I have followed Nabeel Qureshi for some time now. It is no news that I am an ardent follower of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Nabeel happens to be one of the Christian Apologists in that ministry. He gets to work closely with Dr. Ravi Zacharias himself! *sigh*. What an honour! I have heard Nabeel’s  testimony several times. In one of his sermons, while sharing his testimony, he almost cried when he got to the part where his mother didn’t turn up for his wedding because he had turned his back against Islam. Really, that would hurt. From the start of the book to the end, one thing is clear, after his faith, the second most important thing in his life is his family. So becoming a Christian literally meant that Nabeel let go of the two most important things in his life. One can only imagine how hard it is on Nabeel right now to suffer rejection and excommunication from the very people he loves. Is it worth it? Is Jesus Christ worth losing your loved ones over? Is salvation that much of a big deal?

The first few chapters of the book introduce us to a younger Nabeel – young, enthusiastic and inquisitive about his faith. Those chapters bear his fondest memories of Islam and his family. At a point, you would almost think he was making a case for Islam rather. The reader is likely to appreciate and respect Muslims even more after reading the opening chapters. He spoke with such endearment in his speech about Islam that one could only conclude he was truly proud and serious about his faith. For a christian like me, who has next to zero knowledge about Islam, this part of the book was a real eye-opener. I must say that I have learnt a lot from this book. The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the most important lessons I learnt from it. It is also supposed to be a wake-up call to all Christians to strive to read widely about other religions. Of course, you need to be well-grounded in Christianity first.

One of the most outstanding quotations in the entire book is, ‘effective evangelism requires relationships’. This reminds me of something Lecrae said in his song ‘Dirty Water’. He said, ‘I just dug a well in West Africa, but how many of my friends are Africans?’. We need to build relationships with people we want to convert or reach out to. Now this isn’t the usual approach we take when evangelizing. Nabeel made the quotation above in reference to the circumstances surrounding his conversion. His conversion was made possible by the sort of relationship he had with his closest friend in the University. Prior to meeting David, Nabeel trumped his christian opponents in any inter-religious debate or discussion. Then he met David and everything changed. David had a response to almost every question and doubt Nabeel raised about Christianity. Even the toughest questions. I remember closing the book and plunging myself in deep thoughts almost at the verge of doubting the authenticity of the bible. I hadn’t heard it before. I thought the bible was 100% accurate. When Nabeel raised the issue of the obvious errors and interpolations in the bible I almost threw up my hands in surrender. But the response David gave to this allegation was remarkable (read here). For a friendship to grow stronger through the years, it takes commitment and most importantly, a shared-interest. These two did not believe in the same God. I want to believe it was their commitment to their individual faiths that fueled their friendship and the mutual respect they had for each other.

As I have already stated, the book is an eye-opener. I learnt so much about Islam and was reminded of many things I had learnt about Islam in my Religious and Moral Education class in Junior High School. I would like to share a few with you before I go on to the shocking findings I made in the book:

• Hadith: Muhammad’s words and actions recorded in tradition. There are several of them. Some, held in high esteem as authentic, others, not. Contrary to what I thought, the Qur’an isn’t the only ancient book that Muslims read and derive values from. The Hadiths are respected and read widely by muslims too. Some examples of Hadiths include, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Sitta.
• Like Christianity, Islam, also has denominations. The two major denominations are Sunni and Shia. And each denomination varies in the Hadiths they consider accurate.
• Muslims believe that Jesus is no more than a Prophet. And they consider it blasphemous to believe that Jesus is God.
• One major way that God (Jehovah) talks to Muslims is through dreams. This is probably because Muslims believe dreams are the most common ways through which Allah speaks to them. A popular Hadith teaches that ‘the dreams of the faithful are prophetic’. 
• Muslims made a huge impact in the West in the following fields: Science, Medicine, Mathematics and Philosophy. That is why we still have some Arabic words in some of them like ‘algebra’ and ‘alchemy’.

