIRCUMCISED.” WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?”

Allahu Musta’aan! What more do we want? We want that the Jews to relinquish their Shirk based aqeedah,, that’s what we want, and not just for them to agree with a few rites with us. However it gets worse. On pages 60-62 of the above book Deedat says:

“Difference of labels

What is the great divide between the Muslims and the Jews? –

I asked the Jewish University students. It is not race, it is not culture, IT IS NOT RELIGION (AS FAR AS THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FAITH ARE CONCERENED). IT IS SIMPLY A QUESTION OF LABEL! The Israeli says he is a ‘Jew’ (religiously, a believer in Judaism) and the Arab says, he is a ‘Muslim’ (a believer in the religion of Islam).

By God! The solution to the Zionist-Arab conflict is simply a change of label!”

Deedat then continues by justifying this with a quote from ‘an erudite Jewish historian’ (His emphasis) on pages 61 and 62:

“…Astute statesmanship can relax the present Israeli-Arab tensions, because THEY ARE NOT CAUSED BY DEEP-ROOTED RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS ANATAGONISMS BUT BY TEMPORARY POLITICAL EXPEDIENCIES…

(Max. I Dimont in ‘Jews, God and History,’ page 205)”.

Deedat continues (with his emphasis):

“One religion

With such deep racial and religious affinity, it is a shame that the Semitic brothers -Arabs and Jews - are so terribly estranged. Islam alone can bridge the gulf….Between Islam and Judaism there are no insurmountable barriers. ISLAM IS JUDAISM MADE UNIVERSAL”

Then he quotes another Jew to back this up (his emphasis again):

“IN A RECENT FRENCH-ALGERIAN PUBLICATION ISLAM HAS BEEN CHARACTERISED AS JUDAISM WITH UNIVERSALISTIC TENDENCIES. THERE IS SOME TRUTH IN THIS DEFINITION.

(Prof. S.D. Goitein in his book – ‘Jews and Arabs,’ page 35)

The Arab world needs the Jews as much as the Jews need the Arabs”.

In his booklet ‘Crucifixion or CRUCI-FICTION?’ (p.25) he also says:

“The Jewish expectation of a Messiah, did not identify the Messiah with God. Indeed, the nature of the Jewish monotheism wholely excludes such pagan connotations.”

From these quotes, one can see the orientation of this man. He clearly believes that the Jews have the same fundamental beliefs of Islam i.e. in Tawheed, in the worship of the one Creator. It is as if he has never seen the statement of the Most High:

‘And the Jews say Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allah and the Christians say the Messiah is the son of Allah. That is the saying with their mouths resembling the saying of those who disbelieved aforetime. Allah’s curse be on them how they are deluded away from the truth’ (Surah At-Tawbah 9:30).

We know that Deedat is ignorant of Islam, but what is even more strange, is that whilst professing to be a scholar of the Christian religion he himself seems to have overlooked all of the shirk of the Jews which he himself has shown to the entire world. Was it not Deedat who informed everyone about the distortion of the Old Testament, that which is made up of the books of the Jews? From Deedat’s booklets did people not learn that the Rabbis are the ones who distorted their scriptures and believed that ‘God repented and felt sorry for the evil that he saw to do to his people’? From Deedat’s booklets did people not learn that the Jews believe that the Creator has human qualities? In all of the decades he has been giving his ‘dawah’, it is as if Deedat has never ever read the Talmud, the other source of Jewish law. The Talmud is the writing of these cursed people in which they ridicule and mock the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, saying that He, the Mighty, the Majestic, should make repentance to them and not them to Him!!!!. One could also go even more basic and say does not Deedat realize what he says in his prayers at least 17 times a day? Does he not realize that when he recites “And not (the path) of those whom you have cursed”, that he is asking Allah to guide him away from the accursed Jews?! It seems clearly not from the above quotes.

