Yusuf Estes on the Deen Show: Part 1

Over the years, I have listened to the testimonies of former Christians, former this, former that, converts, many times. When I first began ministry as a young man, I was primarily dealing with the subject of Mormonism and then Jehovah's Witnesses and expanded out from that.

And there seems to be a psychology to converts and a psychology to the way that we listen to converts as well. In other words, when someone leaves a religion and joins another, they are given some kind of, not so much authority, but weight in what they say because we're going to assume that someone who does something that major, that important, that they did some serious study.

And that first and foremost, they did serious study in their initial faith. They didn't just, you know, up and chuck the thing and go on and do something else. And so, it's almost the Apostle Paul syndrome.

That is, you know, Paul's conversion to Christianity is very sudden and very dramatic. It's supernatural. He's knocked off of his, he's knocked to the ground as he's going to persecute Christians. And a lot of people tend to want to create the idea that that's exactly how they were converted as well.

That they, you know, were very knowledgeable, very zealous in their former religion and then they saw the light. And how many books have been sold? How many DVDs have been sold by people who have basically bartered on their values?

As a convert to some other religion? To the Muslims in the audience, if I claimed to be a former Muslim, I am not, I'm not making that claim, but put yourself in my position for just a moment. What if I claimed not only just to be a former Muslim, but a former Imam?

And, I claimed that I really knew the Muslim faith. So much so that, that Christians start using me as an expert and they start putting me on their television programs and asking me to put out testimony, DVDs and so on and so forth about being a former Muslim and how I came to see the light and so on and so forth.

And, let's say you were given a testimonial DVD and you start listening to what I have to say and you sit there as I describe the Shahada as a Muslim dance. I think that Salat comes with a choice of dressings.

I think Zakat is afraid of Zadag. And, I start meandering about talking about how Muhammad was born in France in the 4th century and that the Koran was written in German. Now, you would have to sit back and go, is this a comedy DVD?

Is this guy serious? And, the inaccuracies would immediately cause you to go, this guy was no Muslim. If he was a Muslim, he was the least trained, least educated Muslim that ever came down the pike. He was no Muslim.

And you would be exactly right. You would have every reason to reject my conversion as having any relevance at all. And, in fact, you'd probably want to find some way of warning Christians, don't listen.

To this guy.

He's deceiving you. He's leading you astray. Well, that's the situation I find myself in. So often, as I listen to, quote-unquote, former Christians on YouTube and out on the internet and all the Muslim sites that have popped up here in the United States, especially since 9 -11, and as I listen to them talking about their former faith, I am left stuttering at how little they knew.

Or what's worse, what they're saying is so wrong, so completely filled with fables, that I cannot help but go, my goodness, this person was no Christian. Or if they were, they were one of the most ignorant Christians that ever came down the pike, and I'm sorry, but converts from a religion who are ignorant of their religion really don't have much to be saying.

And when they weren't accurate in their knowledge of their original faith, why should I think that they're overly accurate in their knowledge of their newfound faith either? If they didn't take care to learn the one, why should I really think that they've learned the other very well either?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me a URL to The Dean Show. The Dean Show is an Islamic production. The Dean Show is not some people sitting in their garage. There's some funding behind this. It's professionally done.

And I was specifically directed to an episode where Sheikh Yusuf Estes was asked to address the topic of the Trinity. And I downloaded the video. I didn't have a chance to look at it at that particular point in time.

And I extracted the audio from it and took it on a ride I did recently. And as I was listening, I don't know how to describe my reaction other than utter shock. Now, it seems Yusuf Estes seems to be a nice elderly gentleman, seemed to be like somebody you wouldn't mind having a nice steak with and talking about football with or something.

But here he is being presented as a former Christian minister, as an expert in things.

Christian.

I honestly to this point had never heard anyone make so many fundamental, simple errors in what they were saying. It was unbelievable. Myths and fables and getting, it was literally on the level of a former Muslim not being able to explain the Shahada, not knowing how many suras are in the Quran, not knowing anything about Muhammad's life or when you start talking about Muhammad's life, you put him in the wrong place at the wrong time, can't get the dates right.

There was almost nothing in his entire presentation that was even semi-factual. It was unbelievable. And then in the middle they had a mailbag segment that was just as bad, another former Christian demonstrating that the vast majority of Muslims and not just the uneducated ones have no idea what the Christian faith is about and their denial of the Trinity is based purely in ignorance.

They've never taken the time, never taken the time to do what I'm doing in learning accurately the faith that I disagree with. And so I want to look at this program with Yusuf Estes and I want to document error after error after error after error that is presented by this gentleman.

Now I've seen videos, he says he'll never debate anybody. Okay, well then we'll just have to document the errors and go from there. I'd be happy to debate the man. We've done excellent debates in the past.

He'd be treated with respect. But he would be held accountable for the errors, the many errors that he is putting forth. I would love to do that kind of debate. But until then, I want to take a look at the amazing errors presented by Yusuf Estes and seemingly accepted.

The Dean Show aired this thing. It's on their website right now. The many errors of Yusuf Estes and his misrepresentation of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

The Psychology of Converts and Why Former-Religion Testimonies Carry Weight

As-salamu alaykum, Shaykh.

Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah.

It's good to see you again.

I was just looking at this flyer about the Dean Show.

Well, that's why we're here.

I got some more good news for you.

Tell me.

We got another good topic and we'd like to bring you back on to cover it.

Alright, it sounds great.

Wait a minute. What's the topic this time?

The Trinity.

The Trinity?

Okay, let's go talk about the Trinity.

Let's go talk about the Trinity.

That's a good idea.