Tuesday, January 31, 2012

James White Responds to Kamal Saleh

If you listen to Muslim apologists, you'll notice one of the most disturbing trends in history. All too often, the more reckless, sloppy, and inaccurate a Muslim apologist is with the New Testament, the more popular he becomes.

Take recent internet sensation Kamal Saleh. His video currently has around 750,000 hits on YouTube. Yet the video is filled with numerous blatantly false claims. Why would a video with no connection to reality and no concern for accuracy be so popular among Muslims?



Is the video accurate? Not by a long shot. Tur8infan posted several pages worth of errors here. Not to be outdone, James White posted a nearly hour-long video response:



And now for the coup de grâce:



Muslims are officially on trial. Kamal has obviously misrepresented Christianity. He may appeal to his own ignorance as a defense, but not after the responses have circulated. If Kamal has an ounce of integrity, he'll take down his video (or add some major annotations apologizing for his numerous errors). Will he do so? If not, will his fellow Muslims correct him and demand that he show more concern for truth? Or will Muslims continue to spread falsehood, knowing that they are misrepresenting what the Bible says? Only time will tell, but one thing is clear. The reaction of Muslims to this material will tell us a great deal about the character of Muslims. They have an excellent opportunity to demonstrate intellectual honesty and integrity. I hope they take advantage of it.

42 comments:

Andrew M. Greenwell said...

Kamal Saleh is a dope, as obtuse and insensitive as the Muhammad he follows. He misses the entire subtlety of the doctrine of the Incarnation, where Jesus is both true God and true man. In fact he caricatures Christianity. Sadly, he also puts a huge chasm between God and man, which, of course, is exactly what the God-Man Jesus intended to repair.

For a Muslim to accuse Christians of failing to use "logic" and "reason" is laughable.

Muhammad was an Antichrist. Islam abhors reason.

aussie christian said...

UGH!!! I watched about a minute of that, rapping your beliefs is not going to get me listening for long. again UGH!!!

Kim said...

What a gross misrepresentation of the Quran.......Quite sad. Now a Muslim will make a video exposing the mistakes of aomin team.

Deleting said...

Oh no!!! Not refutation from moooooslims!!!! Then again, go ahead. Kim is running low on links to post because she wants to defend Islam but doesn't want to crack open the Koran/Sita/hadiths to do it.

dstewart said...

Go ahead and make the video, and then we'll examine the Qur'an and the muslim sources to see if you have a point that aomin is misrepresenting them. You want to know what the church universally believed about Jesus HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE the Qur'an and compare it to what the Qur'an says they believe, then GO TO THE SOURCES and see for yourself!

I would agree that it would be a tremendous shame for James White to do the same thing the other way around, and I would expect him to apologize not only to muslims, but to his Christian audience. I know that I get upset when I find out that Christian apologists are misrepresenting others because I listen to what they say, but then suddenly I can't trust what they said anymore - it was a waste of time (I don't read their stuff anymore). I ALWAYS check the sources before I believe what's being said.

You can see the difference plainly. I.e. Kamal Saleh addresses stuff Christians don't even believe, yet James White ACTUALLY SHOWS the clip he's addressing, and this is his regular style.

When I asked a muslim friend where I can read the Qur'an so I could read it for myself (because I don't trust anything David Wood or James White say without checking the sources to verify it in context), he DID point me to the passages on Jesus and Mary, yes he does think that I see Mary as something more than a mere human being, and I'm not surprised since this is what the Qur'an seems to show that Christians believe about Mary: 5:75, 5:116. Maybe we should check our sources before we believe Muhammad...

Even if you want to say that Mary was so revered that they might as well have called it worship, it was nothing compared to the extreme reverence for prophet Muhammad in Islam. It's just never been something the church has done (Show me a source that says otherwise). So why is it in the Qur'an?

Anyone can just claim misrepresentation like Kim or James White, but unlike Kim, James White actually makes a point he can and does back up.

Kufar Dawg said...

@dstewart

What kind of "context" would redeem the dozens of explicitly antisemitic verses in the holy koran? What kind of "context" would redeem the three verses of the holy hadeeths that call for the genocide of Jews? I can hardly wait to be reading your equivocation on these points.

Fernando said...

Hi Kim... can you bee more clear and ay too us all where are those evidences of "gross misrepresentation" you claimed? what sentences are "gross misrepresentation" to you?

