“I was familiar with the Bible from a very young age. I was taught that it proves the Muslim belief that Jesus is not God,\u201d says Nabeel Qureshi, now an author and speaker for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).<\/p>\n
Qureshi was raised in a close-knit Pakistani-American family devoted to Islam \u2014 so when he became convinced of the truth of the Bible and the claims of the Christian faith, he knew everything would change. \u201cI knew from studying the gospels that I was called to give up everything. Jesus says in Matthew 10, \u2018He who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Barriers to Belief<\/p>\n
In responding to the gospel, Qureshi realized his relationship with his family presented two barriers to Christian faith. The first was intellectual. From an early age, he had been taught Islamic apologetics \u2014 he learned to defend his minority faith in a majority Christian context. \u201cIslam and Christianity teach such disparate things, and my parents needed a way to teach their son \u2014 who was growing up in the United States \u2014 to hold his beliefs against Christian teachings. I was taught Bible verses that seemed to argue against the deity of Jesus. One was Mark 13:32, where Jesus talks about no one knowing the day or the hour of the end of times, \u2018not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.\u2019\u201d Qureshi had to re-examine everything he had long assumed to be fact.<\/p>\n
The second barrier was social. Even before he seriously considered Christianity, Qureshi knew how devastating his conversion would be to his parents. His close ties with them stemmed from their Eastern, communal-minded family structure \u2014 compounded by the isolation they experienced living as a minority race, religion, and culture in the U.S. To describe Qureshi\u2019s family as devout doesn\u2019t truly portray their religious legacy: \u201cMy mom was a missionary kid who grew up in Indonesia, where my grandfather preached to tribes in the jungles. My great-grandfather was a missionary and physician in Uganda. From a social perspective, there were two things that gave my parents a sense of respect and standing in the Muslim community: the family legacy and their children. My conversion would mean taking everything away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Role of Apologetics<\/p>\n
While in college and medical school, one of Qureshi\u2019s Christian friends challenged him to examine the Bible more seriously to see if its claims could be verified. It took years, but he began to respect the Bible as a historical document \u2014 even before he recognized Jesus as God. \u201cWe know through biblical archaeology that some of the things Luke mentioned were not corroborated until archaeological digs confirmed them. I came to the conclusion that they had compelling historical truths. I researched textual transmission, wanting to find out if what the Bible says today is what the Bible has always said. We have so many manuscripts of the New Testament in ancient Greek that we can be very confident in our reading of its text. Understanding the nature of the evidence began to change my perspective on the reliability of the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
As his respect for the Bible grew, Qureshi began to look more closely at the Gospel of Mark\u2019s claims about Jesus. \u201cMuslim apologists will usually say that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, but he didn\u2019t claim to be God. They expect Jesus to identify himself using certain words. It\u2019s not a bad expectation, given how God identifies himself in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 45:22, for example, God very powerfully says, \u2018I am God, and there is no other.\u2019 When he meets Moses in Exodus 3:14, Moses asks him who he is, and God says, \u2018I am that I am\u2019 \u2014 in other words, \u2018I eternally exist.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n
Qureshi\u2019s studies in Mark convinced him that the oldest of the Gospels is fundamentally about the deity of Christ. \u201cThe climax of Mark\u2019s Gospel is Mark 14:62, when Jesus is asked to publicly proclaim his identity. \u2018Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed?\u2019 asked the high priest. And Jesus responds by saying, \u2018I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.\u2019 It\u2019s so important that we know our Old Testament because in this one verse Jesus responds by referring to at least two passages. The first is Psalm 110:1: \u2018The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.\u2019 His response also references Daniel 7:13, where Daniel sees a vision of \u2018one like the son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.\u2019 When we read Jesus\u2019 statement in context with those Old Testament passages, we see him saying, \u2018I am the God of Daniel. I am the God of David.\u2019 Once I saw that, I realized what I had been taught about Christianity was false. Even in the earliest records, Jesus had claimed to be God.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Individualist Action in a Communal Culture<\/p>\n
