It has been a long time since I picked up a book and 2 days later - it’s finished. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi is a page turning journey that leads the reader though the life of a young Muslim boy well schooled in Islamic Apologetics into a life changing encounter with the risen Christ. I highly recommend this book for any Christian interested in both learning the basics of Islam as well as a helpful tool in some basic apologetics for our own faith. The book starts with a fairly detailed summary of Nabeel’s childhood. A convicting theme of constant “training” from Nabeel’s parents in the bedrock of Islam but also defending and being an Ambassador for Islam emerges. Growing up in Dunoon Scotland the son of two Pakistani parents, Nabeel grew up in the Ahmadi tradition of Islam.
As Nabeel recounts his childhood he packs the pages with Islamic definitions. Such as:
Shahada - “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger.”
Salaat - 5 daily ritual prayers.
Ka’ba - The holy shrine in Mecca. To name just a few.
Nabeel leaves Scotland and arrives in America where he attends high school and then post secondary education. Throughout his school years he enjoys engaging Christians and challenging them on their beliefs. In the later part of high school Nabeel encounters a Christian named David Wood. The two hit it off immediately and eventually go off to study medicine in college together and it is at this point of Nabeels life where God starts to soften his heart and open his eyes to the truth of the gospel.
Nabeel relentlessly seeks to discredit 3 fundamental Christian beliefs:
1) Jesus is God.
2) Jesus actually died on the cross.
3) Jesus rose from the dead.
Starting with the Bible, Nabeel questions the reliability and the historicity of the New Testament. Relying on the teachings of his childhood, Nabeel seeks to discredit the Bible but after exhaustive research and learning that Christians have thousands of documents and two full testaments from the early 300’s and the fact that all four gospels were written in the first century, he concedes that what Christians have in their Bibles today is 100% reliable to the earliest copies.
Next, Nabeel confronts the death of Jesus. Many Muslims are taught what is called the “Swoon Theory” which is that Jesus did not actually die on the cross but only appeared to die. If Jesus did not die, then there is no resurrection, if there is no resurrection then Christianity is dead. After examining the historical evidence Nabeel concedes that the Swoon Theory is just not plausible.
Finally Nabeel (along with all other Muslims) claim that Jesus never claimed to be God. David walks Nabeel through the Gospel of John, then to Mark 14:62 which leads to a discussion about Daniel 7 and Psalm 110.
After considering the reliability of the Bible, the historical fact of Jesus’ death and that Jesus indeed claim to be God, these were enough to shake Nabeel’s foundation of Islam but the story is far from over.
Nearing the end of the book Nabeel wrestles with the concept of the Trinity but after one particular day while studying the subatomic world where “things happen that make no sense to those of us who conceptualize the world at only a human level” Nabeel encounters a teaching that immediately helps him grasp the concept of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. “My eyes rested on the three separate structures of Nitrate on the wall, my mind assembling the pieces. One molecule of nitrate is all three resonance structures all the same time and never just one of them. The three are separate but all the same, and they are one. They are three in one. That’s when it clicked: if there are things in this world that can be three in one, even incomprehensibly so, so then why cannot God.”
Finally, when he is presented that God is father, Nabeel cannot fathom that God would know him and love him in that intimate of a way. Nabeel now considers the cost of becoming a Christian. We as Christians often forget that for a Muslim to embrace Christianity is for them to lose everything including family and/or their very life.
Nabeel prays earnestly for a sign from God that indeed Jesus is the way and the truth.
God grants Nabeel’s request and gives him one vision and 3 dreams. After much time Nabeel finally accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus definitely has a place on every Christian’s book shelf. This book reminds me that we should study the foundation of our faith and learn the basics of other religions (apologetics) but at the end of the day it is God through the work of the Spirit that opens eyes and hearts to the Gospel. Nabeel’s story reminds me that relationships matter with those that engage with us over spiritual matters and that sometimes it literally takes years and much prayer to lead a person to Christ and that God may use you in a small role or a major role. After reading this book I have had the privilege to meet with a young Muslim man for many weeks and answer and defend the questions that he posed to me. He often (and verbatim) had the same objections that Nabeel had been taught. This book proved to be a very useful resource.
Keith G
Nabeel A. Qureshi. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity, Zondervan, 2014, 296pp