Scooter7 said...

David,
I'm posting this here because I can't find any point of contact on your blog.

Can you tell me if the video of the 2009 incident is available anywhere at this time? It appears you've been censored by YouTube.

Anonymous said...

I am not going to hold my breath for Muslims to correct an inaccurate portrayal of Christianity, since there are so many false portrayals of Islam that Muslims cheerfully spread year after year. I would love to be surprised though.

The Berean Search said...

Kim,

"What a gross misrepresentation of the Quran.......Quite sad."

What exactly was misrepresented? Quote the video so we can examine your claim.

Christine said...

Muslims are as illiterate as their prophet!

Kangaroo said...

For example, misinterpretation of "Nobody can change Allah's word" contradicts what happened to the Bible and Torah.

Oh dear.

dstewart said...

Cornholio,

What are you waiting for? I have no desire to defend those passages.

I just like to know things for sure and have something to present that I've read in context to be absolutely sure if and when I'm ever challenged by my muslim friends or anyone for that matter. I find people in Canada, not just muslims, are very resistant to that kind of criticism of Islam. You NEED to know what you're talking about. Learning a misrepresentation and not knowing the context essentially does NOTHING for me, even if those passages really say what they're claimed to have said.

Lastly, I'd expect muslims to treat the Bible and Christian beliefs with the same respect and read the sources in context instead of relying on e.g. Zakir Naik to learn about what Christians believe. I check their sources in context because I'd expect them to do the same for me (Even if they don't actually do it anyway).

I want to be clear. I have no reason to believe that James White is misrepresenting anything. I do see the same kind of straw-man attacks used by all kinds of muslim apologists, and I bet it's in no small part because it goes back to their prophet (as I've already pointed out).

Does that satisfy you?

Anonymous said...

Kim,

Can allah do magic tricks?

andy bell said...

As a deist, I suppose it wouldn't help the situation any if I let everyone in on the secret that both muhammad and Jesus had nothing to do with God. And that the bible and quran are both synthetic?

Of course islam being a completely false and totally useless religion. Christian teachings are beneficial.

Baron Eddie said...

Kamal Saleh sound effect was automatic rifle sound !

He is reminding us if you don't believe in Islam,

He would make us hear that sound Trrrrrrrrrrrrrr
trrrrrrrrrrrrrr

-------------------------

استاذ Kamal Saleh ...

What if I told you that
I don't believe in Islam

would you make the trrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sound

would you call me a kafir
and Shiaa kafir
Bahiee kafir
and everybody kufar

would that give you the right
to make my blood Halal !

What if I told you
thanks but no thanks
Jesus is Lord to the end of time

Letitia (The Damsel) said...

Kim said: What a gross misrepresentation of the Quran.......Quite sad.

What a gross misrepresentation of Christianity by Kamal Saleh. If a Muslim would like to disagree with what Christians believe and with the words of the Bible, he should at the very least know what Christians actually believe, not what the Qu'ran "says" Christians believe. And for that matter, this whole post is about Saleh's misunderstandings, not about the Qu'ran. Kim just did exactly the same thing Saleh did, which is fail to know what she is talking about before making a comment.


Now a Muslim will make a video exposing the mistakes of aomin team.

You? Why do we need to wait? If you know what mistakes were made, why not just point them out right here?

The truth is every Muslim I have met (with the exception of the liberal types) has never described Christian belief accurately while at the same time refused to allow the Christian to correct him/her. How is the Muslim at all reasonable in that regard? Saleh wants people to use reason. He can start by demanding it of himself.

Dk said...

My website Co-Writer Jeremiah is actually friends with the man in the third video.

We both feel a little disappointed his video is only at 5000, anything even slightly "opposite-to-Christian" passes off as "watchable" and "popular" material. Kamal was probably paid off by James White's daughter's Liberal Professor and the likes of that ilk.

But I recommend Dr White seriously allow people to comment, and allow his video to be spread.

Oh and if you are going to talk-rap, don't rap like you have an education from Islam. It comes from the heart, it comes from the soul. Authenticity is what makes rap what it is.

Derek Adams
www.AnsweringAbraham.com

Anonymous said...

Excellent videos.

Kamal's however is a gross misrepresentation and hence has to be utterly rejected.


I wonder which is the bigger impediment for Muslims:

Is it their blatant ignorance or their commitment to deliberately and willfully mischaracterize and misrepresent their opponents position?

