Walid Shoebat - what would you do?

[kayleigh]

You may have already heard about this guy - his name is Walid Shoebat. He's a Palestinian man who claims to be a former Muslim and former "PLO terrorist." He makes money by scamming (mostly Evangelical) churches and organizations - they pay him to speak at their events. However, he's been discredited by Muslim sources as well as secular and Jewish sources. From what I gather, his job seems to be to convince people of three things: 1) Islam is America's enemy and the goal of every Muslim is to destroy the US, 2) Israel is good and never does anything wrong, and the Palestinians are all terrorists who must be stopped, and 3) America is in the Bible is God's chosen land (Seriously - he says this and its ridiculous. The guy is nuts.)

Anyway, he's coming to speak at my parents' church this Sunday and I have to go whether I like it or not. Long story short, I sold my car and there is no public transit where I live, so if I want to go to work, I first have to go to church.

You don't even have to know too much about Islam to refute this guy. He even mixes up and combines verses to make Islam sound terrible. For example, he claims that the Qur'an says, "If one leaves Islam, then kill him wherever you find him." Or he'll use the words of Ibn Kathir and claim its a verse from the Qur'an.

I have two options - either I wait outside (in the cold...for an hour. Its Wisconsin, but do-able I suppose), or go in and listen to him. If I wait outside, I'll provoke a huge fight with my parents. If I go in and listen, I'll be furious after listening to him. If I do go in to listen to him, do I say anything when they open the floor up for comments/questions? If I do, I wouldn't even really accomplish much - everyone in the church will still assume that because hes brown and has a name they can't pronounce then he must speak the truth. Doesn't Islam say that you shouldn't get into a debate with someone over religion unless you really know what you're talking about?

What would you do?

 

[a_stranger]

:salam2:
Can you invit some one who can argue with that man with knoweldge and wisdom like a minster who reverted to Islam?? I think that you should be calm and patient ...remember that even our prophet suffered a great deal from enemies of Islam. THis natural when Islam is getting stronger every day and more people are finding happiness and peace in Islam.

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam walaikum,

You go. You are going to be the one person whose eyes he will not be able to look into. You arm yourself with knowledge. You are very intelligent. And there will be presented an opportunity when you can refute him with the Truth. Do not be angry be informed and put it into Allah's hands.

 

[BrotherInIslam7]

Salaamalaykum waa rahmatullahi sister kayleigh,

Well if he is misrepresenting verses of the Quran and you are attending his talk, make sure that you take a copy of the rough translation of meaning of Quran. So that he can't get away with his devious satanic act.

I hope he has a Q & A time at the end of his lecture, you should let him know that he is fooling people who are ignorant about Islam, but you as a muslim won't remain quiet while he is on his way deceiving people.

It would be a good idea to watch a couple of "Misconception about Islam" videos. These 'haters' usually use these often repeated misconceptions and try to skew facts and make it sound like Islam is a fanatic religion.

One such series is the following :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGNM0gNh2kw

There are some common topics on which these people try to attack Islam :-
1) The prophet's (PBUH) marriage to Aishah (r.a)
2) Islam calls for killing of all people and killing non muslims (infidels).
3) Islam's stance on polygamy.

So be well versed about these topics. And most importantly make dua'a to Alllah subhaana waa ta'ala that people in your city are not mislead by this taghut.

"They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah." [Surah Al- Anfal #8, Verse 30]

May Allah subhaana waa ta'ala make it easy for our sister and increase her in ilm. Ameen

Wasalaamalaykum waa rahmatullahi

 

[arzafar]

yes, you should go and expose this guy and his lies. but please go prepared. also search for the history of mid east.

 

[kayleigh]

So I went, but didn't have the opportunity to speak to him or say anything since I had to leave before he finished. We made eye contact when I came through the door though, and I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen such an evil person before.

The sad part is, my mom bought one of his books and told him that I thought he was a liar. So he wrote in the book, "Kayleigh, Hopefully through my "lies" you'll discover the truth." and signed it. Its going in the trash.

He is such a hypocrite, and a liar.

 

[BrotherInIslam7]

Salaamalaykum sister,

I can understand your frustration. It is not pleasant to sit through a presentation that misrepresents the message of our deen and portrays our beloved prophet (peace and blessing upon him) inappropriately.

More than anything else, this should serve as a wake up call for us. We have seen the enemies of Islam working as hard as they can, using all their deceptive ways to keep people away from the light of Islam.

We are armed with Haqq(truth). It is about time we made our small voices heard and shared our views of Islam with others. We should do as much as we can, up to our level best.

With the mercy and help of Allah azz zawajal, we can undo the work of these evil mischief makers, but we need to make an effort, no matter how small it is.

If we can't devote our time, we should atleast support organized dawah financially. We have beautiful channels like Huda Tv, that spread the message Islam in its pristine form, at the verge of going off air. While hundreds of other haraam channels flourish and propagate their falsehood 24-7. The onus is upon us. We need to do our bit of dawah and support organised dawah as much as we can.

May Allah subhaana waa ta'ala honor us by choosing us to be the one who strive to make his word supreme. Ameen

Wasalaamalaykum waa rahmatullahi