The effect on the Muslim world by Ahmad Deedat is the following. The European political domination over Muslim countries, what we know as Colonialism, carried with it its essential religious ethic – Christianity.
We know that at the political level, colonialism was essentially secularist. But at the level of morality, the ethic they carry is Christian morality.
From the people in the Muslim world, colonialism was seen as a rise and globalization of Christianity. The talk of the town was always this big threat called Christianity. In fact, this talk may have been initiated by colonialists themselves sometimes.
The colonialists say, if Islam is true, why would God let us dominate you? Is it not evident be it from the perspective of the colonized or the colonizer, that domination and truth belongs to christianity?
This rhetoric led to a crisis of confidence and pride in Islam, and in the Indian sub-continent for example, a lot of Muslims became Christian. Likewise we hear this also in Indonesia today as well. This conversion of so many Muslims to Christianity became a global phenomena.
As Christian missionary work was taking roots, they implanted their worldview and ethic indefinitely in the Muslim world in various critical ways. They developed plans and literatures to cater to “dawah” to Muslims.
So this was the scenario in which Sheikh Ahmad Deedat emerged heroic. Christianity is essentially falsefood, and it is not hard to break down falsehood. Ahmad Deedat had the right personality for this. If we notice in his debates, he always appeared calm with his beaming smile. He exuded confidence in taking on Christian zealots in a manner so inspiring to an Ummah that had lost its pride and self-confidence.
Ahmad Deedat comes on the world stage and defeats various Christian preachers in public debates. He repeated this enough times to be noticed by Muslims. At a time when Muslims were overwhelmed by the psychological impact that Christianity politically and economically dominated and won over Islam – this feeling slowly withered with the emergence of Ahmad Deedat.
This is because Ahmad Deedat was able to articulate the flaws of the Bible. This he articulated through very effective communication. So up to the 1970s, the personality of Ahmad Deedat impacted primarily in making Muslims know that there is someone out there who can take on any Christian scholar, even if that person himself cannot.
So in this light, Ahmad Deedat was a giant personality. He fulfilled the commandment of Quran to call to the path of Allah with hikmah — with beautiful sermons at the level of the masses and argue with others in the best ways. This verse refers to the People of the Book. From this, we take and realize that debating and arguing is an art in itself and the Quran commands us to execute it with wisdom and make clear what is right and wrong.
This is an art that Ahmad Deedat fulfilled. Not so much that he converted thousands of people to Islam, but psychologically he put Muslim anguish and doubts at peace regarding the question of Christianity through the art of argumentation, of making things clear, in a debate and dialogue setting. He made muslims feel good about themselves and intellectually strong through knowing that their scripture is the correct scripture.
Sothis is the legacy of Ahmad Deedat.
Now that he has passed away, missionaries have studied Ahmad Deedat inside out. Ahmad Deedat was someone who not only debated publicly but also sent his literature out to everyone. So missionaries were able to obtain his writings and study him to guess what he would say and argue in future debates. Through this, Christian missionary experts have now come up with answers to Ahmad Deedat, point by point.
Evangelicals in the Christian world are of two levels – 1) passionate preachers, and 2) people who look from an intellectual perspective. Christians that go to places like Hartford Seminary and Harvard Divinity etc, most of them are generally confused about Christianity.
What we have to know is that research work now has gone way farther than at the time of Ahmad Deedat. Even Christians themselves have realized their numerous flaws in their own research works.
Unfortuantely, Muslim debaters nowadays are still stuck and limit themselves to Ahmad Deedat’s arguments even though, for instance, Jewish professors have now done research work far beyond the works of Ahmad Deedat.
Example One. We treat the current Bible as Injil, but it is not Injil historically speaking. At most, it is a book of “Hadith” — reports. The statements of Sayyidina Isa in the Bible is basically historical statements.
Example Two. All research on the Jewishness of Jesus — how it is impossible for him to say something as blasphemous and going against Jewish ideas of monotheism, of One God. How can a Jew have pagan beliefs is very problematic. We see there are similarities of Christianity and Hinduism as having somewhat pagan rituals. So this influence of paganism in Christianity is inconceivable considering he was Jewish.
So in the areas of research about holy scriptures, we now have a lot more information than in the days of Ahmad Deedat. We have a better understanding of ancient architecture at that time. We also know the available manusrcripts at that time.
For example, the Quran talks about specific events of Isa A.S. The Quranic answer is most plausible where Jesus defended his mother, Maryam in the cradle as a baby. If Maryam did someting wrong as in Bible, she would have been inflicted with harsh Jewish punishment. So why was Maryam not stoned to death? This is impossible since she was born and raised in a temple, within the confines of a religious institution and a society with a strict religious law. She could not have escaped. She would have gotten severe punishment from the religious authorities. Only the Quran gives a plausible answer.
Also, the latest research shows that Jesus’s disciples – the 12 disciples – are shown as being members of his own family – so surely they look similar to Jesus himself. This is even more so since they all have beards. So when they thought they caught Jesus, it sheds light to other possibiliities than what we have always thought. Jesus belonged to the royalty said to be from the descendant of David.
What we are saying here is that we need a new Ahmad Deedat. Not one, but many! Zakir Naik has filled his shoes to some degree. But we really need someone at the level of Ahmad Deedat and Zakir Naik specifically in USA because a lot of conversion to Christianity is going on amongst the youth. In fact many new Muslims left Islam and went back to Christianity. Another importance of having a new Ahmad Deedat in America is the fact that scholars from America have a large effect on the whole world.
Wallahua’lam.