There is no religious affinity between the Muslim and the Jew, and to say that the present day conflict in the middle east has nothing to do with religion is extremely naive to say the least. The Jews (whether they call themselves Zionists or not) oppress the Muslims because of their hatred for Islam. This is not an issue of land, for if it were so, then the Jews simply would have taken bigger pieces of land allotted to them by the colonial powers after the second world war such as in Argentina, Uganda etc. Rather, this is the land which they call ‘the holy land’ and this is the land in which they are expecting the return of their messiah (dajjal!). The Jews recognize the Prophet (e) more than they recognize their own sons but their arrogance makes them fight the ummah of Muhammad (e) and oppress it. Ever since Islam came, the Jews have been conspiring and fighting it. They have hatched plots and plans over the centuries and it is not something which the Zionists have done all of a sudden. They conspired during the time of the Prophet (e), they created Shiism with Abdullah Ibn Saba, they helped the crusaders, they helped the Mongols, they helped the colonialists…the list is endless. Islam is not a universal version of Judaism as Deedat erroneously claims. Rather it is a universal abrogation of the laws of all the Prophets and Messengers who were sent before Muhammad (e). Judaism was corrupted well before the sending of the last Prophet and it has no relation in its fundamentals whatsoever with Islam.

One finds that Deedat’s rhetoric is very similar to that of Yusuf Al-Qardawi’s with respect to the belief of the Jews.

It should also be noted that when Deedat said: “ GOD IS NOT SEEN AT ANYTIME”, then this is something which fundamentally opposes the aqeedah Of Ahlu-Sunnah-wal-Jammat. Ahlu-Sunnah believe firmly, that the believers will see Allah azza wa jall in the hereafter and the proofs for this are too numerous to mention here. Just another example of Deedat’s ignorance about Islam, Tawheed and the aqeedah of the Muslim.

-Deedat’s ignorance of the aqeedah of Islam and the world around him, leads him to make comments about the religious situation today which clearly have no basis. On page 36 of ‘Muhummed the Greatest’ he says (my emphasis):

“…Islam would be the most dominant of all religions. The triumphs of its doctrines have already started and is gaining hold over the religious ideology and doctrines of the various schools of thought in the world…the doctrines of Islam are being fastly grafted into the various religious orders. Many things which are exclusively Islamic and which were formerly unknown, or which were being opposed before with tooth and nail by the other creeds, are now part of their beliefs.

The brotherhood of man

…………..

The right of women to inherit

……….

THE TRUE CONCEPT OF THE UNITY OF GOD  ETC.

……..Ask any theist, polytheist, pantheist, or Trinitarian: how many Gods he believes in? HE WILL SHUDDER TO SAY ANYTHING OTHER THAN ONE! THIS IS THE EFFECT OF THE STRICT MONOTHEISM OF ISLAM.”

Allahu Akbar!!! Had the effect of Tawheed on all these different types of mushriks been as Deedat claimed, then there would be no need for us to call them to Islam as they would all be Muslims and monotheists!! However, in reality, we know that the majority of the people commit shirk with Allah and they have not been affected with the Tawheed of Islam. A time will definitely come when every household will be affected by Islam (As-Saheehah No.3), however, this is clearly not it. The words of Deedat show his clear ignorance of the Tawheed of Islam as well as the shirk of all the theists, polytheists, pantheists and Trinitarians out there.

- Deedat has a fascination in labeling the Jews as ‘our cousins’. On page 55 of ‘Arabs and Israel..’ he quotes one of his Jewish cousins (!), professor Goitein of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in justifying this point (his emphasis):

“THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE POPULAR BELIEF THAT JEWS AND ARABS ARE CLOSE RELATIVES, COUSINS, BECAUSE THEY WERE DESCENDED FROM THE BROTHERS ISSAC AND ISHMAEL, THE SONS OF ABRAHAM.”

Then Deedat says:

“I was pleading with the Jewish students of the university of Cape Town…why has such close blood relationship between Arab and Jew, unfortunately, now turned to gruesome, bitter, and bloody enmity!”

