The last debate of the weekend took place outside Escondido, California. I had the privilege of engaging young Farhan Qureshi. I hesitate, honestly, to speak of how much I respect this young man, and pray for this young man, simply because I know he might take heat for my doing so! But I truly did find in him a debater who, like Shabir Ally, actually listens to what I am saying and who seeks, as best he can within the parameters of the epistemology forced upon him by his religious faith, to respond to my position as I enunciate it. This is unusual in Islamic debaters, as my debates with Osama Abdullah showed, for I had to come to the conclusion that once I stood at the podium, Mr. Abdullah turned on his iPod and listened to music or…something, since one thing was obvious, he was not listening to me. Mr. Qureshi sought as best he could to respond to what I was actually saying, and that made this a worthwhile debate.
I only have the video clips from my now famous “audience cam,” and those only of the rebuttals, cross-ex, and closing. The professional video will be available…when it is available. The recordings of the Jalal Abualrub debate took about five months to get to me, so, I hope these come more quickly, but I really have no control over that. Despite this, I can guarantee you that I will find in the comments on YouTube, “Why don’t you play the Muslim debater’s comments? You are deceptive! You are scared! Blah blah blah.” Happens every time.
I will address the debates more fully in my comments on The Dividing Line tomorrow. Be listening!
