This article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (January 2012)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007)

Map showing the prevalence of "Abrahamic" (purple) and "Dharmic" (yellow) religions

Comparative religion is that branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the worlds religions. There are many benefits to such a course of enquiry but in general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics and the nature and form of salvation. A person who has undertaken such a course of study has a much richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.^[1]

In the field of comparative religion, the main world religions are generally classified as Abrahamic, Indian or Taoic. Areas of study also include creation myths and Humanism.

Abrahamic religions[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (January 2012)

In the study of comparative religion, the category of Abrahamic religions consists of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which claim Abraham (Hebrew Avraham אַבְרָהָם ; Arabic Ibrahim إبراهيم ) as a part of their sacred history. Other religions (such as the Bahá'í Faith) that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted.^[2]

The original belief in the One God of Abraham eventually became present-day Rabbinic Judaism. Christians believe that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus (Hebrew Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ) is the Messiah (Christ) foretold in the Old Testament prophecy, and believe in subsequent New Testament revelations based on the divine authority of Jesus in Christian belief (as the Incarnation of God). Islam believes the present Christian and Jewish scriptures have been corrupted over time and are no longer the original divine revelations as given to Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. For Muslims, the Qur'an is the final, complete revelation from God (Arabic الله‎ Allah), who believe it to have been revealed to Muhammad, who is believed by Muslims to be the final prophet of Islam.

Comparing Abrahamic religions[link]

Christianity and Judaism are two closely related Abrahamic religions that in some ways parallel each other and in other ways diverge in theology and practice.

The historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it gradually became the major religion closest to Judaism. As opposed to Christianity which originated from interaction between ancient Greek and Hebrew cultures, Judaism is very similar to Islam in its fundamental religious outlook, structure, jurisprudence and practice.^[3] There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions. These practices are known collectively as the Isra'iliyat.^[4]

The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam. Islam and Christianity share their origins in the Abrahamic tradition, although Christianity predates Islam by centuries. Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith - with some differences in interpretation - and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Qur'an is the final revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations, including the Bible.

Indian and Indo-European religions[link]

The term "Indian religions" refers to a number of religions that have originated on the Indian subcontinent tracing their origins through Proto-Indo-Iranian religion ultimately to Proto-Indo-European religion. They encompass Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

Other largely extinct Indo-European religions closely allied to the Indian religions, sharing a common history, include Zoroastrianism, ancient Greek, Celtic, Roman, Hittite, Slavic and Norse mythology.^{[citation needed]}

Comparing "Dharmic" religions[link]

The Rig Veda is one of the oldest Vedic texts. Shown here is a Rig Veda manuscript in Devanagari, early nineteenth century.

Buddhism and modern Hinduism are both post-Vedic religions. Gautama Buddha is mentioned as an Avatar of Vishnu in the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Some Hindus believe the Buddha accepted and incorporated many tenets of Hinduism in his doctrine, however, Buddhists disagree and state there was no such thing as Hinduism at the time of Buddha and in fact, "Indeed, it absorbed so many Buddhist traits that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the latter in medieval and later Hinduism."^[5] Prominent Hindu reformers such as Gandhi^[6] and Vivekananda^[7] acknowledge Buddhist influence. Gandhi, like Hindus, did not believe Buddha established a non-Hindu tradition. He writes, "I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism."^[8]

Taoic religions[link]

The Chinese character depicting Tao, the central concept in Taoism.

A Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao ("The Way"). This forms a large group of religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shinto, Yiguandao, Chondogyo, Chen Tao and Caodaism. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features.

Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, due to a belief that nature demonstrates the Tao. The flow of Ch'i, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao. Following the Tao is also associated with a "proper" attitude, morality and lifestyle. This is intimately tied to the complex concept of De, or literally "virtue" or "power." De is the active expression of Tao.

Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism for centuries had a mutual influence on each other in China, Korea and Vietnam. These influences were inherited by Zen Buddhism when Ch'an Buddhism arrived in Japan and adapted as Zen Buddhism.