Why??? Because the Jews being the descendants of monkeys and pigs are arrogantly rejecting Islam and are showing their clear animosity to the believers, that’s why. Doesn’t Allah say in the Quran:

“Indeed, you will find the strongest amongst men in enmity towards the believers(are) the Jews and those who commit shirk…” (Surah Al-Maaidah 5:82).

The Jews are not deserving of the title of cousins, brothers or nephews. If Allah has designated them with His Anger, then who are the likes of Ahmed Deedat to come along and be so friendly with them? Said Ahmed Deedat on page 64 of the above booklet:

“At question time at the end of my lecture –‘The Quran and the Jew’, one of my nephews (the Jewish student from the university of Cape Town) retorted…”.

Ya miskeen, ya miskeen….does not Allah say in the Quran:

“ O you who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians as friends. They are but friends of each other and if any among you takes them as friends, then surely he is one of them” (Surah Al-Maaidah 5 : 51).

One will also find Deedat doing the same for the Christians throughout his booklets by calling them ‘brethren’. Ahmed Deedat clearly doesn’t understand the concept of Wala and Bara.

- Ahmed Deedat’s ignorance of the Islamic aqeedah and the methodology of dawah leads him to coming up with the wrong aims in giving dawah. On page 65 of his booklet he says:

“Why Jews should change

But for the sake of argument, let me say that I change my label from Muslim to Jew. “What have you achieved?” I asked my Jewish young audience. “How many of you (Jews) are there in the world today?” Somebody shouted: “Twelve million!” This was in 1967. (Today the Jews are boasting a figure of 15 million.) So I said, with me changing my “label” we become 12 million and one. But by you changing your label we become 700 million and one. (It is estimated that the Muslims number a thousand million today). I asked, “can’t you see the difference?”

“Only a fool would refuse to change his label,” I proceeded, “you are a business people. You should understand this better than any other people……

But, lastly, there is also a real problem. Religiously, Islam is a wider circle that could embrace the whole of humanity than Judaism. A larger circle can incorporate a smaller one, not vice a versa.”

It is known that Deedat had met and acquainted the Sheikh of Islam of this century, Abdul-Azeez Ibn Abdullah Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him). However, like so many other deviants, he clearly did not benefit from this great man. Had he sat down with the Sheikh, he may have realized and learned about the correct objectives of calling to Islam. Sheikh-ul-Islam Ibn Baaz says on page 47 of his precious book, ‘The Obligation of calling to Allah and the Mannerisms of the callers:

“ * As for the aim of the Dawah and the objective from it:

So the aim and the objective is to take the people out of the darkness into the light, and to guide them to the truth until they adopt it, and (that) they are saved from the fire and (that) they are saved from the Anger of Allah, and taking the disbeliever from the darkness of disbelief to the light of guidance, and to take the ignorant one from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge, and to take the disobedient one from the darkness of disobedience to the light of obedience. This is the aim of the dawah, as He, the Majestic, the High has said:

‘Allah is the protector of those who believe. He takes them out of the darkness into the light’ (Surah Al-Baqarah 2: 257)

So, the Messengers were sent to take the people out from the darkness into the light, and the callers to the truth likewise, they carry out the dawah being energetic about it to take the people out from the darkness into the light and rescuing them from the fire and from the obedience to shaytaan, and rescuing them from the obedience to desire to the obedience of Allah and His Messenger”.

The objective of calling to Allah is not to enlarge the membership of some kind of a club. Rather, it is to bring the people out of their misguidance and away from the punishment of their lord. Ahmed Deedat is clearly ignorant of this

- Deedat’s overwhelming desire and zeal to call to Islam often leads him to use despicable mannerisms; and what could be more despicable than in addressing the Creator of the Heavens and Earth in an unbefitting manner. On page 63 of ‘Arabs and Israel…’ he says (emphasis mine) :

“Quranic courtesies for Jews

Listen to God Almighty: how He PLEADS with Jews in His Last and Final Revelation to mankind:

‘O Children of Israel! Call to mind the (special) favour which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill your covenant with me as I fulfill my covenant with you. And fear none but me”.

