Shadid Lewis vs. Tony Costa: Is the Quran the Word of God or of Man?

More than 1.6 billion Muslims are convinced that the Qur'an is the Word of Allah. But what evidence can they offer to show that it's the Word of Allah? In this debate, Shadid Lewis argues that the Qur'an is the Word of Allah, while Tony Costa argues that it is the word of man.

James White vs. Shadid Lewis: "Is Jesus God Almighty Most High?"

Here is James White's recent debate with Shadid Lewis on the topic "Is Jesus God Almighty Most High?" Christians should watch these debates carefully, because objections to the deity of Christ will come up in nearly every serious discussion with Muslims.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Salvation in Islam and Christianity

Daniel Scot and Shadid Lewis discuss salvation in Christianity and Islam.

Shadid Lewis Follows In Allah's Footsteps

More devastating material from Radical Moderate Productions. If you enjoyed the last couple of videos from RMP, don't miss this one. Make sure to watch for the big ending.

Shadid Lewis Helps PROVE the Trinity

Radical Moderate Productions does it again. The following video features Shadid Lewis unwittingly aiding the argument for Trinitarian monotheism even while he tries to argue against it.

The clips in the following video come from our recent debate that can be found here: Is the Trinity Polytheism?

Shadid Lewis vs. Anthony Rogers: Is the Trinity Polytheistic?

Here is my debate with Shadid Lewis on whether or not the Trinity is a form of non-unitarian monotheism or if it is a version of rank polytheism.

For those interested in reading further on the major argument I used in the debate, see the following series of articles I wrote on Genesis 19:24:

The "Heavenly" and "Earthly" Yahweh - Part 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4.

Upcoming Debates

For those who are interested, here is a flyer for the debates that are coming up in September. Another debate that is not reflected on the flyer below, Does Islam Teach Pure Monotheism? Shadid Lewis vs. Anthony Rogers, is scheduled to take place on the 8th at 1:30pm. The location for this debate may or may not be the same as the others. I will update this post once I find out for sure.  

***Update 8/27/13***

The first debate on Does Islam Teach Pure Monotheism? is officially scheduled to take place on September 8th at 1:15pm at the following location:

Calvary Chapel Anaheim
270 E. Palais Rd.
Anaheim, CA 92805

Shadid Lewis, Ibn Kathir, and the Battle of Tabuk

Modern, Westernized, liberal Muslims are quite fond of rewriting history in order to make Islam more palatable to their consciences. This was clearly the case in my recent debate with Shadid Lewis, who claimed (without historical evidence of any kind) that Surah 9:29 was given as an order to confront a group of invading Romans! I correctly pointed out that it was the Muslims who were the aggressors, and that 9:29 is therefore a command to fight an offensive Jihad against unbelievers.

As anyone can see from our debate, historical evidence and Muslim sources mean virtually nothing to Shadid. Nevertheless, for those Muslims who respect their greatest scholars more than their own Westernized reinterpretations, I offer Ibn Kathir's account of what started the Battle of Tabuk. The following is taken from Ibn Kathir's Al-Bidayyah wan-Nihayyah (translated by Wa'il Abdul Mut'aal Shihab as The Battles of the Prophet).

Allah, Most High, ordered the believers to prohibit the disbelievers from entering or coming near the sacred Mosque. On that, Quraish thought that this would reduce their profits from trade. Therefore, Allah, Most High, compensated them and ordered them to fight the people of the Book until they embrace Islam or pay the Jizyah. Allah says,

"O ye who believe! Truly the pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs, approach the sacred Mosque. And if ye fear poverty, soon will Allah enrich you, if He wills, out of His bounty, for Allah is All-knowing, All-Wise. Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." (Surah 9:28-29)

Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) decided to fight the Romans in order to call them to Islam. (Ibn Kathir, The Battles of the Prophet, pp. 183-4)

Notice that there's absolutely nothing here about any Romans attacking the Muslims. The chain of events leading up to the Battle of Tabuk was:

(1) Muhammad prohibited non-Muslims from taking religious pilgrimages to Mecca. (Strange, isn't it, that Muslims condemned the polytheists when the polytheists prohibited Muslims from taking the pilgrimage to Mecca. Hypocrisy is rampant in early Islam.)

(2) The Quraish (now Muslims) were worried that this would interfere with their profits.

