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Interfaith | |
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| Debating with Christians |
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Sheik Yusuf Estes
A: No. I do not debate with what I already believe that is in Christianity as it came with the first Christian Jesus (PBUH). I do not debate with the Jews about their religion, because I already believe in the original message which came with Musa, Ibrahim, Nuh, Yunus, Yaqub, Idris and Adam (Peace be upon them all). Why would I debate with what I believe? Only a fool would do that. Muslims go for that today because they have lost touch with their own religion. More than twenty years ago there was a famous debate between Jimmy Swaggart and Ahmed Deedat. All that it did was to drive a wedge between us and good Christians. All that it did was to convince some very poor misguided Muslims that this is the way to do dawah and all that it did was to take more and more people to hell fire. Ahmed Deedat did a lot of good and wonderful work for Islam and that wasn't one of the best times. Ahmed Deedat said when it began that he is NOT a scholar of Islam. That is true. At the same time, Jimmy Swaggart said that he is NOT a scholar of the Bible That is true. The topic of the debate was "Is Bible the word of God?" Do we believe in this statement? In the Quran, Allah says "A.L.M. This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah. Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them. And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter. They are on (true) guidance, from their Lord, and it is these who will prosper." (Surah 2, verse 1-5) Do we believe in this Quranic statement? Yes or no. "And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time.." "Bible" means "the book" in English. In Arabic it literally means Kitab. The word "Bible" is no were to be found in the Bible but the word "Bible" (the book) is all over the Quran. How can we ever debate that Bible did not come from God to start with. But if the debate is to ask if the Bible still exists in the original form, that is real simple and we need to ask their scholars and nobody claims to have the original. Why am I go to the Christians when I am told in my book (the holy Quran) NOT to insult their God. I have been told in my book, when I go to them I've to present myself in a way that is better. Being in a debate means to start making fun of somebody. In that debate they discussed about how many wives we can have, making fun of Mr. Swaggart and making fun of Mr. Deedat at the end Jimmy Swaggart went on to make an appeal... Listen to that, this is one of the cheapest shot of all. Born-again Christians use the same tape that Muslims took it out. I have seen it in the ministry and in prisons they promote. Jimmy Swaggart said "I had a dream. I believe God talking to me". God said to me, "You tell those Moslems, Jesus loves them and Jesus wants to accept them". He went on to say that there was someone who liked Islam and he was thinking about becoming a Muslim and he was dying of cancer or some disease. "He called in the precious name of Muhammad, he did not get well. Then he called in the precious name of Jesus, then he was saved". "Oops!", the man was saved, he got good health. How many people in here ever call on the name of Muhammad (PBUH) to be healed. Nobody. Who do we call on to be healed. It's God!. So what happens is, it looks like to the people who see this we (Muslims) are worshiping Muhammad because of the way he (Swaggart) inferred that. And this is wrong. So I am saying this to you, I'll not debate with them. Let me tell you what I have done. We preserved it in a CD titled "God, why bother?" They (Christians) wanted to have a debate. I said if they (Christians) organized and paid for it... See, the Muslims paid Jimmy Swaggart to come over for the debate. After he did it Jimmy Swaggart was flown to Israel and was given a 747 Jumbo Jet by the Zionist. That's true story. And I was a Christian at that time. I wondered why did they give him a jet for doing that. If you know the damage that you did, you will understand why? When we did the program Christians did ask me for a debate with Dr. Campbell PhD of the Seminary School in Maryland for the Methodist Church. I said, "No, I won't because I don't do debates". Then they called me back again and said this is Christians asking Muslims for a debate. If I won't accept that they may ask someone else for the debate and it would be more damaging and I agreed on one condition that it will not be a debate but a dialogue. I've heard a Baptist Minister saying, "Debates bring a lot of heat but not very much light". I am for the light. I am a Muslim, I will try to avoid heat at all cost. And I love Noor, one of the names of Allah, An-Noor. At the end of the program the beautiful part was a lady stood up and accepted Islam. And nobody got angry. The Christians cheered and so did the Muslims. And Dr. Campbell want to give me a big hug and tell me to come back again because we did not insult them. I didn't contradict anything he said unless he would say something that was totally against Islam which he didn't know because he is a scholar of his religion and he knows his religion. All other priests in Catholic Church and many other priests and preachers in other churches study Islam as part of their regular curriculum. So they know better.They already know we (Muslims) only worship one God. They already know we (Muslims) believe in Jesus (PBUH) as a prophet. And they know that whenever people hear these messages they leave the Catholic Church and become Muslims and they are not going to open those doors. And by the way this was not intended to say anything against Ahmed Deedat. I love him. And I pray for him. And I want you to do the same thing. I am saying that, that particular event did not work well as it could have. Ahmed Deedat didn't plan it. He didn't do it. He was pushed into that by the organizers and May Allah guide all of us. Excerpts from the video of Sheik Yusuf Estes, former Christian Evangelist Preacher now Muslim Chaplain. Follow the below links to watch the video. Part 1: Yusuf Estes -1of 2-Why he don't debate Part 2: Yusuf Estes -2of 2-Why he don't debate |
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