AP reports "The Southern Baptist minister who leads Liberty University's seminary made a career as a go-to authority on Islam for the evangelical world, selling thousands of books and touring the country as a former Muslim who discovered Jesus Christ.

Now Ergun Caner is being investigated by the Lynchburg, Va., university — founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell — over allegations that he fabricated or embellished his past.

An unlikely coalition of Muslim and Christian bloggers, pastors and apologists has led the charge with video and audio clips they claim show Caner making contradictory statements.

Caner has since changed the biographical information on his website and asked friendly organizations to remove damning clips from their websites, but the questions are not going away."

----- 

After months of trying to defuse the the controversy as an anti-Christian plot, pressure from outsiders and some from within the evangelical community have pressured the University to allow a formal investigation to take place. 

The claims of Caner were first questioned by a British Muslim blogger, Muhammad Khan. After following up on his suspicions and confirming some false and contradictory statements of Caner, he began to produce YouTube videos highlighting Caner's mistakes. He stated in an interview with a Christian blogger, 

"The thing which caused me to make those videos... was simply out of necessity. At first I began to watch his 30 minute testimony and the first thing that came to my mind was “this guy is not Turkish”. Within seconds of watching his testimony I realised what he was doing. His pronunciation of words was something which shocked me a lot – because he claims to have grown up speaking Turkish as well as Arabic – but he fails to be able to say even the simplest of words in any of the two languages. The thing we need to understand is that I myself am not an Arab, neither am I a Turk – I am a Muslim. When it comes to certain Islamic phrases such as Salah, Shahadah, Sawm etc – there is no different way of saying these things amongst the entire Muslim world – so for him to come out and say these things in the most bizarre of manners made me curious.

Furthermore – I began to notice discrepancies in his testimony – and as soon as I heard him attempt to recite “Surah Al Fatiha” (first chapter of the Qur’an which every Muslim on earth knows) – I realised that this guy is nothing but a fraud."

Liberty University officials say they won't speak publicly until the probe is complete, expected June 30. 

 The controversy has sent shock waves through the evangelical community causing confusion, suspicion, doubt and infighting. Christian bloggers and internet missionaries who have sided with Khan and called for the investigation have been accused of attacking a fellow Christian to the delight of Muslims. The bloggers defended themselves by saying, "If someone's going around claiming to be an expert on Islam and he really isn't, I have to point that out." After all, isn't bearing false witness a major sin in Christendom too? 

The controversy has also added fuel to the suspicions of many Muslims regarding the claims of many so-called ex-Muslims. "Most of us believe that while its not impossible, its highly unlikely for someone who has a firm foundation in Islam to abandon it for Christianity, and that most who do were either Muslim in name only or nominal Muslims at best." said Abul Hasan Al-Nebraski, creator of Islamic radio show and website American Muslims Today. "It's better for their narrative for the convert to be the 'Islamic scholar, who knows Islam inside and out, and still leaves, rather than the scrub off the street from a Muslim country who happens to be a Christian. It kind of makes us wonder, how many more are faking it."