Tag Archives: hospital

Tony Costa Sent Me to the Hospital

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Dr. Tony Costa – Christian Apologist

What a headline. Those are words I never thought I’d one day have to write. I’ve been interacting with Dr. Tony Costa for some time, most people would know I recently debated him last year on the topic of, Was Jesus the Son of God or Only the Prophet of God? For sometime now I’ve been ill with a severe chronic illness, this is public knowledge and people generally know that I’m quite frail most of the time. As such, any mildly strenuous physical activity leads to hospital trips where I am given pain medication and observed for some time.

Over the course of last night and this morning, I had the unfortunate experience of seeing Dr. Costa pretend to know the Arabic language. After having pointed out why he was wrong on the morphology of the term آله (Ilah), and that he was confusing it with a completely different word لت (Lat), while using three lexicons: Lane’s, Hans-Wehr and Lisan al Arab, and the Arabic Bible used by the Coptic Church: Smith & Van Dyke Arabic Bible, Dr. Costa decided he was correct despite all of these evidences proving him to be incorrect. To settle the matter, I simply asked Dr. Tony if he could kindly give me the morphology of the term آله. For anyone who has done more than one week of Arabic, you’d know how to derive the female from this root word. He was unable to do so, in fact, he outright refused to do so. Tony insisted that his finding the female of آله had nothing to do with using the root of the word.

Does that sound incredulous? I’m not kidding. Apparently Tony studied sarf (morphology) to the point where he does not use the root of words to derive their sexes and numerical forms. Considering you need to use root words to derive any other form of the word, I’m not sure what planet he believed he was on. In trying to help him and to save him from further embarrassment, I simply indicated that he was trying to get the feminine of word A (آله) using the word B (لت). I gave him a simple explanation, it’s as if he was trying to get the plural of orange, which is oranges, by using the word range. Orange has nothing to do with range. Unfortunately, without showing his morphology, or how it was possible to get the form of one noun, using a completely different noun, Tony decided he was correct. Regrettable as it was for him, several people, including myself who were included in the exchange have knowledge of the Arabic language.

This led to an endless fit of laughter lasting several hours. It’s akin to seeing a child get their ABCs wrong, and insisting they’re correct because their friends in kindergarten also recite their ABCs this way. So basic was his error, everyone knew that he was pretending to know the Arabic language. Yet he couldn’t get the female derivative of a noun. Knowing that he was pretending, we waited to see what his other replies would be. His last reply insisted that he was correct, no morphology, no explanation, nothing. To put it diplomatically, it was cringe-worthy. Due to laughing excessively, it led to me having a coughing fit, which triggered my other symptoms, thus landing me in the hospital. I’ve now been released and am back home and resting, Alhamdulillah.

This is the first time that someone’s ignorance has actually, physically hurt me. Dr. Tony Costa pretending to know Arabic and failing at it, sent me to the hospital. Thank you Tony, thank you.

If anyone would like to confirm that this story is true, one can ask Br. Yusuf Ismail, Br. Yusuf Bux, Br. Paul of Blogging Theology or Br. Yahya of The Facts About Islam.

and Allah knows best,
Br. Ijaz.

My Experience with Christian Preachers at the Hospital

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بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

On Friday the 23rd of November, I was admitted into the hospital, yesterday I was subsequently discharged. During my stay there, I had the pleasure of being in the company of several Christian preachers. These encounters were four in number and in their entirety lasted all but 5 minutes.

First Meeting

A gentleman with a Bible whips around the corridor and approaches my bed. He pauses for a moment and observes me. After sometime he turns his head and walks away. To my knowledge he had been speaking with others on the other corridor, I therefore was awaiting his approach. After a few moments of him staring at me, he casually walks away. Whether or not he assumed I wasn’t worth saving or had other, more time worthy persons to preach to, is yet to be realised. I never saw this gentleman during my stay at any other time, I will never know why he never approached me to preach to me as he did the others.

Second Meeting

Perhaps the most unique and profound meetings of my life, this is one encounter I am certain to never forget. This was Sunday and so on this day I expected many Christians to come into the wards and preach the gospel. My mother and younger brother were with me, when from the corridor, I spotted a older gentleman, perhaps late 50’s with a cross on his neck, cautiously approaching us. At first he mentioned that he was a patient at this ward some time ago and was treated, subsequent to his treatment he was healed.

Suddenly, he says, “Let us bow and pray, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Sp…”, I raised my hand and said quite calmly that we were not Christian. Some might wonder, how on earth did he reach this far into the prayer before being stopped. To be quite honest, we were all stunned that he was doing this. Can you imagine visiting a sick relative and a man approaches you, sympathizes with your situation and then out of nowhere, begins to pray, telling you to bow and listen to his religious beliefs? Sure, I understand that perhaps out of goodwill he was praying for me, I am willing to accept that this is part of his humanity, but what I do not appreciate, is that he began to pray a Christian prayer and especially so that he just began in the middle of a conversation.

After I got him to stop, the strangest response I have ever received, occurred. This Christian preacher, looks to me and says, “well we all know all religions are man made brother, good luck”, and he then walked away. My mother and I were confused, was this man pretending to be religious, or did he, out of embarrassment insulted his own belief that he moments ago was spurred on to force upon us? Strange indeed, I wished that this man had stayed longer, but alas, the situation may have been to awkward for him.

Third Meeting

Two older gentlemen are with their Bibles, they enter unto my bed area and approach my ward room mate, a Mr. Bernard, an elderly man who was suffering with Parkinsons Disease. Mr. Bernard was peculiar and I still remember him fondly. You see, Parkinsons disease affects your memory, so every few hours I was awoken by Mr. Bernard, saying to me: “Oye, well would you look at that, I have a neighbour!”. These two missionaries approached Mr. Bernard and prayed for him, whether Mr. Bernard was agreeing with them, or listening, is much to be desired as he looked as dazed and confused as ever. After they finished with him, they turned to me, glanced at me and disappeared. Again, I was left to wonder, did they assume I am damned and left me without preaching the gospel, or, if not, then why did they not preach to me? Strange indeed.

Forth Meeting

A group of Jehovas Witnesses’ ladies came to preach in the ward. Holding their NWT Bible’s and their Watch Tower Magazines, I observed as they ever crept closer to Mr. Bernard, my ward’s room mate. Of the group of 5, they all bowed and prayed for him, while 2 kept glancing at me. After they prayed for him, the group eyed me for a few moments, and murmured among themselves. I looked at them, and they each watched me and slowly departed from my view. Again, I am left to wonder why they did not approach me.

Conclusion

There are certainly more questions than answers, but at the end of the day, I can atleast boast that my presence is effective against 3 in 4 missionaries. I accept cash or credit, 30 days guarantee.

wa Allaahu ‘Alam.