Thursday, July 16, 2015

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: a rare book that I could not put down until I finished reading it




Last night, I finished reading the above book by Dr. Nabeel Qureshi; a book, that once I started reading, I just could not put down until I got to the end.

It had been a number of months since I last read any books concerning Islam, but when I happened upon the book while surfing the internet last week, I felt compelled to look into it, even though I knew Dr. Qureshi had been an associate with David Wood, a high profile critic of Islam whose approach to apologetics I hold a certain dislike for. But, Dr. Qureshi has become a team member of Ravi Zacharias International Ministires (link); this, coupled with his substantial educational credentials (MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, MA in Christian apologetics from Biola University, MA in Religion from Duke University, and currently pursuing a doctorate in New Testament studies at Oxford University), led me to purchase book, and 'give it a chance'. I am quite pleased that I did so, for I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book is not a scholarly treatment, and at times, is a bit too polemical for my taste, but Dr. Qureshi is a masterful writer, and the story that he relates to his readers concerning his life as a devout Muslim growing up in America (and Scotland), and ultimate conversion to Christianity, is certainly a dramatic and emotional one. A must read IMO...

A Google 'preview' of the book is available HERE.

Aaron Menikoff (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), senior pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, has provided a pretty good review HERE.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Dr. Qureshi was raised in the Ahmadiyyat sect of Islam; many Sunni and Shia Muslims hold that members of the Ahmadiyyat sect are not Muslims at all. Dr. Qureshi has provided and excellent treatment on the Ahmadiyyat sect, addressing the issue of whether or not Ahamdis are Muslims (LINK).

I hope a number of my readers will take the time to read Dr. Qureshi's book, and then share their thoughts with me....


Grace and peace,

David

14 comments:

Dale said...

Hey David - I too greatly enjoyed the book, and found Nabeel to by a likable and courageous person. I hope you had a chance to catch my 2-part critical review of the book, in episodes 93 and 94 of the trinities podcast:

http://trinities.org/blog/?s=seeking+allah%2C+finding+jesus

God bless,
Dale

David Waltz said...

Hi Dale,

I just returned (a couple of hours ago) from a road-trip/vacation with my wife, and I'm still 'catching up'. Will check out your podcasts tomorrow (the Lord willing).

Thanks much for the heads-up !!!


Grace and peace,

David

Ken said...

I started reading Nabeel's book.
This is also interesting - after the first section, about half way through, Nabeel shares his testimony and dreams and visions.
Georges Houssney (Lebanese Christian from a Christian background, but with a heart for evangelism to Muslims) and Abdu Murray (former Shiite Muslim from Lebanon) are also very interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxcj0PG9qNA

Ken said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWpqqqZn7Kg

Nabeel's debate with Shabir Ally on the Doctrine of the Trinity is also very interesting and relates to your other posts on The Trinity.

Ken said...

David,
I just finished Nabeel's book and it is excellent.
I am planning on writing an article on this at my blog "Apologetics and Agape".

Several things struck me:
1. The genuine friendship that David Wood made with Nabeel and how that was a major factor in getting him to read the Scriptures in context and also how a true friendship of showing true Christian love is key in evangelism.
2. That Nabeel admitted when he was a Muslim he only knew the verses in the Bible that Muslim apologists were using and he was reading them in their materials. When he started the reading the Bible verse by verse in context, that is when the word of God started really having an impact on his soul.
3. What a pivilege he had to have meet Dr. Mike Licona and Dr. Gary Habermas and they were able to refute the Islamic polemics against the New Testament and refute the Muslim (and Ahmadi) arguments against the death of Christ on the cross. (Surah 4:157)
4. While the dreams were vivid and amazing (especially the one of the Cricket eating the Iquana (meaning: Christianity eating Islam); they seem to confirm experiencially for him what he was studying as he studies both the Bible and the problems he found when he read the Ahadith and Sira and Islamic commentaries for himself. He had a lot of the word rolling around inside his mind and soul that the dreams were seemingly icing on the cake. But the cake was the Scriptures and David's friendship.

Ken said...

What he says about the pain and the family rejection when he became a Christian was also very moving and significant.

David Waltz said...

Hi Ken,

So good to hear that you finished Nabeel's book. As I said in my opening post, "I thoroughly enjoyed it"; and I was pretty sure that you would too.

This afternoon, you wrote:

==I am planning on writing an article on this at my blog "Apologetics and Agape".==

Let me know when you have posted it. (BTW, I have provided the link to your blog on the right side bar under 'REFORMED LINKS' for quite sometime now.)