Although Qureshi now was convinced of the truth of Scripture, he still hesitated to turn his life over to Christ. In Islamic culture, decisions are made and actions considered based not on the individual\u2019s wants or desires, but on the expectations of one\u2019s community. \u201cI had to deal with the idea of giving up everyone around me. Everything they\u2019d sacrificed for me \u2014 I\u2019d be throwing that back in their faces. Was the cost going to be worth it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tipping point for me was when I set the Qur\u2019an and the Bible in front of me and prayed to God for comfort and guidance. I flipped through the Qur\u2019an first. I was looking for verses designed to comfort a man who is hurting. I went through the whole book, and there is not a single verse in the Qur\u2019an designed to comfort a hurting man. And so I put the Qur\u2019an down, and said, \u2018This book doesn\u2019t apply to me anymore.\u2019 I picked up the Bible and started reading the New Testament. When I got to Matthew 5, I read these words: \u2018Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod reaches out to people through the Bible. He speaks to them in their needs. The Bible says that God loves even those who are thirsting for righteousness, whereas the Qur\u2019an says God does not love anyone except those who are righteous. That just blew my mind away, and I realized the Bible was the living Word of God. I kept reading and got to Matthew 10:32: \u2018Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.\u2019 It\u2019s not just a matter of having evidence or spiritual or emotional guidance. Jesus says you have to confess him before the people of this world. That verse convicted me to drop to my knees and proclaim Christ as Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next Steps: Bible Study and Church<\/p>\n
As he had feared, Qureshi\u2019s family cut him off after his conversion \u2014 an isolation that forced him to rely more fully on God. Qureshi took a year off from medical school to get acquainted with his newfound faith. He enrolled in an apologetics course at Biola University and continued intensely studying the Bible. At first Qureshi says he approached the Bible the same way he\u2019d been taught to study the Qur\u2019an. \u201cMuslims often don\u2019t sit down with concordances or with anything like that. They just memorize sections of the Qur\u2019an, and so I memorized sections of the Bible. In the first few weeks after I became a Christian, I memorized the book of Ephesians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scripture memorization can be a very helpful tool, but through conversations with his Christian friends, he learned that Bible study should be more than just memorizing the words of the text. It ought to involve an effort to understand Scripture\u2019s meaning. \u201cI began looking at themes that tie together the Old and New Testaments. I studied what the Bible says about self-sacrifice. I studied God\u2019s love for Israel, which is a very poignant subject for anyone with a Muslim background.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he had few church connections, Qureshi started meeting with a handful of Christian friends. \u201cI knew three other people who were also new believers. One of them had just recommitted himself to Christ. Of the two others, one had been an atheist and the other converted from Buddhism. The four of us got together every Wednesday and every Sunday to read the Bible and a devotional together. That was the most amazing time of my life. Our community was, I think, exactly what Christ wanted. We broke bread together in remembrance of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Qureshi began attending church regularly, he was unprepared for the lax attitude toward faith held by many Christians. \u201cI encountered people who were not expecting God to do anything. People didn\u2019t really believe in the Holy Spirit. In no way did I see people relying upon God, and I slowly became accustomed to that. In Western cultures, people are fiercely individualistic. Everything we do is very much, \u2018What do I think is right or wrong? What\u2019s good for me?\u2019 In Christianity, that seeps into how we practice our faith: \u2018How did the Lord speak to me this morning?\u2019 \u2018I need to sit down with my study Bible, and do my devotions.\u2019 In that environment, my faith gradually became a matter of just reading my Bible, praying, and doing my devotions in the morning.\u201d
