[VladFal]

I don't know why people think Shabir or Naik have memorised the Bible- they quote it just like evangelists quote it or other Muslim debaters would (i.e. memorising the passages that are necessary for debate only, not the entire text). I can't think of a single human being that has memorised the ENTIRE bible and even the memorisation of the Torah itself is rare.

Are you sure they haven't memorized the Bible? I always assumed they did, by the way the rapidly quote verse after verse. I also heard the Zakir Naik memorized Hindu scriptures as well.
And about memorizing relevant verses, how would you know what verses would be relevant in a debate? Your opponent could bring up any topic, so you wouldn't really know which verses to memorize.

The danger of being misled is great because an average Muslim layman will consider these guys to be scholars of the highest calibre on the basis that they can speak English and quote with verse and chapter number unlike 'these mullahs' who don't. So the most obvious danger is that these people are given a status amongst the laymen that should be reserved for actual scholars instead.

This is true. I myself though of them as scholars when I first saw their videos. I know better now though.

The second being that even in these debates, you'll find people like Shabir making kufr statements. It was in a debate for example, where he denied a hadith of Bukhari that was brought up by the Christian opposing him, with the Christian confused as to why a 'sunni Muslim' was denying the authenticity of a hadith from Bukhari (as he had been correctly told that we believe them all to be authentic). All Shabir said was 'it goes against the Quran' (which it actually didn't). How many laymen would have then been fooled by his ignorance and began to adopt his methodology so that whenever they are shown a hadith that seems to contradict Al Quran, they decide to believe it is a fabrication instead?

Akhi, I dont remember ever watching a video in which Shabir denies a sahih hadith, and I've watched a lot of his videos on youtube. Can you provide a link?

The point is, maybe the already religiously inclined may know where he falters but MOST laymen do not and they will be swept up in his ignorance and as such, I CANNOT recommend that anyone watches any of his talks

Well Shabir and Naik may have some deviant beliefs, but they sure know how to defend Islam. Watching there videos may help a new Muslims iman increase. But like I said, they rarely talk about fiqhi issues, so this isn't an unavoidable danger.

And I now ask the question- in a Sharia state, do you think he would be allowed to continue his 'preaching' with the Ulema advising that they take the good and leave the bad or would he have been banned or brought before a Qadi to answer for some of his statements (especially ones like the evolution one which is kufr but that is for the Mufti's to explain)?

Brother you are right. I Agree that Shabir and Zakir would probably be condemned or even declared apostates in an actual Shariah state because of some of their statements (like Shabir's about evolution), but this doesn't change that fact that they've refuted the Christians many times and are great da'ees (Zakir Naik has brought many people to Islam).