Subhanallah!!! Is this the way to address the Creator of all things? Does Allah PLEAD??!!! If I grab the nearest available English dictionary to me, here’s what we see this word to mean:

“Plead: If you plead with someone to do something, you ask them in an intense emotional way to do it”. (Collins Cobuild Learners dictionary p.835).

By Allah, this is a crime, to address our Lord in such a lowly manner. In fact, this is exactly the charge which Deedat has been leveling at the Christians for over half a century. These are the results of being ignorant of your Lord, the Most High. Had Deedat an inkling of knowledge he would have referred to the tafseer of this ayah. And had he done that, he would have found that the meaning here is far from Allah pleading with these descendants of monkeys and swine. Rather, it is as Ibn Katheer says about this ayah (my emphasis):

“He the Most High says, ORDERING, the children of Israel with entering into Islam and following Muhammad…”

Lest one should conceive that this was just for the Jews at the time of the Prophet (e), then this is what the great muffasir Abdur-Rahman As-Sa’dee (may Allah have mercy upon him ) says about this ayah:

“The intended meaning with Israel: Yaqub upon him be peace, and the address is to the sects of the children of Israel, those who were in Madina and that which was around it. And those who came after them, enter into them (their classification), for He (Allah) ORDERED them with a general order…”.

In order to call the people we need knowledge. In fact, before we make any statement or action, we need to have knowledge. It is as Imaam Bukahri said in his chapter heading:

‘Chapter: Knowledge precedes the statement and action’.

By having knowledge we avoid the calamities such as speaking about our Creator in such despicable ways. The intense desire to call without knowledge renders Deedat similar to many of the other deviants today who always talk about giving dawah but who really don’t have any knowledge. Most notorious is the grave-worshipping Sufi sect of Jamaat-u-tabligh.

- In connection with the last point, we find that Deedat in his desire to please the likes of the Jews in bringing them to Islam, often makes incorrect interpretation of the words of Allah from the Quran.

The most striking example of this is in chapter 5 of his booklet ‘Arabs and Israel..’.

Here is the beginning of the chapter:

“New Generation of Jews

‘Among them (Jews and Christians) are Mu’mins (faithful, sincere people), But most of them are perverted transgressors.’

(Holy Quran 3:110)

Quranic truth confirmed!

The truth of this statement that among the Jews there are good, sincere, faithful people is brought home to us continually.”

Deedat then goes on to use half of this chapter to substantiate his claim that among the Jews are faithful, sincere people. He does this by citing quotes from Israeli Jews who have shown opposition to their state’s oppression upon the Palestinians, such as renegade soldiers. At the end of a long quote from a Jewish soldier (P.71) he says:

“Little wonder that the All-Knowing, Merciful God reminds us of such idealists” and then he proceeds to quote the above ayah again. Earlier on in the booklet (p.30), Deedat uses the same ayah again under the heading “Still some good Jews”. He then uses it for a an ex-Jewish employer of his who happened to agree with some of his views! Then he says:

“We must find ways and means of communicating with these Mu’mins – sincere, godly people among the Jews and Christians”.

Are the likes of these people that Deedat calls ‘believers’ and ‘godly’, really so? The answer lies in the books of tafseer. In his tafseer of the ayah, Ibn Katheer says (emphasis mine):

“ i.e. few from among them are THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ALLAH AND WHAT WAS REVEALED TO YOU AND WHAT WAS REVEALED TO THEM and the majority of them are upon misguidance, disbelief, corruption and disobedience.”

Allahu akbar! This makes it very clear as to what this ayah means. In order for these Jews to become believers, not only are they required to believe in what came to them from their Prophets, but also what was sent to the last of the Messengers and Prophets, Muhammad (e). It is not simply sufficient for a Jew to become a believer simply because he criticizes the state of Israel as Deedat deduces!!!