Comparing Taoic religions[link]

• Taoism and other religions
• East Asian Buddhism

Comparing traditions[link]

Bahá'í Faith

• Bahá'í Faith and other religions
• Bahá'í Faith and Buddhism
• Bahá'í Faith and Hinduism
• Bahá'í Faith and Zoroastrianism

Buddhism

• Bahá'í Faith and Buddhism
• Buddhist–Christian Studies
• Buddhism and Christianity
• Buddhism and Eastern religions
• Buddhism and Gnosticism
• Buddhism and Hinduism
• Buddhism and Jainism
• Buddhism and Theosophy
• Parallels between Buddha and Jesus

Christianity

• Christianity and other religions
• Buddhism and Christianity
• Buddhist–Christian Studies
• Christianity and Islam
• Christianity and Judaism
• Christianity and Neopaganism
• Christianity and Paganism
• Christianity and Vodou
• History of Hindu–Christian Encounters, AD 304 to 1996
• Parallels between Buddha and Jesus

Hinduism

• Hinduism and other religions
• Ayyavazhi and Hinduism
• Bahá'í Faith and Hinduism
• Buddhism and Hinduism
• Hinduism and Islam

Islam

• Islam and other religions
• Christianity and Islam
• Hinduism and Islam
• Islam and Jainism
• Islam and Judaism
• Islam and Sikhism
• Mormonism and Islam

Jainism

• Buddhism and Jainism
• Islam and Jainism
• Jainism and Sikhism

Mormonism

• Mormonism and Christianity
• Mormonism and Islam
• Mormonism and Judaism

Paganism and Neopaganism

• Christianity and Paganism
• Christianity and Neopaganism

Sikhism

• Hinduism and Sikhism
• Islam and Sikhism
• Jainism and Sikhism

Taoism

• Taoism and other religions

Zoroastrianism

• Zoroastrianism and other religions

See also[link]

• Comparative mythology
• Hierographology
• Inclusivism
• Institute for Interreligious Dialogue
• Interfaith
• List of religions
• Panbabylonism
• Patternism
• Religious pluralism

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Eastman, Roger (1999) The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition. ISBN 978-0-19-511835-3.
• Momen, Moojan (1999). The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-161-2. http://www.librarything.com/work/204690. 

External links[link]

• Patheos.com's Side-By-Side Comparative "Lenses"
• 2nd International Online-Conference "Comparative Religion: from Subject to Problem"
• ReligiousTolerance.org
• ReligionFacts.com
• Comparative-religion.com
• Studies in Comparative Religion
• Answers to Questions of Faith From Several Worldviews
• Study of Comparative Religions in Indian Universities

Karen Armstrong FRSL (born 14 November 1944), is a British author and commentator who is the author of twelve books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic nun, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical faith. Armstrong first rose to prominence in 1993 with her book, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an international best seller that is now required reading in many theology courses. Her work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance, in many, of compassion or "The Golden Rule".

Armstrong received the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008. She used that occasion to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year.

Early life[link]

Armstrong was born at Wildmoor, Worcestershire,^[1] into a family of Irish extraction who, after her birth, moved to Bromsgrove and later to Birmingham. In 1962, while still in her teens, she became a nun in the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, a teaching order, in which she remained for seven years. Once she had advanced from postulant and novice to professed nun, she enrolled in St Anne's College, Oxford, to study English. Armstrong left her order in 1969 while still a student at Oxford. After graduating with a Congratulatory First, she embarked on a DPhil on the poet Tennyson. According to Armstrong, she wrote her dissertation on a topic that had been approved by the university committee. Nevertheless it was failed by her external examiner on the grounds that the topic had been unsuitable.^[2] Armstrong did not formally protest this verdict, nor did she embark upon a new topic but instead abandoned hope of an academic career. She reports that this period in her life was marked by ill-health stemming from her life-long but, at that time, still undiagnosed temporal epilepsy.^[3][4]

Career[link]

In 1976, Armstrong took a job as teaching English at a girls' school in Dulwich while working on a memoir of her convent experiences. This was published in 1982 as Through the Narrow Gate to excellent reviews. That year she embarked on a new career as an independent writer and broadcasting presenter. In 1984, the British Channel Four commissioned her to write and present a TV documentary on the life of St. Paul, a project that involved traveling to the Holy Land to retrace the steps of the saint. Armstrong described this visit as a "breakthrough experience" that defied her prior assumptions and was the inspiration for virtually all her subsequent work. In A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, she traces the evolution of the three major monotheistic traditions from their beginnings in the Middle East up to the present day and also discusses Hinduism and Buddhism. As guiding "luminaries" in her approach, Armstrong acknowledges (in The Spiral Staircase and elsewhere) the late Canadian theologian Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a Protestant minister,^[5] and the Jesuit father Bernard Lonergan.^[6] In 1996, she published Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.

