Izhar ul haq ahmed deed at biography

Sheikh Ahmed Deedat Biography

Ahmed Hoosen Deedat (July 1, 1918 – August 8, 2005)

The world renowned Muslim Scholar of Comparative Religion, was born in the Surat district of India in 1918. Ahmed Hoosen Deedat had no recollection of his father until 1926. His father, a tailor by profession, had emigrated to South Africa shortly after the birth of Ahmed Deedat.

With no formal education and fighting off the extreme pangs of poverty, he went to South Africa in 1927 to be with his father. His farewell to his mother in India in 1927 was the last time he saw her alive for she passed away a few months later.

In a foreign land, a boy of nine with no formal schooling and command of the English language began preparing for the role he was to play decades later without realizing it.

Applying himself with diligence to his studies, the little boy not only was able to overcome the language barrier but also excelled in school. His avid passion for reading helped him gain promotions until he completed standard six. Lack of finance interrupted his schooling and at the early age of about sixteen he took on the first of many jobs in retailing.

The most significant of these was in 1936 where he worked at a Muslim owned store near a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast. The incessant insults of the trainee missionaries hurled against Islam during their brief visits to the store infused a stubborn flame of desire within the young man to counteract their false propaganda.

As fate would have it, Ahmed Deedat discovered by pure chance a book entitled Izharul-Haq, meaning, ‘The Truth Revealed’. This book recorded the techniques and enormous success of the efforts of Muslims in India in turning the tables against Christian missionary harassment during the British subjugation and rule of India. In particular, the idea of holding debates had a profound effect on Ahmed Deedat.

Armed with this newly found zeal, Ahmed Deedat purchased his first Bible and began hol

He was born in a poor family in Surat, India. His father, who was a tailor, migrated to South Africa after his birth. He could see his father only at the age of 9 when he went to Natal. He joined the school, established his worth but could not continue after sixth standard because of financial handicap. He started a private job at the age of 16. In 1936 he was working on a Muslim-owned store near a Christian seminary. The young missionary trainees, taking him a Muslim, hurled a number of insults upon him. Whatever they were taught in the classroom against Islam or its Prophet, they bombarded it upon him. He, being a simple Muslim, was perplexed with this sudden attack. But it infused a stubborn flame of desire within the young man to counter their false allegations.
He tried to search for proper books and fortunately he found a marvelous treatise named Izharul Haq (Truth Revealed) by Maulana Rahmatullah Kairanvi who already had a challenging debate with Bishop Fender on April 9, 1854 at Agra. Young Deedat began to study this book in the basement of his employer and purchased his first Bible to attest the references. The next week he was able to defend himself and counteract the trainees in a befitting manner.
He got another opportunity when a new Muslim convert Fairfax began classes on Bible and on how to preach Islam to Christians. Ahmad Deedat joined the course but after few months Fairfax left the classes and surprisingly Deedat who was by that time quite competent in the subject took over the class as their tutor which he continued for three years. Now that was his most favorite subject. He began to lecture in Natal and then in nearby cities. A decade later, thousands of people were filling city halls in Johannesburg and Cape Town to hear his dissertations.
Ahmad Deedat also conducted guided tours of the vast ornamental Jama Masjid Durban which was a popular tourist spot. A sophisticated program of luncheons, speeches and free h

Muslim thinker, orator and missionary from South Africa (1918–2005)

Ahmed Husein Deedat (Gujarati: અહમદ હુસેન દીદત; Urdu: احمد حسین دیدات; Arabic: أحمد حسين ديدات; 1 July 1918 – 8 August 2005), was a South African and Indian self-taught Muslim thinker, author, and orator on Comparative Religion. He was best known as a Muslimmissionary, who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures on Islam, Christianity, and the Bible.

Deedat established the IPCI, an international Islamic missionary organisation, and wrote several widely distributed booklets on Islam and Christianity. He was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 1986 for his fifty years of missionary work. He wrote and lectured in English.

Early years (1918–1942)

Deedat was born to Gujarati Muslim parents in the town of Tadkeshwar, British India in 1918. His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after his birth. At the age of 9, Deedat left India to join his father in what is now known as Kwazulu-Natal. His mother died only a few months after his departure. Arriving in South Africa, Deedat applied himself with diligence to his studies, overcoming the language barrier and excelling in school, even getting promoted until he completed standard 6. However, due to financial circumstances, he had to quit school and start working by the time he was at the age of 16.

In 1936, while working as a furniture salesman, he met a group of missionaries at a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast who, during their efforts to convert people of Muslim faith, often accused the ProphetMuhammad of having "used the sword" to bring people to Islam. Such accusations offended Deedat and created his interest in comparative religion.

Deedat took a more active interest in religious debate after he came across the book Izhar ul-Haqq (Truth Reveal