Now to some shocking findings in the book about Islam. I would like to state emphatically that the following are not my views. I am simply stating what the book says. Objections and other concerns are welcome in the comments section of this page. Anyway, according to Nabeel:

• Some Muslims believe that Jesus was either saved from death on the cross by Allah or his body was stolen by his disciples (The Swoon Theory) instead of the popular belief that he resurrected. Others believe that Allah put Jesus’ face on someone else and that person was crucified instead of Jesus (Substitution Theory).
• Muslims believe that there are verses in the bible that prophesy the coming of Muhammed. One of these verses is Deuteronomy 18:18 – they believe this refers to the prophet Muhammed.
• Many false Hadiths have been fabricated. There are different translations of the Qur’an. The Hadiths were put together about 200-250 years after the death of Muhammed. The 4 men that Muhammed selected as the best teachers of the Qur’an did not agree with the final Qur’an; they didn’t even agree with each other. I am particularly shocked at all these because of the huge fuss some muslims I have encountered made about the inaccuracy of the bible. Apparently, Islam has a few issues here and there concerning its Holy Books too. Usually, they would claim that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved while the bible is inundated with errors and interpolations. The last gospel – the gospel of John – was written 70 years after the death of Christ so there must have been eye witnesses still existing when it was written. We can’t say same for the Hadiths which were put together about 200-250 years after the death of Muhammed.

It was an amazing read and I hope to read more books from the author. I was however disappointed he didn’t shed much light on Jihad and terrorism. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. Do I consider myself well-informed about Islam? Yes. But information isn’t necessarily education. So I do not consider myself anything close to a scholar of a religion I have read a single book about. In fact, I have more questions about Islam now, than before I opened the book. It is very okay to have questions. The Lord knows the number of questions I have about Christianity too.

At the tail end of the book Nabeel said ‘He (Jesus) assured me that inconceivable pain and social rejection is part of the Christian walk’. Inconceivable pain and social rejection? So pain is part of the package, if you didn’t get it, you were probably sold a fake product… a fake Christianity. I sometimes really want to fit in. I want to look cool just to be accepted by everybody else, but social rejection is part of the package too. This is what you sign up for once you make that decision. For me, Nabeel Qureshi’s testimony exemplifies what Jesus meant when He said ‘Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me’. The Christian walk is a long painful slow stroll through a city where people are shouting and jeering at you because of the path you chose. A Christian is someone who is going up a hill while clutching a heavy cross with feeble hands. Taking slow painful steps as the weight of the cross is pressing on his sore back. The people mocking at you because of your ‘misfortune’ are simply people who have abandoned the call to bear their own crosses. Nobody can help you except the one who went through it all and came out victorious.

Every morning on my way to work, I encounter so many scenes that put me in a pensive mood for the rest of the day. Indelible scenes line up on the pavements as I walk by. I see beggars in various conditions begging for alms in the most pathetic ways. I am usually filled with anger… at myself… then at them. At myself because I often do not have ‘more than enough money’ to give, and at them because, for some absurd reason I feel they are there mainly to expose my heart. I feel they are there to expose my heart to me: how I only feel like giving to them when I have more than enough. When I look at them, I am filled with compassion too. And I ask myself, ‘what did they do at all to be born lepers?’ The disciples were troubled by this too. When they asked Jesus, whose sin had caused the man to be blind Jesus was about to heal, he replied, ‘no one has sinned but it is so that the GLORY of the father will be seen’. I won’t sit here and pretend this statement solves it all. As though this  statement alone puts this huge monster of a problem to sleep in my mind.  I still think about it every time, ‘why should a  baby be born with a brain tumor? Why should a child be born and not grow to see his/her mother? Why should anyone die in a fatal accident? Why should anyone be denied the awesome sense of  sight? Why is there pain at all? Why?