==Several things struck me:
1. The genuine friendship that David Wood made with Nabeel and how that was a major factor in getting him to read the Scriptures in context and also how a true friendship of showing true Christian love is key in evangelism.==

Agreed.

==2. That Nabeel admitted when he was a Muslim he only knew the verses in the Bible that Muslim apologists were using and he was reading them in their materials. When he started the reading the Bible verse by verse in context, that is when the word of God started really having an impact on his soul.==

Good point.

==3. What a pivilege he had to have meet Dr. Mike Licona and Dr. Gary Habermas and they were able to refute the Islamic polemics against the New Testament and refute the Muslim (and Ahmadi) arguments against the death of Christ on the cross. (Surah 4:157)==

Surah 4.157...you know my take on that very important verse.

==4. While the dreams were vivid and amazing (especially the one of the Cricket eating the Iquana (meaning: Christianity eating Islam); they seem to confirm experiencially for him what he was studying as he studies both the Bible and the problems he found when he read the Ahadith and Sira and Islamic commentaries for himself. He had a lot of the word rolling around inside his mind and soul that the dreams were seemingly icing on the cake. But the cake was the Scriptures and David's friendship.==

Had you heard of the, "dream interpretation book, written by ancient dream interpreter, Ibn Sirin", that Nabeel mentioned on page 263 ??? It was the first that I had, so after I finished the book I went online and found the following site:

http://en.dreambook.in.ua/sonnik/islamskyi-sonnyk-ibn-syryna/

Looking forward to your article...


Grace and peace,

David

Ken said...

Thanks for linking to my blog.

I had never heard of that book by Ibn Sirin before.

But, even though I had read the section in Sahih Bukhari about the revelations and dreams and how Muhammad went to Khadija and Warqa bin Naufal - I had read all that before; I had never been so stuck by the fact that an entire book of Hadith was about dreams and their interpretation.

Iranians put a lot of stock in dreams also and most every Iranian I know who has come to Christ had dreams that prepared them for the word or confirmed the gospel for them.

The quotation that Nabeel gave from the Hadith was interesting - "the dreams of the faithful are prophetic" (page 65) Book 87, # 116.

The online Hadith of that Sahih Al Bukhari says "the dreams of the faithful is a part of the forty-six parts of prophetism."

Narrated 'Ubada bin As-Samit: The Prophet said, "The (good) dreams of a faithful believer is a part of the forty-six parts of prophetism:'

I wonder what the "46 parts" means?

Ken said...

The book of Interpretion of Dreams in Sahih Al Bukhari is # 91 here:
http://sunnah.com/bukhari/91

But here it is # 87:
http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=87&translator=1&start=0&number=0

I wonder why there is a difference?

Also, do you know how to find the numbering system of
1. "Sahih Al Bukhari # 1234"
vs.
2. "Sahih Al Bukhari, Book 9, 87, # 116"

I cannot find the reference if it is done by the first method.

Ken said...

Typo,
I meant, "Struck"


I had never been so struck by the fact that an entire book of Hadith was about dreams and their interpretation.

Now I realize more deeply why Muslims put so much stock in dreams.

Ken said...

Surah 4.157...you know my take on that very important verse.

As I recall, you take Surah 2:154 and 3:169 (with 19:33 and 3:55) as keys to interpreting 4:157.

Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord;

You are saying that the Qur'an does not deny the crucifixion and death of Christ, but that since Christ is alive in heaven with the Father, you think 4:157 is saying "they really didn't kill Him or destroy Him, even though they did kill Him physically on the cross"

Yeah, that seems really strained and forced.

kind of like when Protestant's say, "don't pray to dead saints", the Roman Catholic response is, "they are not dead, they are alive in heaven."

Ken said...

I wrote a summary of some of what I wrote above; and linked to another article (from a blog called "the Reformed Reader") that has a great excerpt from Nabeel's book. that article is entitled, "The Bible was My Lifeline".

I don't have time right now to write what I want to write now; as I want to quote his book properly and it just takes too much time to re-type quotes.

hopefully, I can write more later.

https://apologeticsandagape.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/the-bible-was-my-lifeline/

David Waltz said...

Good morning Ken,

Thanks for the update, and the link. When you do take the time to write a more lengthy review, don't forget to let me know,

As for Surah 4.157, I have posted 7 threads on this controversial ayah, citing numerous Islamic scholars who support my view; and importantly, a number of Arab Christians who read the ayah the same way (LINK).


Grace and peace,

David

Ken said...

Yeah, I remember those threads, as I argued with you a lot in the comboxes.
Even with all the scholars you quote, it still seems like a stretch.