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In Islamic theology, God (Arabic: Allāh) is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe.^[1][2] Islam emphasizes that God is strictly singular (tawhid)^[3] unique (wahid) and inherently One (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent.^[4] According to Islamic teachings, God exists without place^[5] and according to the Qur'an, "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. God is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things" (Qur'an 6:103)^[2] God, as referenced in the Qur'an, is the only God and the same God worshiped by members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism. (29:46).^[6]

In Islam, there are 99 Names of God (al-asma al-husna lit. meaning: "The best names") each of which evoke a distinct attribute of God.^[7][8] All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name.^[9] Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Compassionate" (al-rahman) and "the Merciful" (al-rahim).^[7][8] Creation and ordering of the universe is seen as an act of prime mercy for which all creatures sing God's glories and bear witness to God's unity and lordship. God responds to those in need or distress whenever they call. Above all, God guides humanity to the right way, “the holy ways.”^[5]

Etymology[link]

Allāh is the term with no plural or gender used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning the one God, while ʾilāh (Arabic: إله‎) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.^[10][11][12] It is related to ʼĔlāhā in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the New Testament. Other non-Arab Muslims might use different names as much as Allah, for instance "Tanrı" in Turkish, "Khodā" in Persian, or "Yakush" in Berber.

Evidence[link]

The Islamic concept of God is formulated from the Quran and Hadith. The Quran is believed by Muslims to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith are the records of Muhammad's sayings and example. Hadith Qudsi is a sub-category of hadith, which Muslims regard as the words of God repeated by Muhammad. According to as-Sayyid ash-Sharif al-Jurjani, the Hadith Qudsi differ from the Quran in that the former are "expressed in Muhammad's words", whereas the latter are the "direct words of God".

Oneness[link]

Islam's most fundamental concept is a strict monotheism called tawhīd, affirming that God (Arabic: Allah) is one and incomparable(wāḥid). The basic creed of Islam, the Shahadah,^[13] (recited under oath to enter the religion) involves لا إله إلا الله (lā ʾilāha ʾillallāh), or "I testify there are no deities other than God alone." The Qur'an asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the entire creation.^[14]

"Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."

—Qur'an, Sura 112 (Al-Ikhlas), ayat 1-4^[15]

"Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were God's will, God could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom God will as your successors, even as God raised you up from the posterity of other people."

— Qur'an, Sura 6 (Al-An'am), ayat 133^[16]

Muslims deny the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not to resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules and are not expected to visualize God.

According to Vincent J. Cornell, the Qur'an also provides a monist image of God by describing the reality as a unified whole, with God being a single concept that would describe or ascribe all existing things:"God is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward; God is the Knower of everything (Sura 57:3)"^[14] Some Muslims have however vigorously criticized interpretations that would lead to a monist view of God for what they see as blurring the distinction between the creator and the creature, and its incompatibility with the monotheism of Islam.^[17]

The indivisibility of God implies the indivisibility of God's sovereignty which in turn leads to the conception of universe as a just and coherent moral universe rather than an existential and moral chaos. Similarly the Qur'an rejects the binary modes of thinking such as the idea of duality of God by arguing that both good and evil generate from God's creative act and that the evil forces have no power to create anything. God in Islam is a universal god rather than a local, tribal or parochial one; an absolute who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil.^[18]

Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession.^[19] To attribute divinity to a created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Qur'an.^[18] Muslims believe that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid.^[20]

Other attributes[link]

Name of Allāh written in Arabic calligraphy by 17th century Ottoman artist Hâfız Osman

God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful" (See Names of God in Islam).^[7] The Qur'an refers to the attributes of God as God's “most beautiful names” (see 7:180, 17:110, 20:8, 59:24). According to Gerhard Böwering, "They are traditionally enumerated as 99 in number to which is added as the highest name (al-ism al-aʿẓam), the supreme name of God, Allāh. The locus classicus for listing the divine names in the literature of qurʾānic commentary is 17:110, “Call him Allah (the God), or call him Ar-Rahman (the Gracious); whichsoever you call upon, to him belong the most beautiful names,” and also 59:22-24, which includes a cluster of more than a dozen divine epithets."^[21] The most commonly used names for god in Islam are:

• The Most High (al-Ala)
• The Most Glorious (al-Aziz)
• The Ever Forgiving (al-Ghaffar)
• The Ever Providing (ar-Razzaq)
• The Ever Living (al-Hayy)
• The Self-Subsisting by Whom all Subsist (al-Qayyum)
• The Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds (Rabb al-Alameen)
• The Ultimate Truth (al-Haqq)
• The Eternal Lord (al-Baqi)
• The Sustainer (al-Muqsith)
• The Source of Peace (As-Salaam)

Islamic theology makes a distinction between the attributes of God and the divine essence.^[21]

Furthermore, it is one of the fundamentals in Islam that God exists without a place and has no resemblance to his creations. For instance, God is not a body and there is nothing like him. In the Quran it says what mean "Nothing is like him in any way," [see Quran 42:11]. Allah is not limited to Dimensions.

Omniscience[link]

The Qur'an describes God as being fully aware of everything that happens in the universe, including private thoughts and feelings, and asserts that one can not hide anything from God:

In whatever business thou mayest be, and whatever portion thou mayest be reciting from the Qur'an,- and whatever deed ye (mankind) may be doing,- We are witnesses thereof when ye are deeply engrossed therein. Nor is hidden from thy Lord (so much as) the weight of an atom on the earth or in heaven. And not the least and not the greatest of these things but are recorded in a clear record.

—[10:61]

Relationship with creation[link]

Muslims believe that creation of everything in the universe is brought into being by God’s sheer command “‘Be’ and so it is.”^[4][22] and that the purpose of existence is to worship God.^[23][24] He is viewed as a personal God who responds whenever a person in need or distress calls Him.^[4][25] There are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God who states in the Qur'an "We have created man, and We know whatever thoughts his inner self thinks, and We are closer to him than (his) jugular vein".^[26] Sahih Bukhari narrates a hadith qudsi that God says, "I am as My servant thinks (expects) I am".^[27]

Comparative theology[link]

Islamic theology identifies God as described in the Qur'an as the same god of Israel who covenated with Abraham.^[28] Islam and Judaism alike reject the Trinity of Christianity, instead teaching that God is a singular entity beside whom no one else should be worshiped. However, the identification of God both in Islam and in Christianity with the God of Abraham led to a limited amount of mutual recognition among the Abrahamic religions.^[29]

See also[link]

	Islam portal
	Religion portal

• God
• Conceptions of God
• Existence of God
• Monotheism

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Allah an article by Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Allah's 99 Names, their Meanings and related audio at www.SearchTruth.com
• Some Names of Allaah
• Who is Allah?
• Allah, the unique name of God

Bibliography[link]

• Al-Bayhaqi (1999), Allah's Names and Attributes, ISCA, ISBN 1-930409-03-6
• Hulusi, Ahmed (1999), "Allah" as introduced by Mohammed, Kitsan, 10th ed., ISBN 975-7557-41-2
• Muhaiyaddeen, M. R. Bawa (1976), Asmāʼul-Husnā: the 99 beautiful names of Allah, The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, ISBN 0-914390-13-9
• Netton, Ian Richard (1994), Allah Transcendent: Studies in the Structure and Semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology, Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-0287-3

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

Abadin Tadia Tjoessoep (1626–1699), more commonly known as Sheikh Yusuf, was an Indonesian muslim of noble descent. In 1693 he was exiled to the Cape of Good Hope which resulted in his establishing Islam in the Cape.^[1]

Early and middle life (Indonesia)[link]

Yusuf was born in Makassar, Indonesia, the nephew of King Biset of Gowa.^[2] In 1644 he embarked on the Hajj to Mecca and spent several years in Arabia learning under various pious scholars. During this period the Dutch and British East India Companies were fighting for control of the region due to its lucrative trade in spices and gold. When Yusuf left Arabia in 1664, Makassar had been captured by the Dutch, and he was unable to return home.^[3] Instead, he headed for Bantam on the island of Java, where he was welcomed by Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa. Ageng gave Yusuf the hand of one of his daughters in marriage, and made him his chief religious judge and personal advisor. Yusuf stayed in Bantam for 16 years until 1680, when Ageng's son, Pangeran Hajji, rose against his father, possibly at the urgings of the Dutch East India Company. Ageng rallied his forces, including Yusuf, and in 1683 besieged Hajji in his fortress at Soerdesoeang. Ageng was defeated but managed to escape capture, along with an entourage of about 5,000, among them the 57-year-old Yusuf. Ageng was captured later that year but Yusuf managed to escape a second time and continued the resistance.^[2][3]