Deedat’s ta’weel of this ayah goes further when he quotes the latter part of the ayah (‘…but most of them are perverted transgressors’) in a footnote on P.69 in relation to those Jews who refuse to acknowledge what is happening to the Palestinians in Israel!!! Clearly from the above tafseer, the majority who are perverted transgressors are upon disbelief (kufr) and misguidance. About this ayah, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman As-Sa’dee says:

“…and the majority of them are evil-doers, leaving the obedience of Allah having enmity towards the friends of Allah with (different) types of enmity..”

To Deedat, that which warrants the majority of these people being transgressors is what they are doing in Palestine. The corrupt aqeedah of the Jews seems to play no part in his assessment of the situation. Without doubt, he has turned the true state of affairs with respect to these filthy Jews, on its head.

This incorrect interpretation is rife throughout Deedat’s booklets. Another example with respect to the Jews is in his book ‘Crucifixion or CRUCI-FICTION?’ (page.8, my emphasis):

“We must not forget that the Jews are in the dock, alleged for the murder of Jesus Christ: and we as Muslims are constrained to defend them against the Christian charge, because justice must be done. Whatever their sins of commission and omission, ALLAH EXONERATES THEM FROM THE CHARGE OF MURDER. He says:

‘For a surety they killed him not (Holy Quran 4:157)

If we look at the tafseer of this ayah and those which precede it, we find that Ibn Katheer says:

“ ‘But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared as that to them’. i.e. they (the Jews ) saw one like him and they thought it was him. Because of this He (Allah) said:

‘And those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture’ referring to those who alleged to have killed him from the Jews and those who believed them from the ignorant Christians. They are all in doubt, bewilderment, misguidance and a mad frenzy. This is why Allah has said:

‘For a surety they killed him not’.

Clearly Allah Azza wa Jall does NOT exonerate the filthy Jews. Rather, he dispels their arrogant claim that they killed this righteous Messenger and explains the reality of what occurred at that time. As for the Muslims being constrained to defend these descendants of monkeys and swine, then this is another of Deedat’s ignorant ramblings intended to bring people to Islam.

- Deedat’s own understanding of the Islamic aqeedah (or lack of it!) clearly manifest its ugly head through his dawah booklets which are printed into the millions. Deedat seems to be a believer and a practitioner in the widespread innovation of celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (e). On page 2 of his booklet ‘What the Bible says about Muhummed’ he says:

“I was invited to the transval to deliver a talk on the occasion of the Birthday celebration of the Holy Prophet Muhummed”.

Again on page 2 of ‘Muhummed the Greatest’ he says (my emphasis):

“I received a phone call from the Muslim community in Dannhauser, a small town in Northern Natal, who were organizing a birthday celebration of the holy Prophet. They invited me to give a lecture ON THAT AUSPICIOUS OCCASION. SO I DEEMED IT AN HONOUR AND A PRIVELEGE. I READILY AGREED.”

Being originally from the Indian province of Gujrat, Deedat’s religious leanings have always been a bit suspect i.e. it has been suspected that he belongs to one of the unorthodox sects of the Indian subcontinent such as the Deobandees, Bareilwees etc. A glance at his booklets will confirm that Deedat is more than likely a Bareilwee. Coupled with this belief in celebrating the Prophet’s birthday, we find that Deedat, like a typical Bareilwee, always quotes Sufi rhetoric and interpretations throughout his booklets. He also quotes known Sufis like Sa’di Sheeraazi, the famous Persian Sufi poet (ibid page 61).

However, the biggest proof that Deedat is a Bareilwee, is his extreme praise of a man known as Abdul Aleem Siddiqui (Al-Quran – The Miracle of Miracles Pp. 24-29). This man, besides being a staunch, hardcore Sufi, was also a student of the founder of the Bareilwee sect, the criminal British stooge, the opposer of Tawheed, Ahmed Raza Khan Bareilwee.

Whilst criticizing the Christians for over half a century, Deedat clearly seems to be following their ways because of his ignorance of the Sunnah of the Prophet (e). In fact, he even makes great exaggeration about the Prophet, similar to the exaggeration of the Christians with Isa (u). On page 2 of his booklet, ‘Muhummed the Natural Successor to Christ’, he says (my emphasis):

“…Muhummed the Praiseworthy, ON WHOM ALL PRAISE IS DUE…”.

