THE GREAT DELHI DEBATE 20 DEC 2025: DOES GOD EXIST? JAVED AKHTAR VS SHAMAIL NADWI

Five days ago something quite momentous happened in New Delhi in India. Things usually become momentous only AFTER they have happened. Because often something can fizzle out and no one can even remember the event.

But five days ago there was a debate in New Delhi in India on the topic of 'Does God Exist' which has now become quite an event. It is going viral on Social Media throughout India, Pakistan and around the world.  The debaters were 80 year old Javed Akhtar and a 27 year old Islamic scholar Shamail Nadwi.

The debate was conducted in Urdu which can be understood by Indians / Pakistanis who speak any of the Hindi dialects. English commentaries are beginning to pop up on YouTube. 

Javed Akhtar is a well known Indian public intellectual. He was born to a well known Indian Muslim family. In 1857 his great grandfather was one of the agitators against the British Empire who issued a fatwa that sparked the great Indian Mutiny. For decades Javed Akhtar has been known as India's most eminent screenwriter for Bollywood movies. He has won numerous film and arts awards and was also a Member of Parliament in India for some time. Javed Akhtar is also a 'rationalist' aka an "atheist" and has spent years debating the topic of god and religion. He is possibly more well known now as a rationalist debater than a screenwriter.

Shamail Nadwi is a young man of 27 years old. He studied religion at one of the Darul Uloom madrasas in India and then studied at the International Islamic University here in Malaysia. So he is a Malaysian university graduate. This debate has made Shamail Nadwi famous overnite and in the past five days he has become a household name in many Muslim homes in India, Pakistan, Australia, UK etc.

This debate is notable for two main reasons.

1. It is a very orderly and civilised debate between two debaters - both of whom are of Muslim background. The audience is also a very disciplined and mixed audience made up of Muslims and non-Musims. The moderator was the Indian journalist Saurabh Dwivedi of Lallantop who is a Hindu. 

The debate is evidence enough that Muslims can have civilised and intelligent debates without getting angry or losing control of their emotions. Perhaps more Muslims will learn from this example. (But perhaps there must be a non-Muslim moderator).

2. This debate has gone super viral in India, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the world. In five days multiple podcasters, youtubers and social media people have uploaded the debate with their commentaries added. The process is ongoing. The views have already gone into the millions. 

Most interestingly the debate is being watched and discussed by Muslims, Hindus, Punjabi Sikhs, Christians and others in India, Pakistan, UK, Australia and around the world where there is a South Asian diaspora. I was listening to a Punjabi Sikh podcaster who also spoke some English who seems to agree with Shamail Nadwi the Muslim debater. 

If you can understand Urdu or Hindi (which I do not understand) here is the debate in full. You can also watch other shorter versions with English commentary but those are just beginning to pop up.

 

 The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.