He is a Muslim Scholar with more then 5 decades of experience, amazingly he has more knowledge of Christianity then Islam and due to this, any Christian missionary thinks 100 times before debating with him. He with exact Surat, Ayat number, recites different quotes from Different Bibles each conflicting with each other which makes his opposite Christian missionary rethink his own religion. In South Africa were he lives, hundreds of people have entered Islam Including large number of Christian Missionaries.
Born in the Surat district of India in 1918, Ahmed Hoosen Deedat had no recollection of his father untill 1926. His father a tailor by profession had emigrated to South Africa shortly after the birth of Ahmed Deedat. With no formal education and fighting off the extreme pangs of poverty, he went to South Africa in 1927 to be with his father. His farewell to his mother in India in 1927 was the last time he saw her alive for she passed away a few months later. In a foreign land, a boy of nine with no formal schooling and command of the English language began preparing for the role he was to play decades later without realizing it. Applying himself with diligence to his studies, the little boy not only was able to overcome the language barrier but excelled in school. His avid passion for reading helped him gain promotions until he completed standard 6. Lack of finance interrupted his schooling and at the early age of about 16 he took on the first of many jobs in retailing.
The most significant of these was in 1936 where he worked at a Muslim owned store near a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast. The incessant insults of the trainee missionaries hurled against Islam during their brief visits to the store infused a stubborn flame of desire within the young man to counteract their false propaganda.
As fate would have it, Ahmad Deedat looked impatiently in the store of his Muslim owner to find any book that is interesting, by pure chance he found out a book entitled Izharal-Haq, meaning the Truth revealed. This book recorded the techniques and enormous success of the efforts of Muslims in India in turning the tables against Christian missionary harassment during the British subjugation and rule of India. In particular the idea of holding debates had a profound effect on Ahmed Deedat.
Armed with this new found zeal, Ahmed Deedat purchased his first Bible and began holding debates and discussions with the trainee missionaries. When they beat a hasty retreat in the face of his incisive counter arguments, he personally called on their teachers and even priests in the surrounding areas. These successes spurred Ahmed Deedat in the dirrection of Da’wah. Not even his marriage, birth of Children and a 3 year sojourn to Pakistan after its independence dampened his enthusiasm or dulled his desire to defend Islam from the deceitful distortions of the Christian missionaries.
With missionary zeal to project the Truth and beauty of Islam, Ahmed Deedat immersed himself into a host of activities over the next three decades. He conducted classes on Bible studies and gave numerous lectures. He established the As-Salaam, an institute to train propagators of Islam. He, together with his family, almost single-handedly erected the buildings including the masjid which is still a landmark today.
He was a founder member of the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) and became its President, a position he still holds today. He has published over 20 books and distributed millions of copies free of charge. He has delivered thousand of lectures all over the world and successfully engaged Christian Evangelists in public debates. Several thousand people have come into the fold of Islam as a result of these efforts Due to his extensive knowledge of Christianity many of Christian Scholars with whom he debated have converted.
He is also popular due to his very humorous way of explaining Religion.
In a fitting tribute to this monumental achievement, he was awarded the King Faisal International award in 1986, a prestigious recognition of enormous value in the world of Islam.
No number of awards and honors can truly capture the man’s essence and zeal for Islam. This anthology of books is no exception. It demonstrates Sheikh Deedat’s analytical compilations drawn from personal encounters and experiences against Christian distortions.
In 1996 Sheikh Ahmed Deedat suffered from a serious stroke and since then he is unable to move or speak. Please pray to Allah (swt) for his health and well being.
Personal Address : 49, Trevenneri Road, Verulam 4340, Republic of South Africa. Tel (Res.): 331790
Famous Books by Sheikh Ahmed Deedat:
The Choice - Between Islam and Christianity - Volume I
The Choice -Between Islam and Christianity - Volume II
Is the Bible God’s Word?
Al Qur’an the Miracle of Miracles What is His Name?
Re: BREAKING NEWS: Shiekh Ahmed Deedat Has Passed Away
Really sad :'( .Like how most brothers and sisters already mentioned before to God we belong and to him is our return.Hope him the best and may Allah grant him an everlasting paradise ameen.
May Allah (SWT) forgive him and have mercy upon him and inshallah bless him with Al Jannah Al Firdous for all his honourable work and efforts of spreading the true message of the deen of the Almighty, ameen.
