'I began to realise that the case for Christianity was very, very strong..'

Dr. Nabeel Qureshi is a former devout Muslim who was convinced of the truth of the Gospel through historical reasoning and a spiritual search for God. Since his conversion, he has dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel through teaching, preaching, writing, and debating. 

Nabeel’s first book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, is now available.

Nabeel has given lectures at universities and seminaries throughout North America, including New York University, Rutgers, the University of North Carolina, the University of Ottawa, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Biola University. He has participated in 17 moderated, public debates around North America, Europe, and Asia. His focus is on the foundations of the Christian faith and the early history and teachings of Islam.

Why I left Islam to follow Jesus

Former Muslim Nabeel Qureshi explains how his search for the truth about Jesus in scripture led to his conversion.

Contrast is the mother of clarity. So says author Os Guinness, and this principle is what ultimately led me away from Islam and towards the gospel. 

As a young Muslim in the West, our community very intentionally defended me against Christianity, the majority religion. The first verses of the Koran that I and the other young children at our mosque memorised proclaimed that God is neither Father nor Son (based on Surah 112:3).  

Traditions informed us that this teaching makes up a third of the Koran (Sahih Muslim 812), so we recited it every day. By the age of six, I had recited, ‘God is not a Father, God is not a Son’ thousands of times. It is no wonder I became a bold opponent of the Trinity.  

We were also taught that Muhammad was God’s greatest messenger; the most perfect man who ever lived. We learnt the story of his life and did our utmost to follow it. We emulated him to such a degree that we even attempted to walk into   the lavatory the way he did. The reverence we accorded him was barely secondary to our reverence for Allah.

Although Islam teaches that the Bible and the Koran originated from God, we were effectively instructed that they were polar opposites: the Bible has been polluted, the Koran remains pristine; the Bible is partially the word of man, the Koran is purely the word of God; the Bible contains contradictions, the Koran is completely coherent; the Bible leads to confusion, the Koran leads to life.

So, as a young Muslim I ardently called others to the way of Islam. I was certain of its truth. My confidence in Islam translated into zeal for Allah, Muhammad, the Koran and sharia. But contrast is the mother of clarity.

DOUBTING THE KORAN

I met a young Christian named David, and we quickly became firm friends due to our common morals and devotion. The time came when I challenged him on the reliability of the Bible, and I had finally met someone who was equipped to defend his faith.  

Ultimately, he challenged me to contrast the history of the Bible with that of the Koran. It was then that I discovered there had been so much dispute over the Koran early in its history that an official edict established one standard Koran and ordered all the rest destroyed (Sahih Bukhari 6:61:509-510). There was no occasion for the Bible to have been officially altered throughout Christendom, but there was certainly occasion for the Koran to have been modified throughout the House of Islam, and records remain of old variants that testify to former versions.

While discussing the Bible and the Koran, I also challenged David on the divine authority of Jesus. He responded to my points, but he also challenged me to contrast my arguments with a case for the authority of Muhammad. It was then that I realised my standards for criticising the origins of Christianity would raze the foundations of Islam if I applied them consistently.  

Though I doubted the reliability of the Gospels, written in the lifetime of Jesus’ disciples, the entire edifice of the Sirah (various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad) rested on accounts from 150-250 years after his death. The earliest account of Muhammad’s life is only known to us because one devout Muslim preserved it, and he uses no uncertain words to say that what he received contained fabrications and false reports (Ibn Hisham, who edited Ibn Ishaq’s Sirah Rasul Allah).  

By contrast, the case for Jesus’ death, deity and resurrection was very strong, built on early records that were most coherently explained by orthodox Christian positions. It was through this contrast that matters became clear. 

THE CASE FOR CRUCIFIXION  

While still contemplating these issues as a Muslim, I attended a debate between a Christian called Michael Licona and a Muslim called Shabir Ally on the topic of Jesus’ resurrection. A trend in Ally’s thinking emerged through the course of the debate, and what I saw shook me.  