Exile to the Cape and establishment of Islam[link]

In 1684 Yusuf was persuaded to surrender on the promise of a pardon, but the Dutch reneged on their promise and instead imprisoned him at the castle of Batavia. Suspecting that he would attempt escape, the Dutch transferred him to Ceylon in September that year, before exiling him to the Cape on 27 June 1693 on the ship Voetboeg. Yusuf, along with 49 followers including two wives and twelve children, were received in the Cape on 2 April 1694 by governor Simon van der Stel. They were housed on the farm Zandvliet, far outside of Cape Town, in an attempt to minimise his influence on the DEIC's slaves.^[1] The plan failed however; Yusuf's settlement soon became a sanctuary for slaves and it was here that the first cohesive Islamic community in South Africa was established. From here the message of Islam was disseminated to the slave community of Cape Town.^[2]

Sheikh Yusuf died at Zandvliet on 23 May 1699.

Legacy and honours[link]

The area surrounding Zandvliet farm was renamed Macassar in honour of Yusuf's place of birth.^[3] Yusuf was buried on the hills of Faure, overlooking Macassar. A shrine was erected over his grave and to this day Muslims in the area visit it to pay their respects.

On 27 September 2005 Sheikh Yusuf was posthumously awarded the The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo in Gold for his contribution to the struggle against colonialism.^[3]

References[link]

Yusuf Estes (born in 1944) is an American Muslim preacher and teacher who converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991. He was a Muslim Chaplain for the United States Bureau of Prisons through the 1990s.^[1] He was a Muslim Delegate to the United Nations World Peace Conference for Religious Leaders held at the U.N. in September 2000.^[1]

Active in Islamic missionary work in the United States, Estes is often featured as guest presenter and keynote speaker at various Islamic events as well as frequently appearing on various Islamic satellite TV channels. Estes takes a dim view of today's public school system in the United States for any children, and highly recommends schools where they might receive a religious education combined with more advanced scholastic education.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Yusuf Estes was born in Ohio, and was raised in Houston, Texas in a Anglo-Saxon Protestant family.^[3] From 1962 to 1990, his career was in the music, entertainment and marketing fields. He also taught music and served as a music minister. He owned several musical instrument companies including the Estes Piano and Organ Company. He produced and directed live entertainment programs in the United States from the mid 1960s until his last endeavor for cable TV in Florida, entitled 'Estes Music Jamboree'.^[4]

Yusuf Estes became a Muslim in 1991 after meeting an Egyptian named Mohamed.^[1] Following his conversion, Estes entered the field of Dawah, or evangelizing the Islamic faith. Estes denies the theory of Darwinian evolution and instead professes creationism as described by Islamic scriptures.^[5]

Islamic Activities[link]

After embracing Islam, Estes pursued Arabic language and Quranic studies in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.^[6] From 2004, Estes regularly appeared on the Islam Channel, as well as Peace TV and on Huda TV which are 24/7 Islamic channels broadcasting in many countries around the globe, via satellite and via the website WatchIslam.

Estes has started a free-to-air Internet and satellite TV channel called GuideUS TV which currently broadcasts commercial-free programming on Islam 24/7. He has also set up various websites directed toward English speaking Muslims which include TubeIslam (a Muslim video sharing site), ChatIslam (a Muslim chat room), and WorldPreschool (a defunct preschool learning site for young children).^[7]

Estes produced a video presentation series called Arabic in English, designed to help English speakers learn the Arabic language easily using his proprietary teaching method.^[8] He sells the series online, and also provides a set of free chatroom-based courses with volunteer teachers.^[9] He also produced a television series entitled Qisas Al Anbiyah (Stories of the Prophets), aimed toward English speaking children of Muslim parents.^[10]

See also[link]

• Islamic Missionary Activity
• List of American Muslims

References[link]

Further reading[link]