Unknown said...

I've gotten into many discussions online with Muslims who seem to delight in throwing false representations of the Bible at you that you have to refute and explain, only to have simply throw more at you. It seems to be a jihad strategy hoping that Christians will not even know their own Bible.

TPaul said...

Kim says "..Quite sad. Now a Muslim will make a video exposing the mistakes..."
Kim let me ask you to honestly ponder on who is misrepresenting whom.
Of all the nonsense Kamal puts out in his video, one of it is a claim that Christians commit idolatory in worshiping Jesus.
Now let me ask you this, why do you (Muslims) bow down in worship before a piece of real estate created by man, in the middle of the Arabian dessert?
In being consistent with the defination of idolatory, should you not also consider this form of worship, idolatory? Obviously, and on the contrary you don't, because you believe that God actually dwells in this 'house' built by man, that is the focus of your worship... right? Why then do you (Muslims) have a hard time understanding that Jesus was an infinately superior temple, in which God dwelt, than your man-made Kaaba. Jesus revealed his body as this temple of God. John 2:19
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
While Muslims shamelessly bow down 5 times a day in worship before a perishable idol structure, Christians are not paying homage to something created, as Kamal claims, but a 'person' of the eternal Godhead that voluntarily took up abode in the promised anointed Messiah who has become an eternal and indestructable temple worthy of worship.

David Wood said...

Scooter,

If you go to the "Dearborn" tab at the top of the blog, I just inserted an uncensored copy of the video that was removed by YouTube.

dstewart said...

Kangaroo,

He's not misrepresenting the verse by giving his interpretation of it WITH the chapter and verse so you can look it up yourself in context. You didn't even give an alternate interpretation, so you don't even have a real point. Misrepresenting the Qur'an would e.g. be saying that it says something it clearly doesn't or denying that it says something that is EVERYWHERE and not giving any citations of the sources.

Interestingly, you didn't claim that he misrepresents what muslims actually believe, only that he misapplied a verse that he claimed contradicts what the majority of muslims believe about the Bible today.

dstewart said...

Kangaroo,

He's not misrepresenting the verse by giving his interpretation of it WITH the chapter and verse so you can look it up yourself in context. You didn't even give an alternate interpretation, so you don't even have a real point. Misrepresenting the Qur'an would e.g. be saying that it says something it clearly doesn't or denying that it says something that is EVERYWHERE and not giving any citations of the sources.

Interestingly, you didn't claim that he misrepresents what muslims actually believe, only that he misapplied a verse that he claimed contradicts what the majority of muslims believe about the Bible today.

goethechosemercy said...

Islam is error.
So it follows that Muslims will produce errors.
Matthew wrote about the trees and the fruit.
So it goes. So it goes.

Truth_19 said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arOqrQwJGl4&feature=related

The muslim respond to this.

Kufar Dawg said...

Debating islam is pointless. The muslime debate is merely temporizing until such time as islamonazis can silence such debate through their all too commaon totalitarian, strong man methods -- as practiced in EVERY, LAST islamofascist state on the face of this earth. Salman Rushdie lives in hiding to this very day as a result of a death fatwah on his head from over a DECADE ago.

Truth_19 said...

What does everyone think of that response by Muslims? I personally think it's poor. It's 22 minutes long yet has videos of Deedat and relying on Ehrman to 'debunk' Christianity. Oh and of course a couple of out of context verses.

Brother C.L said...

"Why would a video with no connection to reality and no concern for accuracy be so popular among Muslims?"

Because its Jihad of the pen, the point is not to be accurate the point is to defeat Christians and make Allah's word upper most by any means necessary.

Zack_Tiang said...

Truth_19,

Dr. James White's response to that response of their response to a response.

Equal Scales, Double Standards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQvNyHZW3W0

The Berean Search said...

TPaul,

"Obviously, and on the contrary you don't, because you believe that God actually dwells in this 'house' built by man, that is the focus of your worship... right?"

Actually, as far as I know the orthodox position of both Sunni and Shia Islam is that Allah absolutely does not dwell in the Kaba so Muslims can't even appeal to that line of reasoning in defense of bowing to the Kaba.

Unknown said...

I'm muslim, and I apologize on his behalf. If he has made you feel as if he mocked your beliefs in a way, then please forgive him. May we all be guided to the truth. In Islam, it is forbidden to mock or judge ANY religion. And I know some of us, like many people, still do it. Again I apologize.

