The Ruling on Reading the Gospel and Debating the Christians

The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the ruling on reading the Gospel under the pretext of benefiting from it in a debate with the Christians? And is it permissible to debate them?

The Shaykh:
It is not permissible for a knowledgeable and capable scholar who wants to refute it to read the Gospel. As for reading it merely for information, when one does not have mastery in knowledge, it is not permissible for him to rely on it. Therefore, it is not permissible to look into the books of the Christians or the Jews except for a knowledgeable and capable scholar who wants to refute them and invalidate their argument, because how can he refute them if he has not read what they have? Yes.

The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.

The Shaykh:
He wants to read it for the sake of information, as they say, or for the sake of foolishness; this is not permissible, because some of their misguidance and disbelief may deceive him.