Multiple ancient sources report Jesus’ death by crucifixion, including Jewish, Gentile, and Christian records. These reports are so numerous and the surrounding circumstances so clear that even atheist and agnostic scholars say Jesus’ crucifixion is among the surest facts of history. But with excessive scepticism, one can deny anything. Ally advanced the koranic view of Jesus: that, despite all the reports, Jesus did not die by crucifixion.  

But what reason is there to stand by the koranic claims about Jesus when all the other records disagree? The Koran was written 600 years after Jesus and 600 miles away. The only reason to believe the Koran is an a priori faith in Islam. That is why only Muslim scholars deny Jesus’ death by crucifixion. Ally was very sceptical with the Christian case but not nearly as critical of the Islamic perspective. No contrast, just one-sided criticism.  

REACHING MUSLIMS TODAY  

That was 2004, and I continue to see the same trend among proselytising Muslims today: constant criticism of Christianity in the face of rather uncritical acceptance of Islam. I see many young men zealously championing Islam, and they remind me endearingly and dishearteningly of my younger self. I see them as sincere, honest, devout young men who usually haven’t seen an equal treatment of these two faiths.  

Is there no one to befriend them, as David befriended me? Is anyone praying for them, as David’s church prayed for me? Is anyone loving them as Jesus would, with both compassion and truth?  

Through dialogue, these young men, precious to God, might come to see that the Christian view of Jesus is much earlier, more coherent, and better evidenced than the Muslim view of Jesus. They might come to see that Islam is built on much weaker foundations than Christianity. In turn, they might stop leading people away from Jesus and instead become evangelists for the gospel. It happened to me, and it can happen to them.  

I found this exciting story in the Premier magazine and if you follow the link you can also read:

Read our  interview with Shabir Ally. Islam's Apologist: Why I believe what the Koran says about Jesus

Tory Minister Baroness Warsi warns persecution threatens the Christian way of life

Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, said Christians were being driven out of countries such as Syria and Iraq where the religion first took root.The peer, Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet minister, raised her concerns in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC.Earlier, she said countries such as Pakistan should do more to “set the tone” for tolerance of minorities.Lady Warsi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m concerned that the birthplace of Christianity, the parts of the world where Christianity first spread, is now seeing large sections of the community leaving and those remaining feeling persecuted.“There are huge advantages to having pluralistic societies – everything from the economy to the way people develop educationally, and therefore we all have an interest in making sure that Christian communities do continue to feel that they belong and are not persecuted.”
She said she had already had “very frank conversations” with ministers in Pakistan, telling them that senior politicians have a “duty” to speak out against persecution.

Source :  http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/443369/Minister-Baroness-Warsi-warns-persecution-threatens-the-Christian-way-of-life

The Degradation of Christian Women under Islam

The Degradation of Christian Women under Islam
Muslim Persecution of Christians: June, 2013

by Raymond Ibrahim at the Gatestone Institute

A church in the Syrian village of al-Duwayr, after an attack by Islamist militiamen. (Image credit: Syria Report)

Meanwhile, in Egypt, U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson was urging Christian Copts not to protest Muslim Brotherhood rule, even though they would suffer under it most. According to Al Azhar, the world's oldest Islamic university, Islam is a religion of peace.

The degradation of Christian women living in the Islamic world continued in the month of June. In Syria, after the al-Qaeda linked rebel group conquered Qusair, a city of the governate of Homs, 15-year-old Mariam was kidnapped, repeatedly gang raped according to a fatwa legitimizing the rape of non-Sunni women by any Muslim waging jihad against Syria's government, and then executed.

According to Agenzia Fides, "The commander of the battalion 'Jabhat al-Nusra' in Qusair took Mariam, married and raped her. Then he repudiated her. The next day the young woman was forced to marry another Islamic militant. He also raped her and then repudiated her. The same trend was repeated for 15 days, and Mariam was raped by 15 different men. This psychologically destabilized her and made her insane. Mariam became mentally unstable and was eventually killed."