Armstrong's The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (2006) continues the themes covered in A History of God and examines the emergence and codification of the world's great religions during the so-called Axial age, identified by Karl Jaspers. In the year of its publication Armstrong achieved the distinction of being invited to choose her eight favourite records for BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs programme.^[7] She has made considerable appearances on television, including appearances on Rageh Omaar's programme on The Life of Muhammad. She was also an advisor for the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002), produced by Unity Productions Foundation.

In 2007, Armstrong was invited by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore to deliver the "2007 MUIS Lecture".^[8]

Armstrong is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars and laypeople which attempts to investigate the historical foundations of Christianity. She has written numerous articles for The Guardian and other publications. She was a key advisor on Bill Moyers' popular PBS series on religion, has addressed members of the US Congress, and was one of three scholars to speak at the UN's first ever session on religion.^[9] She is a vice-president of the British Epilepsy Association, otherwise known as Epilepsy Action.

Armstrong, who has taught courses at Leo Baeck College, a rabbinical college and centre for Jewish education located in north London, says she has been particularly inspired by the Jewish tradition's emphasis on practice as well as faith: "I say that religion isn't about believing things. It's about what you do. It's ethical alchemy. It's about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness." ^[10] She maintains that religious fundamentalism is not just a response to but, paradoxically, a product of contemporary culture^[11] and for this reason concludes that, "We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community."^[12]

Awarded the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008, Armstrong called for drawing up a Charter for Compassion, in the spirit of the Golden Rule, to identify shared moral priorities across religious traditions, in order to foster global understanding and a peaceful world.^[13] It was presented in Washington, D.C. in November 2009. Signatories include Queen Noor of Jordan, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Paul Simon.^[14]

Honours[link]

In 1999 Armstrong received the Muslim Public Affairs Council's Media Award^[15][16][17].

Armstrong was honoured by the New York Open Center in 2004 for her "profound understanding of religious traditions and their relation to the divine."^[18]

She received an honorary degree as Doctor of Letters by Aston University in 2006^[19].

In May 2008 she was awarded the Freedom of Worship Award by the Roosevelt Institute, one of four medals presented each year to men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to the Four Freedoms proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 as essential to democracy: freedom of speech and of worship, freedom from want and from fear. The institute stated that Armstrong had become "a significant voice, seeking mutual understanding in times of turbulence, confrontation and violence among religious groups." It cited "her personal dedication to the ideal that peace can be found in religious understanding, for her teachings on compassion, and her appreciation for the positive sources of spirituality." ^[20]

She has also received the TED Prize 2008^[21].

In 2009 she was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the University of Tübingen.^[22]

Armstrong was honored Nationalencyklopedin's International Knowledge Award 2011^[23] "for her long standing work of bringing knowledge to others about the significance of religion to humankind and, in particular, for pointing out the similarities between religions. Through a series of books and award-winning lectures she reaches out as a peace-making voice at a time when world events are becoming increasingly linked to religion."

On November 30, 2011 (St. Andrew's Day) Armstrong was made honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Saint Andrews.^[24]

Reception[link]

Armstrong has been called "a prominent and prolific religious historian"^[25] and described as "arguably the most lucid, wide-ranging and consistently interesting religion writer today".^[26] Juan Eduardo Campo, author of the Encyclopedia of Islam (Encyclopedia of World Religions) (2009), included Armstrong among a group of scholars whom he considered as currently conveying a "more or less objective" (as opposed to polemical) view of Islam and its origins to a wide public in Europe and North America.^[27] She is in demand as a speaker on the Abrahamic tradition; in the last decade increasing interest in and debate surrounding Islamic issues has brought her even wider visibility.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography[link]

Journal articles:

• "Women, Tourism, Politics" (1977)
• "The Holiness of Jerusalem: Asset or Burden?" (1998)
• "Ambiguity and Remembrance: Individual and Collective Memory in Finland" (2000)

Books:

• Through the Narrow Gate (1982)
• The First Christian: Saint Paul's Impact on Christianity (1983)
• Beginning the World (1983)
• Tongues of Fire: An Anthology of Religious and Poetic Experience (1985)
• The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's Creation of the Sex War in the West (1986)
• Holy War: The Crusades and their Impact on Today's World (1988)
• Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (1991)
• The English Mystics of the Fourteenth Century (1991)
• The End of Silence: Women and the Priesthood (1993)
• A History of God (1993)
• Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths (1996)
• In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis (1996)
• Islam: A Short History (2000)
• The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (2000)
• Buddha (2001)
• Faith After September 11 (2002)
• The Spiral Staircase (2004)
• A Short History of Myth (2005)
• Muhammad: A Prophet For Our Time (2006)
• The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (2006) ISBN 978-0-375-41317-9
• The Bible: A Biography (2007)
• The Case for God (2009) ISBN 978-0-307-26918-8
• Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (2010) ISBN 978-0-307-59559-1
• A Letter to Pakistan ISBN 978-0-19-906330-7

See also[link]

• Abrahamic religions
• Interfaith dialog
• Theology

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Karen Armstrong

• Author Spotlight at Random House
• Profile at islamfortoday.com
• Charter for Compassion, charterforcompassion.org
• Interview with Karen Armstrong on "The Bible", readthespirit.com
• The reason of faith Ode magazine, 2009.
• Articles by Karen Armstrong on the 5th Estate blog, fifthestate.co.uk

Audio and video

• Karen Armstrong's TED Talk "Let's revive the golden rule", ted.com
• Audio: Karen Armstrong in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme The Forum, BBC.co.uk
• Booknotes interview with Armstrong on Islam: A Short History, September 22, 2000.

Ahmed Hoosen Deedat (Arabic: احمد حسين ديدات; 1 July 1918 – 8 August 2005) was a South African writer and public speaker of Indian descent.^[1] He was best known as a Muslim missionary who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures, most of which centred around Islam, Christianity and the Bible. He also established the IPCI, an international Islamic missionary organisation, and wrote several booklets on Islam and Christianity which were widely distributed by the organisation. He was awarded the prestigious King Faisal International Prize in 1986 for his 50 years of missionary work. One focus of his work was providing Muslims with theological tools for defending themselves against active proselytising by Christian missionaries.^{[citation needed]} He used English to get his message across to Muslims and non-Muslims in the western world.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early Years 1918–1942[link]

Ahmed Deedat was born in the town of Tadkeshwar, Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India in 1918.^[3] His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after the birth of Ahmed Deedat. 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 the age of 16.^[4]

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 Islamic Prophet Muhammad of having "used the sword" to bring people to Islam. Such accusations offended Deedat and created his interest in comparative religion.^[5]

Deedat took a more active interest in religious debate after he came across a book entitled "Izhar ul-Huqq" (Truth Revealed), written by Rahmatullah Kairanawi, while Deedat was rummaging for reading material in his employer's basement.^[6] This book chronicled the efforts of Christian missionaries in India a century earlier. The book had a profound effect on Deedat, who bought a Bible and held debates and discussions with trainee missionaries, whose questions he had previously been unable to answer.^[5]

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.^[5] Deedat and a few others were delighted at the opportunity. Shortly thereafter, Fairfax had to pull out and Deedat, by this point quite knowledgeable about the Bible, took over teaching the class, which he did for three years. He later crediting this experience for expanding his horizons significantly towards missionary work.^{[citation needed]}

Early missionary work 1942–1956[link]

Deedat's first lecture, entitled "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace", was delivered in 1942 to an audience of fifteen people at a Durban cinema named Avalon Cinema.^[7] 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 program of luncheons, speeches and free hand-outs was created to give an increasingly large number of international tourists what was often their first look at Islam. Deedat himself was one of the guides, hosting tourists and giving introductions to Islam and its relationship with Christianity.^[8]

IPCI and as-Salaam 1956–1986[link]

By 1956, after frequent public speaking engagements and the popular guided tours of the Jumma Masjid, enquiries about Islam from the general public in South Africa were increasing. Deedat realised that working from the mosque office was inadequate for handling the demand for literature and the number of people with an interest in Islam.^{[citation needed]}

Among Deedat's close friends were Goolam Hoosein Vanker and Taahir Rasool, whom many refer to as 'the unsung heroes of Deedat's career'.^[4]

In 1957, these three men founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) with the aim of printing a variety of books on Islam and offering classes to new Muslims converts.^[9]

In 1958, Deedat established an Islamic seminary called As-Salaam Educational Institute on a donated 75-acre (300,000 m²) piece of land located in Braemar in the south of Natal province.^[10] The experiment was not a success, however, because of the IPC’s lack of manpower and paucity of funds, and was taken over by the Muslim Youth Movement in 1973. Deedat then returned to Durban and expanded the IPC’s activities.^[5]

