Few booklets in modern comparative religion have travelled as far as Sheikh Ahmed Deedat's Is the Bible God's Word? First published in the early 1980s (1980 according to Deedat's biographer Goolam Vahed; many editions give 1981), it has been reprinted and translated many times, handed out at lectures and passed from reader to reader across the Muslim world. At ISLAMICA we have released a newly enhanced edition of the [E-Book] Is The Bible God's Word? by Ahmed Deedat. It is revised, reformatted and redesigned for today's screens, and it keeps the original scholarship intact. Below is the story of the man, the book and the questions it still raises.
Who Was Ahmed Deedat?
Ahmed Hoosen Deedat was born on 1 July 1918 in Tadkeshwar, Gujarat, then part of British India. His father had already emigrated to South Africa, and in 1927 the nine-year-old Ahmed followed him to Durban. Poverty cut his schooling short, and as a young man he worked in a small country store in Natal.
The Adams Mission encounter
That store stood near Adams Mission, a Christian missionary college. Students from the college often came in and questioned the young shop assistant about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Deedat later said he felt helpless because he had no answers. While clearing out a storeroom he found an old copy of Izhar-ul-Haq ("Truth Revealed"), Rahmatullah Kairanawi's 19th-century work on Muslim-Christian debate. It changed his life. He began studying the Bible in depth, filling notebooks with his research, and in 1942 he gave his first public lecture, at the Avalon Cinema in Durban, to a small audience (often said to be about fifteen people). Some accounts date this first lecture to 1940.
The IPCI and a global platform
In 1957 Deedat co-founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) in Durban. It printed booklets by the hundreds of thousands, ran classes and organised lectures. Over the next three decades he spoke and debated across Africa, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. In 1986 he received the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam.
His final years
On 3 May 1996 Deedat suffered a stroke to the brain stem. It left him with locked-in syndrome: paralysed from the neck down and unable to speak or swallow, while his mind stayed fully alert. For nine years he communicated by moving his eyes as letters were read out to him from a chart, and he kept receiving visitors and letters from around the world. He passed away at his home in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal, on 8 August 2005.
Life of Ahmed Deedat at a glance
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1918 | Born on 1 July in Tadkeshwar, Surat district, Gujarat (then British India) |
| 1927 | Leaves India aged nine to join his father in Durban, South Africa |
| 1936 | Works at a store near Adams Mission on the Natal South Coast, where questions from mission students set him on his life's work |
| 1937 | Marries Hawa (some sources give 1940) |
| 1942 | First public lecture, "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace", at the Avalon Cinema, Durban (some accounts say 1940) |
| 1949–1951 | Lives in Karachi, Pakistan, for about three years before returning to South Africa |
| 1957 | Co-founds the Islamic Propagation Centre (later IPCI) in Durban; Vahed gives the date as 17 March 1957 |
| 1958–1960 | Establishes the As-Salaam educational institute on donated land near Braemar, Natal |
| 1976–1980 | Publishes his first widely circulated booklets, ending with Is the Bible God's Word? |
| 1981 | Debates Josh McDowell in Durban on "Was Christ Crucified?" |
| 1985 | Two debates at the Royal Albert Hall, London (Floyd E. Clark in July, Anis Shorrosh in December) |
| 1986 | Receives the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam; debates Jimmy Swaggart in Baton Rouge in November |
| 1988 | Second debate with Anis Shorrosh, in Birmingham, England |
| 1991 | Scandinavian tour with debates in Stockholm and Copenhagen |
| 1993 | The Choice: Islam and Christianity (Volume 1) is printed, first run 10,000 copies (April) |
| 1996 | Last overseas tour (Australia, early 1996); stroke on 3 May leaves him with locked-in syndrome |
| 2005 | Dies on 8 August at his home in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal, aged 87 |
Sources: Goolam Vahed, Ahmed Deedat: The Man and His Mission (summarised in University of Cape Town and WiSER seminar papers); Al Jazeera; Wikipedia. Where sources disagree, both dates are given.
What Is "Is the Bible God's Word?" About?
The booklet is short, direct and built around one question: can the Bible as it exists today be called, word for word, the Word of God? Deedat answers by quoting Christian scholars and Christian publications, which is part of why the booklet has been so widely read.
Deedat's main arguments
- "50,000 errors?" Deedat opens with the 8 September 1957 issue of Awake!, a Jehovah's Witnesses magazine that carried the headline "50,000 Errors in the Bible?" He uses the headline to ask how a text with so many manuscript variants can be considered verbatim revelation. (The article itself argued that most of the variants were minor, and readers can weigh both views.)
- Different canons. He points out that Christians do not agree on which books belong in the Bible. The Catholic Bible has 73 books and the Protestant Bible has 66. Deedat argues that a shared, settled scripture would not have such a gap.
- Revised versions. He discusses the Revised Standard Version (New Testament 1946, complete Bible 1952), whose translators changed or footnoted passages that appeared in the King James Version. Deedat argues that these revisions show the text has been edited by people.