In Pakistan, Muslim men stormed the home of three Christian women, beat them, stripped them naked and tortured them, and then paraded them in the nude in a village in the Kasur district. Days earlier, it seems the goats of the Christian family had accidentally trespassed onto Muslim land; Muslims sought to make an example of the Christian family, who, as third-class citizens, must know their place at all times.

Iraq: During the middle of the night, armed men attacked St. Mary's Assyrian Catholic Church in Baghdad; they wounded two Christian guards, one seriously. Later the same day, bombs were set off at two Christian-owned businesses, both near the church; they killed one Christian shop owner, a parishioner at St. Mary's. Since the U.S. "liberation" of Iraq in 2003, 73 churches have been attacked or bombed, and more than half of the country's Christian population has either fled or been killed.
Continue reading, click here
Father, we thank you that we have the freedom of faith and worship in our countries. We ask you in the name of Jesus-Christ our Saviour and King to stop those conflicts, to give wisdom to the leaders of those countries, to strengthen all our Christian brothers and sisters who live in such countries where those atrocities prevail, to help them rebuild their lives and guide us to do our utmost in our lives to spread your message of love, forgiveness and peace. May your will be done in Jesus'name. Amen

The Christian faith and other faiths

Steven and I went to a deanery synod in Doxey church. Our guest speaker was called Rev. Canon George Kovoor .We had an excellent evening.
Here are my notes.
For years, the UK has been the bastion of christianity and you sent the finest young men and women round the world to spread the gospel. They actually believed that Jesus was the Good News. There was something so important in the message of Jesus that they believed it was GOOD NEWS. So it should still be JOY in the Church. Therefore it is difficult to understand why there are too many miserable faces, constipated faces in the Church nowadays! Who wants to hang out with boring people! I train people who want to be equipped and not afraid to share our faith wherever they go.
However, if the Church itself is biblically illiterate and theologically clueless, it will find sharing the Gospel to people of other faiths difficult. Surely it is incumbent on the Church to share the Good News with everybody. If you do not know your bible and start talking to a Muslim for instance who will pick up on many apparent contradictions in the Bible, you will be stung! In the Royal Albert Hall, not long ago, an American apologist was decimated by a Muslim leader.
The Jews have had to live round the nations and they have always been a minority. They know how to engage. They consider themselves as called out people to whom God revealed his name. Abraham an Iraqui, was to be a light to the people. This always was the intention of God to reveal himself to all nations.
What is heaven like? When John is in Patmos he has a revelation, he sees that heaven is multicultural, multi-ethnic but not multifaith. In heaven the worship is super.
I am here in front of you because your grand-parents took trouble to come to our country and share the Gospel of Jesus-Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ I am not prepared to collude with the system.
Isaiah 56:6-7 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD 
   to minister to him,
to love the name of the LORD,
   and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
   and who hold fast to my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain
   and give them joy in my house of prayer. Let's think about Jesus'triumphant entry in Jerusalem, He made a beeline to the temple. Mark 11:15-17 Did Jesus have a problem with money? Let's go back to Solomon. We have a blue print of what the temple looked like, notice there was a vast court for the Gentiles. God has made a gracious place for the nations to come. Hospitality and generosity for those who do not know Him. By clearing the temple, Jesus who incarnates God, restores the hospitality and generosity of God so that the nations can behold the splendor of God.
How much more the Church must do to adjust to the world?
What preparation is there for new converts?
To be popular you mustn't compromise your faith. It seems that the Church of England is a plate of jelly, nobody knows what to believe. Engaging with people of other faith require integrity. Dialogue is better than monologue. Dialogue requires listening. Why were we created with two ears and only one mouth?
You must meet people, promote an activity where people are welcome. Take trouble to go where they are.
Dialogue requires mutual respect.
Canon Kovoor's speech was full of humour too. I am afraid that jokes do not do so well on the paper. There is more so watch this space. Blessings in Jesus-Christ. N.