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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 12
Publication Date: December 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.1012.16091
Islam, M. A., & Ushama, T. (2023). Ahmed Deedat’s Methodology in Comparative Theological Discourse and Zakir Naik’s Integration.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(12). 323-338.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Ahmed Deedat’s Methodology in Comparative Theological
Discourse and Zakir Naik’s Integration
Mohammad Aminul Islam
Department of Uṣūl al-Dīn and Comparative Religion,
AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge
And Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia
Thameem Ushama
Department of Uṣūl al-Dīn and Comparative Religion,
AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and
Human Sciences and the ISTAC International Islamic University Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Ahmed Deedat has a distinctive approach and unique way of formulating his da’wah
materials and their organisation. Similarly, he presented his evidence and
arguments to prove his point in the debates he engaged in, the talks he delivered,
and the books he authored. Hence, this paper aims to exhibit Deedat’s methodology
in studying religions, focusing on his preparation for a debate, delivering it followed
by a question-answer session and the extent to which Zakir Naik incorporated it.
Besides that, Deedat’s short biography and contributions to the comparative
theological study are explored. An analytical and comparative method is employed
in this study. The most significant finding of this research is Naik’s realisation in his
fifties as a dācin in all situations must be versatile in his preaching and propagation.
Keywords: Ahmed Deedat, Methodology, Zakir Naik, Integration, Comparative Theology.
INTRODUCTION
Ahmed Deedat has a distinctive approach and unique way of the study of comparative
theological study. He is a textual, contextual, rational, argumentative, and confrontational
Islamic scholar of the Christian Bible. Initially, he faced many challenging questions from the
prospective Christian Missionaries from Adams College in South Africa (Goolam Vahed, 2030,
p. 30). Deedat equipped himself with the book ‘IÐhÉr al-×aq’ (The Truth Revealed) written by
Rahmatullah Kairanavi; as such, he challenged the whole Christendom of his time. Only high
school standard sixth grade passed Deedat influenced many Muslims to be full-time dācin or
part-time dāci. Zakir Naik is one of the prominent figures among the many young Muslims who
were influenced and inspired by Deedat and got the title of Deedat Plus from Deedat himself.
This study explores Deedat’s methodology in comparative theological discourse and the extent
to which Zakir Naik adopted and integrated it. This study has attempted to offer Deedat’s
methodology in theological discourse and Naik’s integration into it through an analytical and
comparative method.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 12, December-2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
DEEDAT’S BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
A nine-year-old boy from Surat, India, Ahmed Deedat, migrated to South Africa to help his tailor
father, Hossein Deedat. After his departure, his mother passed away in India. He faced many
challenges in his life. Deedat sometimes worked as a Toothpick seller, a taxi Driver, and
sometimes as a storekeeper in a furniture shop. One day, he migrated to Pakistan to be a Pakka
Muslim (practising/proper Muslim), while Pakistan is an Islamic state. Sometimes, Deedat
worked as an efficient typist and sometimes as a worker in a gramophone wholesaler company
called Morgan Milton Pakistan Ltd and also as a correspondent of Jahangir Textile Mill and other
business people on a part-time basis. Deedat left Pakistan about a week before its first Prime
Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was assassinated on October 16, 1951 (Goolam Vahed, 2013, p. 54).
From a shopkeeper, he became a scholar. From Adam’s mission, he focused on Ahmed’s
mission. After two years, he went back to South Africa. A Standard Six passed school dropout
student became a famous debater who debated the giants and legends of the whole
Christendom of his time. He was born on July 1, 1918, and after being paralysed for nine years,
Deedat passed away on August 8, 2005 (ibid., p. 25).
BACKGROUND OF DEEDAT’S APPROACH
Some crucial points formed the foundation of Deedat’s approach to comparative theological
studies. Those crucial points are as follows:
First, he did not choose to become a Muslim scholar of the Christian Bible. Still, he was forced
to do so due to the provocations from the Christian priests, which was the turning point in his
life to generate an intellectual and scientific movement. Deedat said, Deedat and his Muslim
colleagues -working with him in the shop beside Adams Collage- have always been a target for
the experiences of these students who aspire to be priests. Not a day went by when these
people did not bother the Muslims with their insult and contempt for Islam, the Prophet, and
the Qur’an. He was a twenty-year-old young man at that time. He spent many nights crying
because of his weakness and inability to defend the dearest and most precious thing in his life,
the Noble Messenger, who was sent as a mercy for the whole universe. He insisted on studying
the Holy Qur’an, the Bible, and other literary books about them. There was a transformation in
his life, and after spending time, he got the ability to confront those students to the extent that
he sent invitations to them to have dialogues with them and to debate them to the point of
combustion, which made them break out in a sweat when embarrassing them with presenting
the truth (ibid).
Second, Deedat’s sources of acquiring knowledge were the Noble Qur’an and the Bible, then
the book “The Truth Revealed” by Sheikh Rahmatullah Al-Hindi. He referred to the Christian
books and their sources, such as the book of Reverend David, Professor Compesti, Reverend
Babel Bennett and Sir William Murr, Sir Winston Churchill, and the Reverend C.I. Scofield,
Elaine White, and some other Western scholars who criticised Christianity, such as W. Graham
Scroggie and his book “Is the Bible the Word of God?”.
Third, Ahmed Deedat did not suffocate himself in the field of comparative religion to face the
Christian missionaries and entered this immersion after spending time preparing for the task
that he had set himself up to carry out. When he became aware of his ability, he took the
initiative to confront the students of theology.