- Internal discrepancies. He sets parallel passages side by side, such as differing numbers in the books of Samuel and Chronicles, and asks readers to reconcile them.
Bible facts referenced in the booklet
The booklet's arguments lean on a few points of Bible history. The table gives the neutral, widely agreed facts behind them.
| Topic | Fact | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Protestant canon | 66 books (39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament) | Biblical canon |
| Roman Catholic canon | 73 books (46 Old Testament including the deuterocanonical books, 27 New Testament) | Biblical canon |
| Eastern Orthodox canon | Varies by church, roughly 76–81 books; the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon (about 81) is the largest | Biblical canon |
| King James Version (KJV) | Published 1611 under King James I of England | Britannica |
| Revised Standard Version (RSV) | New Testament 1946; complete Bible 1952 (a revision of the American Standard Version) | Britannica |
| New International Version (NIV) | New Testament 1973; complete Bible 1978; revised 1984 and 2011 | New International Version |
| Codex Sinaiticus | 4th century CE (about 330–350); most surviving leaves are in the British Library, London | Britannica |
| Codex Vaticanus | Mid-4th century CE; in the Vatican Library since before 1475 | Britannica |
| Greek New Testament manuscripts | About 5,700–5,800 catalogued: 138 papyri, 322 majuscules, 2,877 minuscules and 2,363 lectionaries (INTF count, 2023). Most are partial, and they differ in many small readings | INTF, University of Münster |
| Awake! headline | "50,000 Errors in the Bible?", 8 September 1957 issue | Quoted in the booklet |
The 1986 Swaggart debate
The booklet's ideas reached their largest audience in November 1986, when Deedat debated the American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The debate was titled "Is the Bible God's Word?" and was widely reported to have drawn about 8,000 people.
Deedat's major debates at a glance
Deedat took part in dozens of public debates and symposia. These are the best documented. Titles vary between recordings and printed transcripts, and items marked "uncertain" rest on a single source.
| Year | Opponent | Title / topic | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | John Gilchrist | Was Christ Crucified? (symposium, 25 February) | Benoni, South Africa |
| 1981 | Josh McDowell | Was Christ Crucified? (August) | Durban, South Africa |
| 1985 | Floyd E. Clark | Was Christ Crucified? (7 July; Vahed calls it "Authenticity of the Bible") | Royal Albert Hall, London |
| 1985 | Anis Shorrosh | Is Jesus God? (December) | Royal Albert Hall, London |
| 1986 | Jimmy Swaggart | Is the Bible God's Word? (November; 3 November according to Vahed) | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA |
| 1986 | Robert Douglas | Crucifixion: Fact or Fiction? (November; uncertain) | University of Kansas, USA |
| 1988 | Anis Shorrosh | The Qur'an or the Bible: Which Is God's Word? (August) | Birmingham, England (the National Exhibition Centre, according to Vahed) |
| 1991 | Stanley Sjöberg | Is the Bible God's Word? and Is Jesus God? | Stockholm, Sweden |
| 1991 | Erik Bock | Is Jesus God? (November; uncertain) | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 1994 | Bishop General Wakefield | Was Christ Crucified? (uncertain) | Toronto, Canada |
Sources: Vahed (via the WiSER paper); Josh McDowell (Wikipedia); "The Life and Works of Ahmad Deedat", Al-Idah; Hemmets Vän (on Stockholm 1991).
Deedat's Influence on Modern Da'wah
Deedat's style was confident and full of quotations, and he spoke in plain English to ordinary people rather than to specialists. That approach shaped a generation of speakers. The best-known is Dr Zakir Naik, who has said that meeting Deedat in 1987 inspired his own work. Deedat reportedly called Naik "Deedat plus".
His best-known booklets
Most of Deedat's booklets were printed by the IPCI in Durban, often reprinted without edition dates. Years below are first publication where a source gives one. A dash (—) means the year could not be verified.
| Title | First published | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| What the Bible Says About Muhammad | 1976 | Biblical passages Deedat read as prophecies of the Prophet ﷺ (Deuteronomy 18:18 and others) |
| What Was the Sign of Jonah? | 1976 | Matthew 12:40 and the crucifixion |
| Who Moved the Stone? | 1977 | The resurrection accounts |
| Resurrection or Resuscitation? | 1978 | Whether Jesus died on the cross |
| Is the Bible God's Word? | 1980 (many editions say 1981) | Canons, variants and revisions of the Bible |
| Crucifixion or Cruci-fiction? | — | Deedat's fullest case against the crucifixion |
| Christ in Islam | — | Jesus as described in the Qur'an |
| From Hinduism to Islam | 1987 | Dialogue with Hindu converts |
| Arab and Israel: Conflict or Conciliation? | 1989 | Biblical background of the conflict |
| Muhammad: The Natural Successor to Christ | 1990 | The Prophet ﷺ as the fulfilment of earlier prophecy |
| Muhammad the Greatest | — | Why Deedat considered the Prophet ﷺ the greatest of men |
| Al-Qur'an: The Miracle of Miracles | 1991 | The Qur'an's inimitability |
| The Choice: Islam and Christianity (Vol. 1) | 1993 | Collected booklets in one volume |
| Combat Kit Against Bible Thumpers | — (an edition is dated June 1994) | A quick-reference guide for da'wah conversations |
Sources: publication lists in Vahed's biography as summarised by the University of Cape Town and WiSER; Wikipedia for From Hinduism to Islam and The Choice.
