Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus - Nabeel Qureshi
This is a very well written and interesting book. It tells the life story of Qureshi, raised as a Muslim in the UK, his faith journey, and eventually his conversion to Christianity. The book is written in a style that greatly appeals to my way of thinking; Qureshi debates and seeks logical answers to his questions, engages in apologetics, and - importantly - holds no animosity towards his former religion, despite now disagreeing with the evidence for it.
Coming from a Christian perspective, I appreciated the way Qureshi explained Islam and what it holds dear. For example, from Qureshi I learned that "In our culture, dreams are carefully considered because, as a well-known hadith teaches, "The dreams of the faithful are prophetic." In fact, dreams are the only means I know of by which the average Muslim expects to hear directly from God." (page 65). He also is not afraid of pointing out elements within the practice of Christianity (as opposed to its beliefs) that can hinder someone coming to faith: "There is a simple reason I never listened to street preachers: they didn't seem to care about me. It wasn't that they were annoying. I found their passion admirable, and I appreciated people who stood up for what they believed. Rather, it was that they treated me like an object of their agenda. Did they have any idea how their message would impact on my life? Did they even care?" (page 120).
His journey to faith is a slow one, but enlightening. The amount of signs God gave him to point him in the right direction are encouraging, and the challenge for Christian readers is to engage with other people. Know about them. Care for them. It cost Nabeel Qureshi dearly to come to Christianity. We should never underestimate that cost. After all, Jesus calls us to take us our cross daily.
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