Deedat engaged in 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.^{[citation needed]} He also wrote many booklets, distributing millions of copies of these and other free literature across the world.^{[citation needed]}

International efforts 1985–1995[link]

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 with Christian contemporaries in front of a packed audience.^{[citation needed]} His international profile grew in 1986, when he received the King Faisal Award for his services to Islam in the field of Dawah (Islamic missionary activity).^[5] As a result, at age of 66, Deedat began a decade of international speaking tours around the world. His tours included:

• Saudi Arabia and Egypt (on several occasions)
• United Kingdom (on several occasions between 1985 and 1988, as well as Switzerland in 1987)
• Pakistan, where Deedat met Zia al-Haq
• UAE and Maldives Islands (Nov–Dec 1987), where Deedat was honoured by President Gayhoom^[5]
• The US (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 (1994, tour featuring debates in Canada and lectures in Chicago)
• Australia (his last tour in early 1996, just before his stroke)

Illness and death 1996–2005[link]

On 3 May 1996, Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralysed from the neck down because of a cerebral vascular accident affecting the brain stem, leaving him unable to speak or swallow.^[11] He was flown to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where he was reported to be fully alert. He learned to communicate through a series of eye-movements via a chart whereby he would form words and sentences by acknowledging letters read to him.^[11]

He spent the last nine years of his life in a bed in his home in South Africa, looked after by his wife, Hawa Deedat, encouraging people to engage in Da'wah (Islam propagation).^[11] He received hundreds of letters of support from around the world, and local and international visitors continued to visit him and thank him for his work.^[5]

On 8 August 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.^[12] Hawa Deedat died on Monday 28 August 2006 at the age of 85, one year after her husband, at Deedat’s home.^[13]

Debates[link]

Deedat's first well-known debate took place in August 1981, when he debated well-known Christian preacher Josh McDowell in Durban, South Africa.^[14] Many of his debates have later been broadcast online on Youtube, among other sites.

Debates with Anis Shorrosh[link]

Deedat's disagreements with Palestinian-American Christian missionary Anis Shorrosh first came to public attention when Shorrosh appeared among the audience during the questions and answers sessions^[15] on two separate occasions during Deedat's summer 1985 tour of the UK (where he debated Floyd E. Clark in what is now considered another one of his early international works).^[5] Deedat and Shorrosh later held two highly contentious debates. The first, entitled Is Jesus God?^[5] took place in December 1985 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The second debate was organised with much fanfare and held in Birmingham, UK on 7 August 1988, entitled The Quran or the Bible: Which is God's Word.^[5] This debate lasted four hours, including the questions and answers session.

Debate with Jimmy Swaggart[link]

Deedat's best-known moment^{[citation needed]} came when he debated with televangelist Jimmy Swaggart at a time when Swaggart was one of the leading faces of Evangelical Christianity. Entitled Is The Bible the Word of God?,^[5], the debate occurred in Swaggart's hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in November 1986 at the University of Louisiana, where it was attended by about 8,000 people.

Other notable debates[link]

In October and November 1991 Deedat toured Scandinavia, where he held three debates and several speeches. Two of these debates were held on successive nights against Pastor Stanley Sjöberg in Stockholm, Sweden. The first of these was entitled Is the Bible the True Word of God?^[5][16] and the second debate was Is Jesus God?. Deedat then travelled to Denmark, where he held a debate with Pastor Eric Bock in Copenhagen, entitled Is Jesus God?^{[citation needed]}

Deedat and the Pope[link]

In 1984 he challenged John Paul II to a public dialogue in the Vatican Square, but the Pope did not accept.^[5] When the Pope stopped answering, Deedat distributed a pamphlet in January 1985 headlined His Holiness Plays Hide and Seek With Muslims.^[17]

Writings and speeches[link]

Deedat published and mass-produced over one dozen palm-sized booklets focusing on the following major themes.^[18] Most of Deedat's numerous lectures, as well as most of his debates in fact, focus on and around these same themes. Often the same theme has several video lectures to its credit, having been delivered at different times and different places.