\nThese individualist tendencies of comfort and self-reliance \u2014 not the much-discussed arenas of Islam, atheism, or homosexuality \u2014 are the biggest challenge facing the American church, in Qureshi\u2019s perspective. \u201cJesus says very clearly in the book of Revelation that he does not want people to be lukewarm. As we see in the Gospels, he is all in or all out, and he calls us to live the same way. That\u2019s why he says it\u2019s harder for rich men to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. No one can serve both wealth and God. Even Christians who do not adhere to a prosperity gospel can easily become self-reliant and comfortable, but God wants us to radically rely on him. What does that look like? If someone asks for your cloak, give them your tunic also. Look at the lilies of the field. Aren\u2019t they clothed in greater splendor than Solomon? If God has taken care of them, won\u2019t he take care of us? Give your food to the hungry. Love your enemies. Be ready to lay down your life for the gospel. That\u2019s what it means to live as a Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Living Testimony<\/p>\n
Over the last decade, Qureshi has been working to rebuild his family relationships. For years he was estranged from his parents. When he got married, they did not attend his wedding. \u201cThe first few years were extremely difficult, and after that things were still very, very hard. In the last year there\u2019s finally been some good progress. My wife has been reaching out to my parents and learning their language. Of course my parents speak English, but my wife wants to speak their heart language. We try to spend time with them and let them know that we love them. We\u2019re trying to be good witnesses. The relationship has never been anywhere close to what it used to be, but it\u2019s in the process of repairing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2006, as Qureshi began sharing his testimony in local churches, he was also invited to give talks on other aspects of Christian culture \u2014 one of his earliest was on The DaVinci Code , in the year of the film\u2019s release. By September 2011, he had completed his medical degree and was living in Washington, D.C. \u2014 but he was no longer interested in practicing medicine. His conversion upended even his professional goals: \u201cMy heart was in evangelism and apologetics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overcoming intellectual and emotional hurdles to reach his belief fueled Qureshi\u2019s enthusiasm for apologetics, the discipline of defending the faith. In 2013, he joined the RZIM team, where he uses his testimony to walk college students through a Christian apologetic. He still speaks frequently on his personal testimony and on how Christians can reach Muslims with the gospel. In 2014, he released a book \u2014 Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus \u2014 detailing his journey to faith. Qureshi\u2019s passion is sharing the power of the gospel. To that end, he is pursuing a doctorate in New Testament studies at Oxford, focusing on the Christology of Mark\u2019s Gospel.<\/p>\n
After Qureshi\u2019s conversion, deep conversations with Christian friends who were passionate about the gospel spurred his research into the deity of Christ and his eventual conversion. He\u2019s careful to underscore the importance of compassion in the midst of argument \u2014 not debating or arguing for argument\u2019s sake, but with the goal of meeting someone with the gospel message in the midst of struggle, just as his friends did for him. \u201cWhen someone asks how a loving God can allow so much suffering in the world, we should realize they may have something in their past prompting that question. I don\u2019t want anyone to try to argue the person into heaven. We need to realize perhaps something happened to their family in the past. Who knows what might have happened that created a hurdle between them and the gospel? Once that hurdle is cleared, then they can see the gospel and consider it for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Zacharias tells us, \u2018You cannot cut off someone\u2019s nose and then give him a rose to smell.\u2019 You can\u2019t attack someone\u2019s beliefs to show them Christianity is true and expect them to receive the gospel. Apart from evangelism and compassion, apologetics is a weapon. Without the presentation of the gospel as its ultimate goal and compassion as its undertone, argument stems from sinful pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having been \u201ccompassionately argued into the kingdom\u201d himself, Qureshi wants to give believers the tools to reach out in the same way: \u201cI want to help people overcome their barriers to hearing the gospel. It is the only answer for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“I was familiar with the Bible from a very young age. I was taught that it proves the Muslim belief that Jesus is not God,\u201d says Nabeel Qureshi, now an author and speaker for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Qureshi was raised in a close-knit Pakistani-American family devoted to Islam \u2014 so when he became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1193,1560,391,1636,1201,759,843,1252,842],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}