The debate began with a Muslim participant distinguishing between Jesus being sent primarily or exclusively to Israel and non-Jews still being able to benefit from his message. The Christian side pressed whether the Qur’an itself can support a broader role for Jesus, citing Qur’an 19:21’s language of Jesus as a sign and mercy for mankind, while the Muslim side emphasized Islamic readings in which Jesus’ law is later superseded by Muhammad’s. This led into a circumcision exchange: the Muslim side appealed to the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 17 and initially looked to Qur’an 16:123 for support, but acknowledged that the verse does not mention circumcision directly. Acts 15 was used to frame Gentile participation and limited legal requirements.

A major recurring issue was the authority and preservation of prior revelation. The Christian side used Qur’an 5:43-48, 5:46, and 5:47 to argue that the Torah and Gospel were still treated as authoritative for Jews and Christians in Muhammad’s time. The Muslim side responded with corruption texts such as Qur’an 2:79 and 5:13-14, arguing that earlier communities distorted or wrote material and attributed it to God. A related exchange focused on whether “Torah” could be used broadly for the Jewish scriptures: the Christian side connected Sahih al-Bukhari 2125 with Isaiah 42 and Qur’an 33:45 to argue that a hadith’s description of Muhammad in the Torah appears to paraphrase Isaiah, while the Muslim interlocutor questioned how directly that establishes the same textual referent.

The discussion also moved through salvation, atonement, and divine forgiveness. The Christian side argued that Jesus’ mercy is best explained through crucifixion and substitutionary atonement, citing 1 Peter 3:18 and contrasting this with the idea that Muslims may still undergo punishment. A Muslim participant cited Qur’an 4:48-50 to argue that Allah may forgive anything except shirk for whom he wills, challenging the claim that justice requires punishment through a substitute. There were also shorter Christian-critical uses of Qur’an 3:54 against Islam and Muslim uses of Qur’an 2:79 against biblical preservation.

Later portions shifted heavily into Muslim and Nation of Islam disputes. A Nation of Islam participant argued that Allah is a man, reinterpreted Genesis 1:26 through Yakub and “grafted man,” and defended Elijah Muhammad as a messenger for America using Qur’an 16:36, 14:4, 32:3, and related claims about every nation receiving a messenger in its language. Other Muslim participants countered with Qur’an 33:40 and Qur’an 5:3 to defend Muhammad’s finality and Islam’s completed universal message, while intra-Muslim disagreement became a prominent feature of the exchange. The final arc focused on racialized readings of Qur’anic judgment imagery: claims that blackened faces imply racism were answered with Qur’an 39:60, 3:7, 20:102, 24:35, and 57:11-12 to argue that “blackened faces” refers to spiritual countenance or allegorical judgment language rather than literal skin color.