• Is the Bible God's Word?^[19]
• What The Bible Says About Muhammad
• Crucifixion or Cruci-Fiction?^[20]
  • several smaller spin-off titles on specific aspects of Crucifixion
• Muhammad: The Natural Successor to Christ
• Christ in Islam^[21]
• Muhammad The Greatest
• Al-Qur'an the Miracle of Miracles^[22]

Capitalizing on his popularity in the Middle East following his receipt of the King Faisal Award, Deedat secured a grant to print a collated volume of four of his popular booklets. 10,000 copies of this book titled The Choice: Islam and Christianity were initially printed on April 1993;^[23] this book was very popular in the 1990s, available for free at many missionary outlets across North America. Subsequently, several printing houses offered to print more, and within two years another 250,000 copies had been printed in several print runs across the Middle East.

Later, a second paperback volume entitled The Choice: Volume Two containing six more of Deedat's booklets was published. Deedat also widely promoted a South African printing of The Holy Qur'an translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali with commentary and detailed index. This was widely sold at subsidised cost to the general public, and is often mentioned in Deedat's speeches.

Deedat also produced a booklet entitled "Al-Qur'an: the Ultimate Miracle" featuring the theory of 'the Number 19' that was popularised by Arizona-based Egyptian computer analyst Dr. Rashad Khalifa. However, this booklet was withdrawn after Dr. Khalifa disclosed some controversial beliefs, including his rejection of the entire Hadith literature of Islam.^[24]

Criticism[link]

Deedat's debates and writings have been labelled a form of apologetics^[2] by Lloyd V. J. Ridgeon, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow.

Muslim scholar Farid Esack has criticised Deedat, comparing him to such fundamentalists as Rabbi Meir Kahane and Jerry Falwell, and writing:^[25]

Deedat's multitude of anti-Christian, anti-Jewish and anti-Hindu videotapes have told us all that there is to be told about the other, and we are comfortable with that. There are times, of course, when questions surface about the importance of correct dogma, about the importance of labels to a God whom we believe sees beyond labels and looks at the hearts of people. Instead of pursuing these questions, we hasten back and seek refuge in "the known." We order another of those Deedat tapes.^[25]

The Stephen Roth institute for the study of contemporary antisemitism and racism calls Deedat "anti-Jewish" but does not elaborate.^[26] In France sale and distribution of his books has been forbidden since 1994 as they are said to be violently anti-western, antisemitic and inciting to racial hate. ^[27]

Following his 1981 debate with Deedat, Josh McDowell released a book which included criticism of a number of Deedat's arguments from a Christian perspective.^[28] Deedat responded to of McDowell's book in chapters 17 and 19 of "Crucifixion or Cruci-fiction".^[29]

In his last tour to Australia, the publicity resulting from the presence of Deedat caused Franca Arena, member of the Legislative Council of the government of New South Wales to comment in her speech concerning racism:

External sources[link]

• Full set of Ahmad Deedat DVDs
• Collection of Books by Ahmed Deedat in PDF-format

See also[link]

• Dawah
• Islamic view of Jesus' death
• Swoon hypothesis
• Yusuf Estes
• Zakir Naik

References[link]

Declaration

Huston Cummings Smith (born May 31, 1919 in Suzhou, China) is a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religions (originally titled The Religions of Man) has sold over two million copies^[1] and remains a popular introduction to comparative religion.^[2]

Education[link]

Smith was born in China to Methodist missionaries and spent his first 17 years there. Upon coming to the U.S. for education, he studied at Central Methodist University and the University of Chicago.^[3]

Teaching[link]

He taught at the University of Denver from 1944 to 1947; then at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for the next ten years. He was then appointed professor and chair of the philosophy department at MIT from 1958 to 1973. While there, he participated in experiments with psychedelics that professors Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass) conducted at Harvard University. He then moved to Syracuse University, where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and current emeritus status. At University of California, Berkeley he was visiting professor of religious studies.

Religious practice[link]

During his career, Smith not only studied, but practiced Vedanta (studying under Swami Satprakashananda, founder of the St. Louis Vedanta Center ^[4], Zen Buddhism (studying under Goto Zuigan), and Sufi Islam for over ten years each ^[5].

As a young man, he suddenly turned from traditional Methodist Christianity to mysticism by the influence of the writings of Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley. In 1947, before moving from Denver to St. Louis, Smith set out to meet with then-famous author Gerald Heard. Heard responded to Smith's letter, inviting him to his Trabuco College (later donated as the Ramakrishna Monastery) in Southern California. Heard made arrangements to have Smith meet the legendary author Aldous Huxley. Smith was told to look up Swami Satprakashananda of the Vedanta Society once he settled in St. Louis. So began Smith's experimentation with meditation and association with the Vedanta Society of the Ramakrishna order.^[6]

Smith developed an interest in the Traditionalist School formulated by René Guénon and Ananda Coomaraswamy. This interest has become a continuing thread in all his writings.

