“Islam is incompatible with America. Let’s talk,” was the message written in bold marker across a poster positioned in front of a debate table at the Texas Instruments Plaza, on Oct. 29. This event, hosted by Fearless Debates as part of its “American Debate Tour,” featured founder and conservative activist Cam Higby, alongside guest speaker Benjamin Williams, a political commentator and content creator.
Throughout the afternoon, Higby and Williams defended their claim that Islamic values conflict with American principles, inviting students to challenge them in open debate. Williams explained that his goal for this debate wasn’t to provoke, but to encourage discussion and “hopefully help people.” He described the event as “an experiment” to see how UT Dallas students would respond and react to the conversation.
“[I’m] probably not gonna change anybody’s minds,” Williams said. “But in my experience with a lot of the Islam debaters, you can at least plant seeds, and me as a Christian, I believe that’s a responsibility that I have.”
Prior to arriving on campus, Williams and Higby spent time preparing for the debate by reading the Quran and investigating the ideas held by former Muslims and scholars. Williams said that he wasn’t too concerned about his safety debating a controversial issue due to police presence at the event. “If you go down this path of always being too worried of confrontation, then you can’t really get anything done. So we decided, let’s just do it anyway.”
What began as an open forum quickly escalated to a tense exchange that spread beyond the UT Dallas campus.
A clip later posted to YouTube captioned “Muslim won’t condemn pedophilia” showed parts of a conversation between Higby and UT Dallas students Ayman Mohammed and Hamza Ai-Rufaiee. In the video, with over 47,000 views, Higby asserts that, under Islamic law, adulthood is defined as the onset of puberty and asks Mohammed to confirm whether that would make sexual relationships at that age acceptable.
Mohammed responds that according to Islamic teaching, adulthood is defined by reaching puberty, not by a specific age. Higby contrasts this definition with American legal standards, saying that “14-year-olds hit puberty all the time” and that relationships at that age would be illegal in the United States, proving his point that Islam is not compatible with the west. The exchange continues as Higby presses Mohammed to “condemn having sex with 14-year-olds,” and concludes with Higby saying, “Here we have a Muslim who refuses to condemn pedophilia – zero surprises.”
In interviews with The Mercury, Mohammed and Al-Rufaiee said that portions of their comments were excluded from the clip and that the full conversation was longer and more complex than what appeared online.
“He cut out the parts where we actually made good points,” Mohammed said. “It painted a bad picture, like we said something we didn’t. He’s not trying to learn – he’s trying to get a reaction.”
The two said the clip illustrated how selective editing can distort longer exchanges and narrow how audiences interpret what was said. Experts and digital-media scholars note that short clips from live events can circulate widely without providing full context, often leaving viewers with only fragments of a larger discussion.
Mohammed said the experience showed how control over what is recorded and shared can influence how a conversation is remembered.“ He holds 90% of the power,” Mohammed said. “He controls the mic, the camera and what people see. When does free speech stop being about freedom and start being about who has the microphone and who doesn’t?”
Both students said that while they disagreed with how the debate was handled, they still believed the principle of free expression is incredibly important and should be protected. They emphasized that open debate, especially when uncomfortable, plays an important role on campus as long as it is grounded in respect and sincerity.
Williams shares a similar perspective, saying “A lot of people really like seeing other people get owned. They like seeing the embarrassment. I don’t think that aspect of debate is a good thing. I try to be educational, I try to teach people about history, about economics and I want them to have something that they take away.”
“If you think about it,” Al-Rufaiee said, “the fact that they even came here shows how much UTD has grown. As long as you can defend your opinion, that’s what matters.”
Williams said that debates should encourage students to think critically and seek understanding as opposed to harboring hostility for opposing viewpoints. He hopes that people will take the time to learn opposing viewpoints rather than label, attack or dismiss others.
“I want people to go out and read books. I don’t want them to sit there and call each other fascists. I want them to go read about what fascism is,” Williams said. “I want people to read what people on the other side say so that they can actually understand each other. Not everybody has a super evil motive.”
Williams explains that he is hopeful for future events. He reminds students that their voices carry power. “If you’re too scared to get out there and get things done, you’re never going to accomplish anything. If your values are true, then you need to stand for them.”
Deadpool • Feb 1, 2026 at 10:33 am
Where was the selective editing if the entire video was released? If it was taken out of context, why didn’t they explain in this article what context was missing? The Quran was created to deliberately counter the Bible for power.