Islam News Room - Concerns About the Message of Yusuf Estes

To very frank with you, I do appreciate the way that you worded your letter to me. You show the highest respect and consideration both to me and to those whom you have built up trust with. And you are most correct in supposing that a presentation by myself to such dignitaries as these might well be presumed to be an effort to proselytize or even outright attack their faith groups. I assure you this is not my intention. I can say that we have had quite happy experiences with other faith groups providing they were not trying to attack any proselytize the Muslims to their faith.

However, you must consider how my presentation might appear to them to be threathening and disruptive to the members of their particular faith groups. After all, I was a Christian for nearly 50 years. I do have background in a number of active Christian roles as does my entire family. My father received his ordination of ministry back in the early 1970's and I began preaching prior to learning about Islam and then making my shahadah in July of 1991.

What would that look like to these people? Might they consider that we are saying, "Hey! Look, here! One of your own preachers became one of us!" - And he has brought thousands of Christians to Islam!

How are they going to preceive that? As a call to joining up together to hold hands and light candles?

I think not.

One must understand that anytime there is a lecture or dialog on any topic, it is presumed that the speakers will endevor to convey their positions and notions in their most convincing ways. Anything short of this would mean that it were not really a lecture but rather just some kind of confirmation to topics on which the listeners already agree.

I would like to share a few examples of the hundreds of dialogs with Christian leaders:

1997 San Antonio, Texas - Lutheran priest invited me (two times) to speak on Islam and Muhammad and the Quran. He would have continued inviting me, however we moved to Washington, DC the end of 1998.

1999 Hagerstown, Maryland - Minister of the Unitarian Church invited me to speak -- his own daughter made shahadah, along with another man (Arab) and they went to the masjid with us the same day and then later married each other. The preacher invited me back again for another program a few months later.

2000 Karachi, Pakistan - Dr. Father De Sosa, priest at St. Patrick's Cathedral and High School (he was in the graduating class with Gen. Musharif) - I interviewed him on our television show - on camera - he admitted that he had a "store front operation" in town to "assist" Muslims to "know Christianity." Then at the end of the program, he declared that he personally thought that the Sufi way of Islam was the best. (I did not comment on any of his beliefs as I was acting only as the moderator in this film.)

2001 Morgantown, West Virginia - Priest of Lutheran Church, video dialog - very positive and constructive dialog - both of us presented our respective faiths. He did not pay attention to most of what I said, yet he did agree when I would ask him about my comments in beliefs.

2001 Indiana - Baptist pastor at a university - He tried to dominate the program and I let him say his piece - when it came my turn to reply, our own Muslim brothers cut me off and said they had to turn the amplifiers and speakers back to the rental company (9 PM deadline) So that one seemed like a failure, until I went to the pastor and asked him to have dinner with me the next night. He agreed and we dined in private at the home of a brother. The pastor finally admitted that he wanted to know more about Islam and that he was wrong in much of what he had thought. He even began giving consideration to Islam for himself, but pulled up at the last moment and said that he had to think about all of this and he left.

2001 College Park, Maryland - Dr. Ted Campbell - professor of Divinity at Weslayan College (he is the one who teaches the Methodist ministers how to be preachers) this is all on video and audio cassette in a program entitled, "God - Why Bother?" The program was amazing - at first the Christians who organized it wanted to do a debate with a Muslim scholar. I refused, saying that debates bring about a lot of heat, but not very much light. They finally agreed to a "dialog." When I arrived, the professor knew by then who I was and something about my background. He leaned over to me while we were on stage and whispered, "You know this is not a debate, right?" Then he went on to say that he was also from Texas and when he found that I grew up near his town, he mentioned that we used to play football with each others city and I mentioned to him that we always beat them too. (We were the state champs in the 1950s). He agreed.

The program was really something, because I always encouraged him to speak first (I insist on speaking last). He asked who should go first and I said, "Which came first, Christianity or Islam?" He said, "Christianity." I said, "Then you go first." As the night progressed he talked and I listened. I only agreed with the things that he said that were also in Islam. The Muslims seemed disappointed that I was not challenging him or trying to put him down. Then the last question came, I replied as before, "Let him answer and if I have any commentary I'll offer it." The Christian moderator, Noah Smith, replied, "This question is for both speakers, 'Why are you in your religion?"

I was amazed. This would question could only help Islam and not help him at all. After all, he did not have the background of being in both religions as I had. So again, I invited him to go first. He did. And he began by saying, "Let me see, now why am I in my religion?" "I guess I would have to say that, I am a Methodist, because my parents raised me as a Methodist...."

After he finished, I took the floor and immediately applauded him for having said exactly what our prophet, peace be upon him, said 1,400 years ago, that every child is born on the fitrah of Islam (submission to Allah in peace) and it is their parents who raise them up to become Jews, Christians and fire worshippers. But in some cases, like mine, Allah returns them back to the original state and lets them once again become those who surrender, submit and obey Allah in peace as Muslims.

Everyone, including the Christians began to clap and cheer. And before we left the room, one of the students there at the college stood up and made shahadah. Al Hamdulilah. And the professor, shook my hand and thanked me so much for being there with them.

We have many other postive examples as well. But I should also caution you and mention that we have had at least 2 or 3 occassions when the non-Muslims in attendance tried to destroy our programs and speak out in very disturbing terms against Islam, Quran and our beloved prophet, peace be upon him. In each case we kept our cool and tried to provide a suitable reply to these horrible accusations and disruptions. Some of them have been recorded. In at least one case, we have it recorded that before the program was over, the very same person who had been attacking our way of worship, came to understand that the things that he had been told and brought up to understand were most incorrect and in fact, that what Islam stands for is what he also believed and he made shahadah then and there. He is now a very strong Muslim and married to a good Muslim sister.

Al Hamdulillah.

Last night we were at the University of Texas in Arlington, TX and at the end of the program the only Christian there - made his shahadah. Al Hamdulilah.

If you ask anyone who visits our live online programs or attends our lectures and presentations, they will all tell you that we do in fact encourage people to consider worshipping Allah, Alone and without any partners. That is what Islam is all about and that is what we do.

If this type of programming will not fit in with your project then please except our offer to decline attendance as this is the only agenda that we have.

While we understand that there are many people today who consider it correct to "interfaith" with the Christians and try to work something out so that we can peacefully exist side by side and accept each others religions, we are not in total agreement with some of the methodologies involved in this process.

Credentials for Yusuf Estes:

United Nations World Peace Summit - Delegate to Religious Leaders United States Federal Bureau of Prisons - Contract Chaplain Imam
Imam Masjid on Lackland Air Force Base (volunteer) 1993 - 1998
Islamic Foundation of America, Chaplain & web designer 1999
Advisor to World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Falls Church, VA 1999 - 2001