Deedat had no fear of eloquently quoting from sources regarded by many of today's firebrand Muslim clerics as taboo (such as from James Bond films) to prove his point. He had the extraordinary gift of disarming his rivals through effortless humour and unforgiving memory.
It was the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart who at the start of their famous debate sniped him by relating that Deedat had commented on Swaggart’s wife's beauty on their way to the hall. Swaggart boasted that he reminded Deedat that, as a Christian, he was allowed to marry only once and therefore he had to choose the best. A short time after that incident, Swaggart was caught in a prostitution scandal at which time Deedat paid him back by retelling the story during a lecture in Abu Dhabi, saying, "It seemed that the best was not good enough for him ...” making the audience burst into laughter.
Deedat was not afraid to be polite yet blunt at times in order to expose the follies of his adversaries. It was at one of these moments when he chastised Dr Shorrosh to the point of embarrassment. Listening to him quoting verses from the Koran with unwarranted grammatical and pronunciation mistakes, Deedat didn't hesitate to ridicule him for not being able to correctly pronounce his own Arabic language. "Shame on you, shame on you ..." said Deedat, while himself reading the same verses with impeccable Arabic intonation and correct grammar.
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Deedat's whole style and approach must be an anathema to the character and behaviour of today’s jihadists whose unkempt looks, outlandish shouting matches, outrageous attitudes and hate-filled language are beamed to us with predetermined glorification from some Arab satellite channels like Al Jazeera.
It is not important whether one agreed with Deedat or whether one embraced his style of debate or the core of his beliefs. What one couldn't miss in him was his unparalleled belief in the power of the word and his extreme respect for his opponents.
The Islamic world today is in dire need of men like Deedat who could debate and engage with people of other faiths with civility, mutual respect and profound understanding of their scriptures and cultures. The Islamic world needs scholars whose good character, good deeds, good knowledge and humane nature, instead of their booby-trapped bodies, can reach overseas shores. Islam today definitely needs more Deedats with a book in their hand and a good word in their mouth rather than bin Ladens, Abu Izzadens, Abu Uzairs, Abu Musabs and Omar Bakris who deliver death and sow hatred wherever they intervene.
Deedat was a Muslim willing to use his brain to win friends. He was a person who could smile and not frown before his Christian brethren, a person in whose presence one felt safe, without having to think about running for cover when he reached to adjust his skullcap. A non-Jihadist scholar who once angered some of his audience when asked by a firebrand Arab after a lecture whether he considered the Palestinian cause as Jihad, Deedat, with his fearless candour and humility replied:
I am not a Faqih (jurist) but to the best of my knowledge the two sides are fighting on a piece of land with believers of different religions and ideologies fighting for the same cause on the Palestinian side.
One may wonder whether Deedat intended to forestall the current trend where extremist Muslims wrongly justify their actions as being a jihad sanctioned by the holy Koran.
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With his departure, Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, that humble Gujarati SouthAfrican grocery owner turned Bible scholar and founder of the Islamic Propagation Center International (IPCI) in Durban, has left a void that can hardly be filled in the Muslim-Christian debate.
His presence will be sorely missed in today's polarised world.
The article was first published in the Khaleej Times on August 18, 2005 under the title “Champion of interfaith dialogue”.
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