David Wood said...

Hi Aliya,

So if I show you that Muhammad mocked other religions, and that the Qur'an condemns non-Muslims, will you reject Islam?

Deleting said...

Somehow I was subscribed to this thread. I've unsubscribed so I won't be posting anything else but I wanted to say this.

@aliya,

You can't apologize on behalf of Kamal. Kamal has to apologize for Kamal and he's not stepping up to the mic to do anything other than rap with a New York accent and then speak in his soft new zealand voice to spread more lies.

I'm not drawing an ad hominem attack on him. I've seen more than just this video and his response to Steve Crowder. I guess he feels he needs 'street cred' when all he really needs is to dedicate himself to studying.

Adding to David' point, your prophet did make fun of other religions, unprovoked. His followers did the same thing and muslims the world over are doing just that.

It's great you want peace with Christians but you need to understand that is being disturbed by muslims, not christians.

Unknown said...

Id like to say that Jesus is actually mentioned in the Quran way more than 25 times.

David Wood said...

Satan is also mentioned in the Qur'an, so what's your point?

Unknown said...

Peace be upon all those who read this.

May God also guide also that sincerely desire his guidance. Ameen/Amen

I love this video. It is so simple and easy to understand but for many Christians, rather than deal with the nonsensical basics of todays Christianity, they would rather find blame somewhere else.

It is beyond reason to say that God is one and 3, but also the Son of God and also, lets not forget the beautiful Mary who is described the Mother of God-Thus she should be the bigger God??? Confusing and silly I know.

I am not being rude and forgive me if I am coming a cross rude, as it is a sin for me to belittle the foundations and books of religions. I have read the Bible and honestly, I felt sick due to the weird things attributed to the amazing prophets of God such as incest and many more. Why?

The video is simply saying turn back to the creator and not the creation. Jesus (I will begrudgingly stick with Jesus-the European translation of his name) to say, he was born=therefore NOT God. He died (according to the bible)= therefore NOT God. This is sooooo simple, why are you forcing your natural disposition to know and worship God by filling your mind/sometimes heart (as I know many Christians are not confident enough to say they believe this in their hearts) and mouths to spew something that just does not make sense.

The Quran simply says:

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


To DAVID WOOD: The point about Jesus being mentioned so much is that a clear account of him is given. He is hounred and his mother is honored way beyond the disgusting things attributed to them both by both Cjristains and Jews. In actuality, the whole chapter in the Quarn called (MARY) was God through the prophet defending her and her son due to what was being said about them by the Jews of the time.


To those of you attacking muslims /Islam and the prophet etc…I will let you get on with it as it’s between you and God

Anonymous said...

The whole argument is so sad. I'm a Muslim from a family of very serious Christians and it really makes you think about love and respect. Belief cannot be forced. Think about that for a second. Any beliefs you have, you came to because you FELT it. You heard/read about something and felt it was true. So each person needs to just take their own journey... And if we can be humble enough to say that ultimately nobody knows everything except God, it goes a long way. I just truly believe in the possibility of more unity between religious groups... And that doesn't mean I don't believe there is absolute truth. It's just that we all understand different parts of the truth and we're doing the best we can with our finite minds. Peace to all of you... Christian, Muslim or whatever else. :)

Unknown said...

Somebody please call Ahmed Deedat, that dude would wipe the floor with your ignorant asses.

But anyways i don't see how throwing around insults is going to get anyone far, i mean for realz
y'all commenters need to chill, clearly u don't know wtf your talking about.

namra k said...

Dear Mr. David Wood,

I have listened to Kamal Saleh videos. And feel oppose to what you state here. He doesnot create a bad image of Christianity through his videos, rather he is spreading the belief that Muslims love Jesus as well. We also accept him as a prophet. But not God, he was not God, he was only human. We have a whole chapter in Quran on Mary. Kamal Saleh sources are correct. For that take, kindly read Quran. And I invite you accept Islam.

Unknown said...

I think he's on point and amazing!!

fanta-sy said...

a wise man once said you have to open your mind to learn something new. kamal is only trying to help. he is not accountable for your deeds. and you have to understand that. i'd advise you read the holy quran just to be clear. because you shouldn't critize whet you don't know. when you do read the quran not to critize but to learn,you can then reblog a comment that i'll hold tangible. may allah guide you right