His work still circulates for three reasons. The booklets are short and easy to share. They argue from sources Christians already know. And they treat ordinary readers as able to think through big questions for themselves.
The Islamic View of Earlier Scriptures
The booklet is easier to understand once you know what Muslims actually believe. Islam does not dismiss earlier scripture. Believing in the books Allah revealed is one of the six articles of faith. The Qur'an says Allah "sent down the Torah and the Gospel before, as guidance for mankind" (Qur'an 3:3–4). Muslims therefore honour the original Tawrat revealed to Musa and the original Injil revealed to 'Isa, peace be upon them both.
At the same time, the Qur'an teaches that human hands later changed parts of those texts. It warns against "those who write the scripture with their own hands, then say, 'This is from Allah'" (Qur'an 2:79). For Muslims, the Qur'an is the final revelation sent to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and it confirms and safeguards the truth found in the earlier messages.
None of this is a reason for contempt. The Qur'an asks believers to argue "in the way that is best" (Qur'an 16:125) and calls the People of the Book to "a word that is equitable between us and you" (Qur'an 3:64). Deedat's booklet is best read in that spirit: as an invitation to study the texts honestly and to talk with Christian friends and neighbours with respect.
Jesus ('Isa) in the Qur'an
Muslims honour Jesus as one of the greatest prophets, and the Qur'an speaks of him often. The counts below were made directly from the Arabic text of the Qur'an (6,236 verses), with diacritics removed so that every spelling of each word is counted.
| Item | Count / detail | Example verses |
|---|---|---|
| 'Isa (عيسى), the name Jesus | 25 times, in 25 verses | 3:45, 3:59, 19:34, 61:6 |
| Al-Masih (المسيح), "the Messiah" | 11 times, in 9 verses (twice each in 5:17 and 5:72) | 3:45, 4:171, 5:75 |
| Ibn Maryam (ابن مريم), "son of Mary" | 23 times, in 22 verses; the full form "'Isa ibn Maryam" appears 16 times | 5:110, 23:50, 43:57 |
| Maryam (مريم), Mary | 34 times, in 31 verses. She is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an | 3:42, 19:16, 66:12 |
| Surah Maryam | Surah 19, 98 verses: the annunciation and Jesus speaking from the cradle | 19:16–34 |
| Surah Ali 'Imran ("The Family of 'Imran") | Surah 3, 200 verses: the birth of Maryam, the annunciation and Jesus' miracles | 3:33–59 |
Verses naming 'Isa: 2:87, 2:136, 2:253, 3:45, 3:52, 3:55, 3:59, 3:84, 4:157, 4:163, 4:171, 5:46, 5:78, 5:110, 5:112, 5:114, 5:116, 6:85, 19:34, 33:7, 42:13, 43:63, 57:27, 61:6, 61:14. Verses naming al-Masih: 3:45, 4:157, 4:171, 4:172, 5:17, 5:72, 5:75, 9:30, 9:31.
Read the Enhanced Edition
If you want to explore these questions yourself, the Is The Bible God's Word? e-book costs $5. It presents Deedat's original arguments with clearer typography, better chapter organisation and easy navigation on phones, tablets and e-readers. It is a good fit for students, da'wah volunteers, study circles and anyone interested in interfaith dialogue.
For a wider view, pair it with our Factual Chart of the Major Beliefs in the World, and read our guide to major world religions compared.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was "Is the Bible God's Word?" by Ahmed Deedat first published?
It was first published in the early 1980s by the Islamic Propagation Centre International in Durban, South Africa. Deedat's biographer Goolam Vahed dates it to 1980, while many editions give 1981. It has since been reprinted and translated into many languages.
Who won the Ahmed Deedat vs Jimmy Swaggart debate?
Formal debates like this have no official judge, so supporters of each side tend to reach their own verdict. What is not disputed is the debate's reach: the November 1986 event at Louisiana State University drew about 8,000 people, and the recording is still widely shared online.
Do Muslims believe in the Bible?
Muslims believe in the original Tawrat (Torah) and Injil (Gospel) as revelations from God (Qur'an 3:3–4). They hold that the texts that exist today are not preserved exactly as revealed, and they regard the Qur'an as the final, preserved revelation.
What is the main argument of "Is the Bible God's Word?"
Deedat argues that differing canons, manuscript variants, modern revisions such as the RSV and internal discrepancies show that the present-day Bible contains human writing alongside divine revelation. On that basis he argues it cannot be called God's word in every word.
Is the ISLAMICA edition the same as the original booklet?
Yes, in substance. It keeps Deedat's original scholarship and arguments, and it has been revised, reformatted and redesigned so it reads well on modern digital devices.