Thanks to his connection with Heard and Huxley, Smith went on to meet Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), and others at the Center for Personality Research, where Leary was Research Professor. The group began experimenting with psychedelics and what Smith later called "empirical metaphysics."^[7] The experience and history of the group are described in Smith's book Cleansing the Doors of Perception. During this period, Smith was also part of the Harvard Project, an attempt to raise spiritual awareness through entheogenic plants.

During his tenure at Syracuse University, he was informed by leaders of the Onondaga Tribe about the Native American religious traditions and practices, which resulted in an additional chapter in his book on the World's Religions.

In 1990 the Supreme Court ruled that the use of Peyote as a religious sacrament by Native Americans was not protected under the US Constitution. Smith took up the cause, as a noted religion scholar, and with his help, in 1994 Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendment, basically overturning the Supreme Court^[8].

Books[link]

• The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions, 1958, rev. ed. 1991, HarperOne, ISBN 0-06-250811-3^[9]
• Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World's Religions, 1976, reprint ed. 1992, HarperOne, ISBN 0-06-250787-7^[10]
• Beyond the Postmodern Mind, 1982, reprint ed. 1989, Quest Books, ISBN 0-8356-0647-3
• The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions,1995, HarperOne, ISBN 0-06-067440-7^[11]
• Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, 2000, Tarcher/Putnam, ISBN 1-58542-034-4, Council on Spiritual Practices, ISBN 1-889725-03-X, Sentient Publications, ISBN 1-59181-008-6^[12]
• Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief, 2001, HarperOne, 1st ed.:ISBN 0-06-067099-1, reprint 2002: ISBN 0-06-067102-5^[13]
• Islam: A Concise Introduction, HarperOne, 2001, ISBN 0-06-166018-3^[14]
• The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life, 2003, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-23816-8 (cloth); ISBN 0-520-24489-3 (paper) Edited and with a Preface by Phil Cousineau
• Buddhism: A Concise Introduction, with Philip Novak, HarperOne, 2004, ISBN 0-06-073067-6^[15]
• The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition, 2005, HarperOne, 1st ed. ISBN 0-06-079478-X^[16]
• A Seat at the Table: Huston Smith in Conversation with Native Americans on Religious Freedom, 2006, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24439-7 (cloth) Edited and with a Preface by Phil Cousineau With Assistance from Gary Rhine
• Tales of Wonder, an autobiographical review of his life and associations.

Television and film[link]

While at Washington University, Smith was the host of two National Educational Television series (NET – the forerunner of PBS): The Religions of Man and Search for America.^[17]

In 1996, Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS special to Smith's life and work, "The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith". Smith has produced three series for public television: "The Religions of Man", "The Search for America", and (with Arthur Compton) "Science and Human Responsibility". His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals.

• The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith: A Bill Moyers Special: A Personal Philosophy, 1996, PBS, DVD
• The Roots of Fundamentalism: A Conversation with Huston Smith and Phil Cousineau, 2006, GemsTone - distributed by mondayMEDIA, DVD
• Death and Transformation: The Personal Reflections of Huston Smith, 2007, Fons Vitae, DVD
• The Arc of Life: Huston Smith on Life, Death & Beyond, 2012, GemsTone - distributed by mondayMEDIA, DVD^[18]

Recording[link]

In 1967, while traveling in India, Smith stayed in a Gyuto Tibetan Buddhist monastery. During his visit he heard the monks chanting and realized that each monk was producing a chord of notes, rather than a single note. He recorded the chanting and when he returned to MIT, he had acoustic engineers analyze the sounds^[19]. They confirmed the finding. Smith has called this the single most important empirical discovery of his career. The recording was release as an LP titled Music of Tibet^[20][21], and later through an agreement with mondayMEDIA, released on CD. Royalties from the sales go to support the Gyuto University^[22].

Awards[link]

For his life long commitment to bringing the world’s religions together to promote understanding, social justice and peace, Smith received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.^[23]

Smith was named to be one of the first recipients of the Order of Universal Interfaith and Universal Order of Sannyasa's "Interfaith-Interspiritual Sage Award" in January 2010. He received the award at his home on February 23, 2010.^[24]

Quotes[link]