Congenital Analgesia, is a medical condition where an individual is not able to feel pain. The amazing thing about this condition is, it is referred to as a DISEASE or DISORDER. Amazing, isn’t it? One would have expected scientists to run out of the bath tub, shouting eureka!! eureka!! on the streets for having discovered a state of complete painlessness. But no, it is called a disease or a disorder. To literally break the word down (dis-ease), it means a state of not being at ease or a state of discomfort. Can you imagine living with a relative who was suffering (yes, suffering) from this condition? That would be the most painful experience, forget about that nuisance of a roommate you had to cope with in the university. People like this REQUIRE  24-hour surveillance because they could be hurting and not know it. They could even step on a sharp object and bleed to death in their sleep. Due to the nature of this disease, patients need to be critically observed every minute of the day. Think about how discomforting this could be. You wouldn’t want to have a spouse who suffers from this disease, right? Well, this is the same way God wouldn’t want to be  God of a people who cannot feel pain. Pain sometimes teaches us lessons and is very necessary. No matter what we think, a painless life doesn’t bring ultimate pleasure. Nevertheless that is our aim as humans. Well no one said pain is pleasurable, it is certainly discomforting but very necessary. Dr. Ravi Zacharias says it more profoundly *paraphrasing*, ‘meaninglessness in life is not only present in excessive pain but more in excessive pleasure’. People tend to forget how meaningful and important life is when they are satisfying the lascivious desires of their heart. The most absurd experience is to attain a very important feat in life and realizing how empty you feel afterwards. Or how disappointed you become at being filled with lesser joy than you expected after attaining such heights. This is even evident in my own life. I had mapped out several events that would accompany the commemoration of the end of my university education. I planned on being excessively bubbly that day and probably have the biggest bowl of my favorite meal. Then go on to visit my friends and hang out with them the whole day. After writing my last paper, I saw my course mates heartily hugging each other, taking pictures and laughing loudly until they couldn’t catch their breaths. I walked away quietly, looked back at them and then went straight to my room. Wow! for some reason, completing my university education wasn’t that much of a  big deal after all. Many a rich man complains about feeling lonely. There are rich men who have been sent to their graves because of depression and one would wonder what at all could trouble a wealthy man.

Only corpses do not feel pain. That’s why they are corpses anyway. It is as if pain certifies your being alive. For when babies are born, it is an expression of pain (crying) that signals to the doctors that the baby is alive and well. From what I gather, the excruciating pain mothers go through in child birth is beyond comprehension. Do we blame God for this? Certainly not, for this wasn’t his original intent for man, pain totally defies the default intentions of God for man. God’s plan is fully seen in the garden: a blissful never ending joyous and painless life where man didn’t even have to work. It was sin that caused all of this. But then, how is God able to watch his children go through all this pain? Well, while we may want to think the pain we go through is the greatest injustice in the world, God thinks otherwise. And he is right too. The greatest injustice ever, is the death of Christ on the cross. This is because, not only was Christ innocent of all the charges leveled against him, he had never sinned. So he deserved no punishment at all. God placed him in the hands of sadistic individuals who had a field day being cruel to an innocent soul. My conclusion is based on God’s reaction to Jesus dying on the cross. From Jesus’ prayer on the cross, it appears God looked away, but allowed it anyway. So if God allowed ‘the greatest injustice’ ever recorded in human history (for your sake), then trust me he would allow us to go through those painful moments. Not meaningless pain, but pain that is for the greater good of humanity and yourself as well. It could be the mere fact that you will tell your story one day to encourage somebody else – your pain has served a humanitarian purpose. The amazing thing is God promises us, he will be there with us. He said. ‘WHEN you go through the fire… I will be with you’. The keyword there is ‘WHEN’. This gives me so much joy that though I might go through pain, God is with me.

The reaction to pain is sometimes amazing. I have been through pain in my life. I went through things at a young age that would rain misery and suffering on adults. I have also seen loved ones go through pain that seems unjustifiable. Yet I still hold on to my faith in God, rather than driving me away from God it rather pushes me in his direction. For if God can see Jesus through the crucifixion and then give him such a glorious reward, I believe he will do same for me, and for you too if only we allow him. O what peace we often forfeit, o what NEEDLESS PAIN WE BEAR, when we do not take all our cares and burdens to him in prayer.

For whatever my lot

Thou hast taught me to say

IT IS WELL, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.