"Lo! the Hour is surely coming, there is no doubt thereof; yet most of mankind believe not." (Al-Ghafir:59)
Inna lillai wa inna ilaihi raji'oon. May Allah grant His mercy and blessings upon him and grant him a place in the highest of jannah - al-firdaws, Ameeeen!
May Allah (SWT) forgive him and have mercy upon him and inshallah bless him with Al Jannah Al Firdous for all his honourable work and efforts of spreading the true message of the deen of the Almighty
Ameen.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
Salam
Sheikh Deedat has passed away . Its not a rumer any more
Late Sheikh Deedat…Legacy of Da`wah
Sheikh Deedat's coffin during the funeral. (Picture courtesy of Independent Newspapers, South Africa)
By Fatima Asmal, IOL Correspondent
DURBAN, South Africa, August 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Hundreds of people, from across South Africa, have participated in the funeral of Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, who breathed his last in the early hours of Monday after a stroke that kept him bedridden for almost a decade.
They came from near and far to pay their last respects to the man who had made them proud, a man who at a time when the Asian community had everything going against it, raised the morale of Muslims, a man whose voice of courage and truth served as a beacon of light amidst the shadow of oppression, injustice and prejudice, says IOL Correspondent.
The body of the late Sheikh Ahmed Deedat left his home in Verulam, South Africa at about 5 p.m. Monday, in a coffin, covered in a green cloth.
A sombre atmosphere prevailed at the Deedat household, as the coffin was passed from man to man, until it reached the hearse which carried it to the Main Street Mosque, where the funeral prayer was performed by about a thousand men, led by well-known Zambian Muslim Scholar Mufti Ismail Menk.
Earlier, Sheikh Deedat’s body was laid in the living room of his house, his 84-year-old wife – clad in a white burqa and jilbab – sitting at his side, embracing the many women who came to express their condolences, assuring them that her husband had experienced a quick, beautiful and painless death.
Those in attendance expressed the sheer sense of loss they felt at the passing of a man whose name had elevated the status of the South African Muslim community in various parts of the Islamic world.
Icon
“He was an icon,” said Suleiman Vahed, who had shared a working relationship with Sheikh Deedat. “I can’t think of anyone who can replace him.”
Rehana Badat, a former neighbour and regular visitor to the Deedat household said that his death, though expected, was extremely difficult to come to terms with.
She described him as having exemplary character, and paid tribute to his humility. “He was a very well-known man, and he could have driven a fancy car or lived in a fancy house if he so wished. But he retained his humility and simplicity throughout his life.”
She added that Muslims of his calibre were especially needed in present times when the Ummah (nation) faces many trials and tribulations.
Many paid tribute to Sheikh Deedat’s wife, speaking of her patience and strength. “She was Pappa’s strength,” said daughter-in-law Yasmin Deedat.
“She is a really positive person, and remained positive throughout his illness, never complaining about his condition.”
Yasmin said that the phone had been consistently ringing, with people from all over the world calling to confirm Sheikh Deedat’s death and express their condolences.
She tearfully related the story of Muhammad, a young Deedat fan from Saudi Arabia, who is presently in South Africa, studying English.
“He would spend day after day with Pappa, and had even visited him last night. When we told him that he had passed away, he refused to believe us, and came in today, heading straight for his room, wanting to spend time with him.”
Muhammad entered Sheikh Deedat’s room to find that he wasn’t there, but was instead laid, shrouded in his funeral cloth, on the living room floor.
“He just broke down and was hysterical, and has been quiet ever since.”
Sheikh Deedat was buried at the Verulam Muslim Cemetery after the Maghrib Prayers Monday.
The legacy he left behind wasn’t solely for his family, but was for the entire Muslim Ummah, said Yasmin.
On May 3, 1996, Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, born in 1918, 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.
May Allah (SWT) have mercy on him and Insh'Allah grant him the highest level of paradise
Ameen
Our Lord! Verily, we have heard the call of one calling to Faith: 'Believe in your Lord,' and we have believed.
Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and expiate from us our evil deeds, and make us die (in the state of righteousness) along with Al-Abrar
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d began holding debates and discussions with the trainee missionaries. When they beat a hasty retreat in the face of his incisive counter arguments, he personally called on their teachers and even priests in the surrounding areas. These successes spurred Ahmed Deedat in the dirrection of Da’wah. Not even his marriage, birth of Children and a 3 year sojourn to Pakistan after its independence dampened his enthusiasm or dulled his desire to defend Islam from the deceitful distortions of the Christian missionaries.
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