Ummar Jamal
Sheikh Ahmad Deedat was born in the town of Tadkeshwar, Suran, British India on July ist 1918.His father was a tailor and migrated to South Africa shortly after his birth. At the age of nine Ahmad Deedat moved to Durban in 1927 to join his father Husain who had settled there a few years earlier. He acquired education only till standard 6th.Because his both ends could not meet, he was forced to leave education. In South Africa he did a job of sales man in furniture shop. While he was in South Africa he used to be consistently harassed by the Christian missionaries. Who used to tell Islam is a useless religion. They hurled a number of insults on Islam. As he was harassed a desire comes to his heart to counter all these false allegations against Islam. One day he stumbled across a book, IZHAR-ULHAQ(truth revealed) written by Rehmatullah Karanvi, while he was rummaging for reading material in his employer’s basement. By this book he got direction of his goals and strived constantly for 40 years till the time he challenged stalwarts of Christianity. His delivered his first lecture, entitled “Muhammad (PBUH) :Messenger Of Peace “ in 1943 to an audience of fifteen people at a Durban cinema. After five years in 1957,he along with Ghulam Hussein Vanker and TaahirRasool founded the Islamic Propagation Center International (IPCI) with the aim of printing variety of books on Islam and offering classes to new Muslim converts.
On Friday 3 may 1996 , two days after his return from a tour to Australia he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to speak for the last ten years of his life. And on 8 August 2005, the real hero of Islam died at his home on Trevennen road in Verulam in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He will be remembered for his service to Islam forever.
He wrote many concise and impressive palm-sized books which were printed and disturbed in millions of people across the globe .Among his books: Is The Bible God’s Word? What The Bible Say About Mohammed, Crucifixion or Croce-fiction?, Mohammed: The Natural Successor To Christ. Al-Quran The Miracle of Miracles etc. are paramount. He was a renowned dynamic orator . He was popular for his convincing answers to challenging questions posed to him by audience. He didn’t believe in manuscript. His speeches were laced with wit. His mind was epic and knowledge encyclopedic. His simple lifestyle and ordinary language made him seem to people “one among them”. His sharp debating style is worth eulogizing. Once he was asked by atheist ,“how would you feel if u died and discovered that hereafter was a lie? Ahmad Deedat replied, “not worse than that when you die and discover that hereafter was a truth”. He had penchant for reading, debating, discussion. He had profound sense of commitment towards Da’wah. His stirring oratory made him a celebrated figure in Muslim world. His legacy continues to echo and haunt his opponents. He was the Mohammed Ali of theological ring. His son Youssef Deedat calls him, “the lion of stage”. He devoted his entire life in field of Da’wah(proselytizing of Islam).He aim was to clear misconceptions and counter false allegations made against Islam. He was first theologian who started question-answer session after his talks. Introduction of question-answer session after talks proved fructifying for clearing illusions of non-muslims about Islam. After end of his talks he used to answer all the questions posed to him from audience pertaining to the topic of talk. In 1984 he was about to debate Jimmy Swaggart, who was most famous and most powerful Christian scholar of his epoch. The Christian televangelist had more than one million beget in a day. Just few weeks before his debate, one of the fanes of Sheikh Ahmad Deedad told him, “sir I am your fan but I want to give you an advice, I know Jimmy swaggart and I have studied him, please! Don’t debate him, he will chew you and will spit you out”. But Sheikh Ahmad Deedad went in USA in the hometown of Christian missionary and had a debate with him on the topic “Is The Bible God’s word”. He vanquished Jimmy swaggart by his extraordinary rhetoric and biblical knowledge. He even challenged the late Pope John Paul 2nd to debate in Vatican square. The self-taught Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Deedad inspired thousands of Muslims to come in field of Da’wah. Dr.zakir naik the world famous Islamic preacher was inspired by him and was his student. He says it was Sheikh Ahmad Deedad who changed his life and made him doctor of soul(Da’ae) from a doctor of body(medical doctor), who met him in 1987. In 1986 Saudi Arabia awarded him The King Faisal Award for his service to Islam. Dedaat was first person from South Africa to receive the award. On Friday 3 may 1996 , two days after his return from a tour to Australia he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to speak for the last ten years of his life. And on 8 August 2005, the real hero of Islam died at his home on Trevennen road in Verulam in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He will be remembered for his service to Islam forever.
(The author is pursuing B.A LL. B in University of Kashmir. Views are his own) [email protected]
