- Muslim speakers Daniel Haqiqatjou and Jake debated Christian Rachid Hammami and Robert Spencer on a Christian podcast. Poll on a Christian platform showed the Islamophobes failed.
- Daniel demonstrated intellectual honesty, Jake challenged Robert Spencer effectively. Rachid’s emotional strategy backfired, and doubts arose about the Christian interlocutors’ faith commitment, leading to disappointment within the Christian community.
On the memorable afternoon of Thursday, September 21st, a heated debate ignited on the PBD podcast channel, featuring the prominent voices of dynamic duo, Jake Brancatella, better known as ‘Jake the Muslim Metaphysician,’ and Daniel Haqiqatjou, Their opponents? Well, let’s just say they were in for a bit of an identity crisis—secular liberals, or were they Islamophobes? Oh, wait, my mistake, they were Christian interlocutors, Rachid Hammami and Robert Spencer. .
In the green corner, Daniel Haqiqatjou, a distinguished Harvard graduate, accomplished author, da’ee, YouTuber, and possessing a profound background in Philosophy. He is also the visionary behind the MuslimSkeptic website, renowned for its erudite and thought-provoking content.
Beside him, our brother Jake the Muslim Metaphysician, a revert from Catholicism to Islam, who brought his extensive academic prowess. Jake holds a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and is trained in Analytic philosophy. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in philosophy and theology. He is a respected member of the esteemed Muslim Debate Initiative and has also studied various Islamic sciences such as fiqh, usul al fiqh, and aqeedah with traditional ulema. Jake is a public speaker and debater that typically debates Christian scholars on the highest level.
In the opposing red corner, we encountered the career Islamophobe Robert Spencer, known for his series of anti-Islamic literature and the founding force behind the contentious ‘Jihad Watch’ website.
In 2013, the UK Home Office prohibited Spencer from entering the United Kingdom for a period of three to five years due to him “making statements that may foster hatred that might lead to inter-community violence”.
Alongside him, Rachid Hammami, otherwise known as ‘Brother Rachid’, a Moroccan convert from Islam to Christianity, who has authored anti-Islamic works of his own and displayed an inclination for invoking the “cry-baby” card during the debate.
Now, I can already hear some of our non-Muslim readers saying, ‘Well, of course, there’ll be bias here—it’s a Muslim website!’ But fret not, dear friends, the time for playfulness is behind us. It’s time to put on my serious hat and let the data speak for itself. As it turns out, those who dubbed the Christians as the victors in this debate may want to reconsider their stance:
Rachid’s response to the poll was as follows:
Here Rachid appears to be displaying a touch of post-defeat disappointment. Furthermore, it’s essential to emphasise that this poll was not initiated by a Muslim; instead, it was created by Christian Patrick Bet David. In addition, the debate was aired on a Christian YouTube channel. Hence, we deduce that the viewership’s verdict has been cast, and it appears the Islamophobes fell dramatically short in their debating endeavours. They presented a poignant narrative of a voyage to a distant land in search of refuge from Rachid (cue the violins), with Robert Spencer espousing the notion of Islam as an inherently violent faith. Alas, despite this emotional spectacle and fallacious assaults on Islam, even the combined efforts of these pseudo rhetoric virtuosos failed to sway nearly half a million spectators into embracing Christianity as the ultimate truth.
Prequel Insights
The initial setup for the debate placed the staunch Islamophobes (it’s important to note that not all Christians share these perspectives) in opposition to brother Mohammed Hijab and brother Ali Dawah (it’s important to note that not all Christians share these perspectives and of course, some are noble in their conduct.) This configuration framed the event as a Christian-versus-Muslim discourse. However, there was a pivotal juncture when it transformed into an interrogation of Islam without designated time allocations. It was after this was brought to the public’s attention and brother Eddie from the Deen show set up a call to Patrick Bet David who, subsequently, reintroduced the concept of a debate between the two ideologies.