ALL praise is due to Allah ALONE and not anyone else, whoever it may be. To believe such a thing amounts to shirk with Allah. This exaggeration about the beloved Prophet (e) is something which the likes of Abdul Aleem Siddiqui was known for. It seems that Deedat picked it up from this wretched Bareilwee deviant.

- In his aim to proselytize to the world, we often see that Deedat loses his senses when talking about those who are the best of creation, the Prophets and the Messengers. Here is how he talks about Isa (u) (my emphasis):

“That mighty Messenger of God went after the Jews LIKE A HEN AFTER HER CHICKENS but they turned on him like vultures to tear him into pieces.” (‘Muhummed, the Natural Successor to Christ page 63)

“IF JESUS WERE A JAPANESE INSTEAD OF BEING A JEW, HE WOULD HAVE OF MOST ASSUREDLY COMMITTED HONOURABLE “HARI-KIRI” (SUICIDE) RATHER THAN ENDURE THE FICKLENESS AND INFIDELITY OF HIS FOLLOWERS”. (‘Crucifixion or CRUCI-FICTION?’ Pp. 23-24)

“IF JESUS (PBUH) WOULD HAVE BEEN A JAPANESE INSTEAD OF A JEW HE WOULD HAPPILY HAVE COMMITTED THAT HONOURABLE “HARAKIRI (SUICIDE).” (‘Muhummed, the Natural Successor to Christ page 37)

“HE STOOPS DOWN TO THE LEVEL OF LITTLE CHILDREN to make things plain to his disciples BUT HE IS COMPELLED TO BURST OUT IN FRUSTRATION-“ (Ibid page 36)

Allahu Musta’aan !!! There is no need to comment on these words, as their vulgarity speaks for itself. About the great Messenger, Musa (u) he says:

“Moses (pbuh) WAS BEGINNING TO GET BORED WITH HIS RUSTIC EXISENCE. For a man who had grown up with royalty in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city, HE WAS GETTING RESTLESS. He wanted a change and asked for permission to become independent from his in laws.” (Al-Qur’an: The Miracle of Miracles page 39)

Anyone who reads Surah Al-Qasas clearly sees that Musa’s (u) journey to Madyan was not like this. Such unjust and undeserving comments about these noble Messengers remind one about all those other deviants (Sayid Qutb and Mawdudi) who are famous for their speech against these chosen slaves of Allah. In his defence, Deedat could say that he didn’t mean anything and that he is just making a point against the Christians!!! However, even if this was the case, it still does not justify the usage of such speech against these noble people. Rather, such speech is akin to what the Jews and Christians believe about the Prophets and Messengers as Deedat well knows.

- Deedat’s filthy speech doesn’t stop there. In his quest to win the hearts and minds of the non-Muslims, he often makes very crude statements against the disciples of Isa (u). He says (my emphasis):

“The disciples were caught as the Englishman would say with their “PANTS DOWN”. “

(‘Crucifixion or CRUCI-FICTION?’ Page 19)

“IT WAS MOST UNFORNUATE THAT JESUS CHRIST (PBUH) HAD NO REAL CHOICE IN SELECTING HIS DISCIPLES. THEY LET HIM DOWN AS NO OTHER GROUP OF DEVOTEES HAD EVER LET DOWN THEIR PROPHET BEFORE.” (‘Muhummed the Natural Successor to Christ’ page 39).

Subhanallah! Deedat’s obsessive infatuation with reading the Bible has clearly had a detrimental effect on him. If Isa (u) had no choice in selecting his disciples, then who was the one who chose them for him? The answer is clearly Allah. Would Allah chose the close followers of this noble Messenger just so that they would let him down and deceive him? Free is Allah from such things and High is He above what they attribute to Him. Again Deedat falls into the same type of errors of those whom he is trying to convert. Had Deedat read the Qur’an like he reads the Bible, he would have seen the saying of the Most High:

‘And when I inspired the disciples (of Isa) to believe in Me and My Messenger, they said: “We believe and bear witness that we are Muslims”’. (Surah Al-Maaidah 5: 111). This is a clear refutation against the descriptions of these noble disciples which is found in the Bible; the Bible which has affected Ahmed Deedat so much.

