Ahmed Deedat was born in the town of Tadkeshwar, Surat District, Gujarat, India in 1918. His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after the birth of Ahmed Deedat. At the age of 9, Deedat left India to go join his father in what is now known as Kwazulu-Natal. His mother was to pass away 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 the age of 16.
In 1936, while working as a furniture salesman Deedat came across missionaries at a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast. The missionaries in their efforts to convert people of Muslim faith, would often accuse the Prophet Mohammad of having "used the sword" to bring people to Islam. Such accusations seemed to offend Deedat and such attacks were to form a major influence on Deedat's subsequent interest in comparative religion.
Deedat got his first break when, while rummaging for reading material in his employer's basement, he came across a book entitled "Izhar ul-Huqq" (Truth Revealed), written by Rahmatullah Kairanawi. This book which chronicled the efforts of Christian missionaries in India from a century earlier. This book had a profound effect on Deedat and led to the purchase of his first Bible and holding of debates and discussions with trainee missionaries, whose questions he had previously been unable to answer.
is foray into Bible Studies took a more serious turn when he started attending Islamic study classes held by a local Muslim convert named Mr. Fairfax. Seeing the popularity of the classes, Mr. Fairfax offered to teach an extra session on the Bible and how to preach to Christians about Islam.Deedat and a few others were delighted at the opportunity. However, only a few months into the project, Mr. Fairfax had to pull out of his engagement, and Deedat, who was by this point quite knowledgeable about the Bible, took over teaching the class. Which he did for three whole years thereafter and later credited for expanding his horizons significantly towards missionary work.
Early Missionary Work 1942–1956
Deedat's first lecture, entitled "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace", was delivered in 1942 to an audience of fifteen people at a Durbanmovie theatre named Avalon Cinema. Over time, Deedat's popularity as a public speaker grew in Durban, to the point that he was invited to speak in other cities in South Africa. A decade later he was filling City halls with audiences numbering in the thousands in cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town.
A major vehicle of Deedat's early missionary activity was the 'Guided Tours' of the Jumma Mosque in Durban. The vast ornamental Jumma Mosque was a landmark site in the tourist friendly city of Durban. A sophisticated program of luncheons, speeches and free hand-outs was created to give an increasingly large number of international tourists often their first look at Islam. Deedat himself featured as one of the guides, hosting tourists and giving succinct introductions to the Islamic Religion and the relationship between Islam and Christianity.
IPCI and as-Salaam 1956–1986
By 1956, missionary work in the form of frequent public speaking engagements and the popular guided tours of the Jumma Masjid had begun to pay dividends. Enquiries about Islam from the general public in South Africa had started to pour in at an increasing rate. Soon it became apparent that working from the mosque office was not going to be sufficient to handle the demand for literature and to facilitate an increasing number of people showing more than simply tourist level interest in Islam.
Among Deedat's close friends were Goolam Hoosein Vanker and Taahir Rasool, whom many refer to as 'the unsung heroes of Deedat's career'. In 1957, Deedat, together with Vanker and Rasool, founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) with the aim to print a variety of books on Islam and offer classes to new Muslims converts.
In 1958, Deedat also established an Islamic seminary called As-Salaam Educational Institute on a donated 75-acre piece of land located in Braemar in the south of Natal province.
With these newly founded missionary organizations as his backbone, Deedat engaged into a broader range of activities over the next three decades. He conducted classes on Biblical Theology and conducted numerous lectures.[citation needed] Da`wah (inviting people towards Islam) became the dominant factor of his life, with audiences at his lectures often reaching in excess of forty thousand. He also wrote a large number of booklets, distributing millions of copies of these and other free literature across the world.
International Fame 1985–1995
By the early 1980s, Ahmed Deedat's work was beginning to be known outside his native South Africa. In 1985, for instance, he twice rented the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London to debate Christians contemporaries in front of a packed audience. His international profile was significantly boosted, when in 1986 he was awarded the King Faisal Award for his services to Islam in the field of Dawah (Islamic missionary activity). The award squarely brought Deedat into the international limelight and the attention of the Muslim communities worldwide. As a result, at the ripe old age of 66, Deedat began a new phase in his lifetime mission of empowering Muslims to preach to Christians, a ten-year long period of international speaking tours around the world. He travelled far and wide to Muslim communities from Australia at one end to North America at the other end. Some of his known tours include:
- Saudi Arabia and Egypt (on several occasions)
- United Kingdom (on several occasions between 1985 and 1988, including Switzerland in 1987)
- Pakistan, where Deedat met Zia al-Haq, UAE and Maldives Islands (Nov–Dec 1987), where Deedat was honored by PresidentGayhoom.
- US Tour Number 1 (late 1986 featuring debates with Swaggart, Robert Douglas and several lectures including two in Arizona)
- Sweden and Denmark (late 1991 featuring three debates)
- US and Canada Tour (1994 tour featuring debate in Canada and lectures in Chicago)
- Australia Tour (his last tour in early 1996 just before his stroke)
Illness and Death 1996–2005
On May 3, 1996, Sheikh Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down because of a Cerebral Vascular Accident affecting the Brain Stem, and which also meant that he could no longer speak or swallow. He was flown to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where he was reported to be fully alert and hence taught to communicate through a series of eye-movements via a chart whereby he would form words by acknowledging individual alphabets read out to him; this way he would form complete sentences.
He spent the last nine years of his life in a bed in his home in Verulam, South Africa, encouraging people to engage in Da'wah (Islam propagation). He was looked after by his wife, Hawa Deedat, and was reported to have no bed-sores. He continued to receive hundreds of letters of support from around the world, and local and international visitors continued to visit him and pay homage to his work.
On August 8, 2005, Ahmed Deedat died at his home on Trevennen Road in Verulam in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He is buried at the Verulam cemetery.
His wife Hawa Deedat passed away on Monday August 28th 2006 at the age of 85, one year after her husband at the Deedat’s home in Verulam, Durban South Africa.
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