The moment Ali Dawah’s participation was made public, rabid anti-Muslim propagandist, David Wood, mentioned during a podcast on Apus’s YouTube channel that Rachid would outperform brother Ali Dawah, citing his perceived inadequacy in Arabic proficiency. Intriguingly, the outcome of the debate revealed that linguistic prowess held little sway, as it became evident that victory in this debate hinged on their inability to justify the writings of the Old testament. We’ll explore this in greater detail in the latter section of this article.
The title of the thumbnail here, suggesting that Brother Hijab and Ali Dawah ‘ran from the debate,’ is rather amusing and grossly inaccurate. David Wood himself was ‘suffocated by the Qur’an’ and deservedly humiliated by Brother Hijab (given his own track record of vilifying and mocking Muslims consistently.) It was in fact visa complications that prevented both of our brothers from traveling to America, and as a result, Pat David proceeded with the debate as planned on the scheduled day.
Subsequently, the debate was gracefully handed over to brother Haqiqatjou and brother Jake by brother Hijab:
Emotive Methods
Rachid employed a strategy portraying himself as an emotionally wounded victim throughout the discourse. He recurrently played the victim card, providing no substantiated empirical research and making statements such as, “I know someone in Mauritania who left Islam.” His approach lacked the demeanour expected in an academic debate. Moreover, he frequently inquired about the topic of Apostate-death penalty, diverted from representing and articulating his own faith, and insinuated that Muslims were his adversaries in the latter part of the debate. When pressed by Patrick Bet David about commonalities between Muslims and Christians, he failed to answer the question and instead seized the opportunity to further malign Islam and Muslims. However, this was to his own detriment, as it only served to accentuate the animosity within him, underscored his lack of intellectual integrity, and highlighted his unwillingness to find any common ground with Muslims. Moreover, Rachid’s stated reasons for leaving Morocco are rather contradictory, as illustrated in the clip below:
Consequently, users of Social Media had much to say about Rachid:
On the contrary, Brother Daniel exhibited a commendable display of intellectual honesty and integrity when confronted with the same inquiry regarding commonality between the two faiths. He eloquently articulated the shared aspects between traditional Christians and Muslims, citing examples such as the institution of marriage and the prohibition in doctrinal teachings of LGBTQ with traditional Christianity and Islam.
Here are some reactions from the public:
Debate Highlight: Brother Jake Stumps Spencer with Deuteronomy 13:6!
This was the moment where Muslims all across the globe (and people of sound reasoning) were immensely proud of our brother Jake. He left Spencer with no escape route from this one! Moreover, here we see how he underscored the hypocritical nature of the statements made by Spencer concerning the topic of Apostate-death penalty.
Interestingly, this meme has been doing its rounds on social media:
Spencer throws the Old Testament under the Bus!
When queried regarding the authorship of the Old Testament, Robert Spencer displayed uncertainty by suggesting a potential disassociation between the Old Testament and Jesus, raising questions about their alignment. Furthermore, in his comments, he chose to characterize the Bible as a collection that includes fables. Therefore, as a Christian, illustrating confusion about the Bible’s reliability, content and significance.
Were the Muslims debating Christians or Secular Liberals?
Spencer’s comments about his own holy book raises doubts regarding whether the two individuals are genuinely dedicated to the Christian faith; Rachid did not intervene or correct Spencer at any point of this segment. Why both individuals would proffer such a statement concerning the characterization of their sacred text as being composed of fables is discombobulating. Moreover, in another part of the debate, Rachid expressed a desire to have the assurance that he can switch to any religion of his choice without facing consequences, even if that entails transitioning from Christianity to Judaism. This sentiment suggests a potential lack of deep conviction and passion for his faith, as it appears that his affinity for secular and liberal values takes precedence over his religious belief.
We see how even members of the Christian community felt utterly disappointed by what transpired in the debate.
Here’s how some familiar faces reacted:
Brother Haqiqatjou has evidently been asking to debate Robert Spencer for several years now. He wrote under this post on X “Now I understand why he never agreed”:
Robert Spencer’s Sore Loser Retort: Christian Patrick Bet-David’s Response- ‘Being upset with your performance is understandable.’
Both of our brothers did an amazing job in presenting the orthodox position of Islam…Allahu Akbar!