- Deedat’s immense ignorance of the religion of the Islam leads to make disastrous praise of the filthy Rawafid of Iran and at the same time pour out heavy criticism upon the Sunnis. Here are some of the comments he made in a speech in South Africa after his trip to Iran in March 1982:

“In Iran everything is Islamic to strengthen the morality of the people.. The whole nation is geared towards Islam…”

“We went to visit the Imam, Ayatollah Ruhollah Musawi Khomeini… He delivered the Lecture to us for about half an hour, and it was nothing but the Quran, the man is like a computerized Quran. And the electric effect he had on everybody, his charisma, was amazing . You just look at the man and tears come down your cheek. You just look at him and you get tears. I never saw a more handsome old man in my life, no picture, no video, no TV could do justice to this man, the handsomest old man I ever saw in my life was this man.”

“But they are waiting for the Mahdi, and not Khomeini. They want to clean the stables and make preparations for the Mahdi to come. In the Sunni world we are also waiting for the Mahdi to come but we want him to clean the stables for us, make us masters of the world and to make us sit on the thrones. The Sunni world is just passively waiting. Until then we can carry on with all our petty little squabbles… While we, the Sunni world are waiting for Imam Mahdi to pull the chestnut out of the fire for us, the Shias are preparing the world for his arrival. “.

“And I found types and types and types of sick people, a mental sickness that is. I came across an alim from Pakistan Mauna Sahib and he thought that there was something wrong with our Shia brothers… You know it's a sickness. There are many learned men but their minds are so prejudiced. They are just looking for faults.”

“When it comes to the Shafei, Hanbali, Hanafi and Maliki we are tolerant but when it comes to the Shia you see he is not in the formula that we are taught as a child, so what ever little idiosyncrasies there exists between us and them we cant tolerate and reject we say that he is out because we are programmed to believe in only the four. But we accept the idiosyncrasies between the four. I say why cant you accept the Shia brothers as a fifth madhab. And the astonishing thing is that he is telling you that he wants to be one with you. He is not talking about being Shia. He is shouting "there is no Sunni nor Shia there is one thing, Islam." But we say to them "no you are different you are Shia." This attitude is a sickness of the devil… This Sunni-Shia tensions is the work of the devil to divide us. “

“Whereas our Arab brethren again and again you quote them the Quran and they try to contradict you with the Quran. They are Arabs, they are supposed to know the Quran better than us, but the Iranians seem to be on the wavelength of the Quran. Everything he is doing everything he is thinking about is the Quran.”

“This is not an Iranian revolution but that this is an Islamic revolution. It's a revolution for Islam…”

I found this speech on a certain Rafidi website a little while back. Just to make sure that the Rafawid weren’t lying as usual, I listened to the audio recording provided and sure enough, this was Deedat at his best (or worst!!!).

The above comments by this ignorant individual will end this brief discourse on the calamites of Ahmed Deedat. The man is in need of some serious repentance to his Lord the Most High. After reading this, I hope inshallah it will dissuade the brothers and sisters from using this mans material in giving dawah. and at the same time encourage those who have experience in the field of dawah from amongst the Salafis, to produce material which calls mankind to the Tawheed of Allah upon insight and wisdom, upon the way of the last and best of the Messengers, Muhammad (e) and his companions.

I will end with a saying which is often quoted by the noble sheikh of Madina, Sheikh Faleh Ibn Naafi’ Al-Harbi, which is pertinent to what we have outlined:

“The truth is not known by way of men, rather, men are known by way of the truth”.

May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon His final Messenger, Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who follow their until the last day.

Abu Yusuf Al-Kashmiri.

 

 

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