(3) Muhammad received a revelation, saying, in effect, "If you're worried about money, don't worry, because God's going to enrich you by sending you to fight the People of the Book, until they convert to Islam or pay the Jizya!"

Note: If the Roman Empire had converted to Islam, Mecca would have tons of pilgrims visiting the Ka'ba. If the Romans elected to pay the Jizya instead, Muslims would still be raking in tons of money.

Ibn Sa'd adds that word reached Muhammad "that Haraclius had disbursed one year's salary to his soldiers" stationed in Syria (Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, p. 204). An army with a year's salary is an attractive target for a religion that funds itself by raids. Indeed, Ibn Ishaq titles his discussion on this topic "the Raid on Tabuk," rather than, say, "The Muslims defend themselves from the Romans."

It seems, then, that the motive for Allah's command in Surah 9:29 was simply to fight people until they started sending money to the Muslims. The early Muslims understood this. Islam's greatest commentators understood this. The only people who don't understand this are Muslims like Shadid Lewis, who view Islam through the lenses of Western Christian tolerance.

For more on the fighting verses of Surah 9, see Sam Shamoun's article here.

Shadid Lewis vs. David Wood: "Peace and Violence in Christianity and Islam"

Here it is!

NOTE: In between Shadid's first rebuttal and David's first rebuttal, a Muslim professor stood up and asked to speak because he had to leave. He then provided some extensive commentary. This will explain David's response in his first rebuttal.


Opening Statements



Rebuttals and Conclusions

James White Comments on the Lewis-Qureshi Debate

In this video, James discusses Shadid Lewis's use of 1 Corinthians 8:6 in his debate with Nabeel Qureshi (click here to watch the debate). Shadid obviously wasn't prepared to defend his interpretation, and this would ordinarily be forgivable. Shadid is a new debater, so he's obviously not going to be prepared for everything. The problem is that Shadid offered so little evidence in this debate, we would expect him to at least be prepared on the few arguments he uses--especially when he's claiming that a verse justifies leaving Christianity.

Shadid Lewis vs. Nabeel Qureshi: The Case for Islam vs. the Case for Christianity--Why We Chose to Leave and Believe

This was an interesting debate. Shadid Lewis is a convert to Islam; Nabeel Qureshi is a convert to Christianity. The purpose of the debate was for them to discuss their reasons for converting. Notice that evidence played virtually no role in Shadid's conversion (he says he left the church for good when his pastor pulled out a saxophone), but that evidence was crucial to Nabeel's conversion. The reason this is important is that Shadid's case is quite typical. I've talked to several converts to Islam, and when I ask them why they converted, it nearly always has to do with social reasons (e.g. "I was sick of guys eyeing me in my miniskirt, so I put on a veil") rather than evidence. Also notice the inconsistency here. Shadid notes several things he didn't like about what Christians do in the world, but would he accept the same reasoning in reverse? "I left Islam when my Imam started preaching violence." Or, "I left Islam when I saw the World Trade Center fall." Or, "I left Islam when Muslims from countries around the world erupted into violence over Danish cartoons." Or, "I left Islam because many men in the Middle East believe it's okay to beat their wives." Obviously, Shadid doesn't think that any of these would be good reasons to leave Islam. Why then apply a standard to Christianity that he would never apply to Islam?



For a fuller discussion of Nabeel's reasons for converting, see "Crossing Over: An Intellectual and Spiritual Journey from Islam to Christianity."

For some video commentary by James White, click here.

The Easter Debates: Christianity vs. Islam

Anyone near the Tidewater, Virginia area might be interested in the following debate series:



Friday, March 21st
7:00 - James White vs. Nadir Ahmed
"Can We Trust What the New Testament Says about Jesus and the Gospel?"
Old Dominion University, MGB 102

Saturday, March 22nd
2:30 - David Wood vs. Sami Zaatari
"Was Muhammad a Prophet of God?"
Old Dominion University, MGB 102

7:00 - Shadid Lewis vs. Nabeel Qureshi
"The Case for Islam versus The Case for Christianity: Why We Chose to Leave and Believe"
Old Dominion University, MGB 102

Sunday, March 23rd
2:30 - David Wood vs. Shadid Lewis
"Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?"
Central Baptist Church in Ghent

6:00 - Nabeel Qureshi vs. Sami Zaatari
"Who Was Jesus?"
Central Baptist Church in Ghent

For more info, visit the Acts 17 website.