Ahmed Deedat

Ahmed Deedat Biography

Ahmed Deedat was a South African writer, Muslim missionary and public speaker of Indian descent. He was popular with numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians. He was awarded the prestigious King Faisal International Prize in 1986 for his 50 years of missionary work. He provided Muslims with theological tools to defend against religious conversion by Christian missionaries. He used English language as the medium to convey his ideas and messages all over the world.

Deedat was born in town of Tadkeshwar, Surat in 1918. At the age of 9, he left India to join his father at South Africa. He joined Kwazulu-Natal. His mother died very soon after his departure. Though he was brilliant in studies, he quit studies at the age of 16 to financially support the family. In 1936, while working as a furniture salesman, he happened to see a few Christian missionaries on the Natal South Coast preaching wrong ideas about Islam and trying to convert people to Christianity. He became attached to religion at this point of time. He took a more active interest in religious debate after reading the book "Izhar ul-Huqq". He attended Islamic classes also. It gave an addition section of Bible as well. He attended the classes for three years.

Deedat's first lecture, entitled "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace", was delivered in 1942 to a small crowd of people at Durban cinema. Slowly Deedat gained popularity as a speaker. Very soon, he was invited to speak at other major cities at South Africa such as Johannesburg and Cape Town. 'Guided Tours' of the Jumma Mosque was the earliest mode to deliver his speeches. Later he has delivered speeches at Saudi Arabia, UK, Pakistan and many more countries. His last tour was to Australia in early 1996, just before his stroke. He spent the last nine years of his life in a bed in his residence in South Africa, looked after by his wife.

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Updated: February 25, 2014