Seeking Allah by Nabeel Qureshi

‘Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus’ by Nabeel Qureshi is a unique book which touches on two conflicting religions, the Islamic and Christian religions (Qureshi, Harney, & Harney, 2016). The author designates his dramatic expedition from Islam to Christianity. In his quest to challenge the Christian religion, Nabeel studies the Bible, a move which prompts him to know Jesus. As a Muslim living in an Islamic family, it becomes hard for him to understand which side of the religion to stand with. Besides, the author also explains how he developed his love for the Islamic religion, hence being convinced to study the bible in order to challenge as a means of challenging it. The more he read the bible, the more he was convinced that Jesus died and rose on the third day as a son of God. For that reason, this paper will discuss, the religious issues touched in the book, how the book relates to the religion before finally giving a general opinion on the information provided by the book.

The religious issues discussed in the book are, the truth behind Jesus Christ, and the relationship between Christian and Islam religions. For many years, the two religions have been conflicting each other, on who is the true son of God, with the Muslims claiming that Jesus was only but a prophet and not the son of God. On the other hand, Christians strongly believe that Jesus is the son of God, and he will come again to save them. Nonetheless, Nabeel focuses on providing the reasons as to why Jesus died and resurrected on the third day, and why Jesus is indeed the son of God. Nabeel was born and raised in a Muslim family where he was obliged to accept the Islamic religion. He did so, and truly believed in Allah, until he met David, a friend while at school. David shared the gospel of Jesus with Nabeel, a move which compelled Nabeel to read the Bible in order to challenge his friend into believing Islamic religion was indeed the true religion (Qureshi, Harney, & Harney, 2016).  

After reading the Bible, Nabeel started experiencing a series of miracles which eventually made him believe Jesus was the son of God. The miracles revealed to him that Christianity was the true religion and that Jesus was not a prophet as he had initially known but a son of God who was sent to save human kind from their sins. While experiencing the dreams, he would seek refuge in the Quran, and would not find an answer for the dreams, but when he turned to the Bible, he found clear interpretation of the dreams he was experiencing. Henceforth, the book relates to the relationship between Christianity and the Islamic religion, in the sense that both religions are related, and they serve a similar God, but with some differences (Qureshi, Harney, & Harney, 2016). In addition, the book also provides us an understanding of both the Quran and the Bible and how they explain the existence of God. It is consequently clear that the two are related in the sense that they share a similar message but they conflict each other.

The book represents the Christian religion positively and at the same time Islamic religion negatively, in that the author talks about focuses more on the shortcomings of the Quran than those of the bible. In as much as Nabeel believed the Bible had been corrupted, he did not use harsh words against the Christian religion, but instead he decided to use the bible itself as a means of challenging its own dictates. While arguing with David, Nabeel sought the truth about David’s argument from the bible which connected to the bible. Likewise, as a Muslim, Nabeel became convinced that the Christian religion was indeed superior, and that the bible was not wrong in anyway. The author also gave us an understanding of the Islamic religion, through explaining its dictates and why he believed in Muhammad and not Jesus Christ. However, Nabeel also states how confused he was after learning of the superiority of Christianity. He therefore placed the Bible and the Quran before him and found the Quran irrelevant. Furthermore, Nabeel states that he found so much violence and disapproval in the Quran which made him to doubt the Quran as a word of God, ‘But maybe You are showing me that the Quran is not Your word after all’ (Qureshi, Harney, & Harney, 2016). This message basically depicts how Nabeel found solace in the Bible, a thing he was not able to find in the Quran.

 The criticism against the Quran emanates from the situation where the author sees it as a book which is only relevant for happiness and may not suit those mourning. In other words, this basically means that the Islamic religion only advocates for the good in life, and it cannot be of any help in situations of need, as it is with the bible. Finally, the book had initially criticised the bible, in the event where Nabeel argued that Jesus had never died on the cross, which is basically saying the bible was conveyed a wrong message. In the end, he became convinced of the relevance of the bible through reading through it by himself (Qureshi, Harney, & Harney, 2016).

The book has talked a lot about the religion, however, I came to learn that one can find solace from the bible. While mourning, Nabeel would read through the Bible, which provided him with comforting words thus enabling him to pass through that period. Moreover, I also came to understand that the religion is not only about God, but is also about the things that we go through in our daily lives. The book depicts this through the Quran which dictates how people should relate with one another hence living in accordance with the teachings. As Nabeel states, no Christian was close to him as he was growing up owing to the fact that he was a Muslim. Similarly, he believes that we should be close to each other regardless of our religious believes. In so doing, we will be able to live in harmony (Qureshi, Harney, & Harney, 2016). Through this, I understood the power of the religion when it came to relationships between one another. Most people tend to relate with those of the same religious beliefs. The religion is consequently a powerful tool which can be used to foster peaceful coexistence between one another. On the contrary, through reading the word of God, one understands the truth about the religion which is significant in getting to know if indeed a specific religion is true or not.

According to my point of view, the book clearly illustrates the actual understanding of human beings when it comes to religion. People tend to criticise the religion without really understanding its dictates. For instance, Nabeel criticised the Christianity and would defend the Islamic religion because he was a Muslim. He did not base his arguments on the teachings rather on his own beliefs. The same applies to the world, people are fighting all over the world due to religious differences, without understanding the religion. If Nabeel had not read through the bible, he would not have understood the significance of Christianity, henceforth he would never have converted to Christianity. The book consequently teaches us to think before we act, and to also base our arguments on facts rather than beliefs. I believe this book conveys an important message which the world should read in order to create a peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians as well those of different beliefs.

Finally, I would recommend this book to others for the reason that it is important to understand the information Nabeel passes and to also understand the religion. Reading through the book will allow most people to change their opinion regarding a specific religion. Besides, the books also enables the reader to think twice before judging a religion because no one is perfect, and the religion which one may be defending or judging may turn out to be less significant. In addition, the book also talks about relating to one another, which is essential for peaceful coexistence. Lastly the book also teaches us not to be confined to our religious beliefs but instead to be resourceful in order to understand the religion in general

Reference

Qureshi, N., Harney, K., & Harney, S. (2016). Seeking Allah, finding Jesus: A former Muslim shares the evidence that led him from Islam to Christianity: study guide: eight sessions.