Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus | Book Review Mar 13, 2019

Jesus claimed that if you seek him, you will find him. This was not some feel good statement. This was a promise and a guarantee. Jesus also claimed to be the truth. Whether we like to believe it or not, we are always seeking truth. Too often though, people are searching for their truth rather than the truth. That is the beautiful thing about Truth. It is independent, it is exclusive, and it matters. Truth will tell us we are wrong regardless of what we feel. No matter how much culture changes, truth never changes. There can only be one truth. This is where we find the incredible story of Nabeel Qureshis life. He dared to seek not just his truth, but the truth.

Nabeel Qureshi was a devout Muslim. Taught at a very young age that Islam was the one true worldview and that Allah was the one true God. As an American citizen, Nabeel wanted to be a great ambassador for Islam. He would challenge any western worldview that clashed with his, and often succeeded. That was until he met his closest friend by the name of David Wood. David not only challenged Nabeels faith, but refuted his false presuppositions of the Christian faith. This beautiful friendship turned into a loving battle of two fundamental differences of Islam and Christianity. One; Did Jesus die on the cross? And two; Is Jesus God? These questions challenged Nabeel to think in a critical way. He decided to examine the life and teachings of both Mohammed and Jesus. He weighed the credibility between them through debates, books, scriptures, prayers, and dreams. His rigorous search for truth arrived at a shocking conclusion. Nabeel was forced to concede the unreliability of Islam. The worldview that he held so dear crumbled under the weight of incredible evidence. This was evidence most devout Muslims never told him about or could address.

On August 24, 2005, at 3 in the morning, Nabeel lost his battle to David, but found Jesus.

Nabeel accomplished something that few people are actually willing to do. He investigated the truth of Jesus through the lense of a seeker rather than a cynic. He put aside his presuppositions. He put aside what his culture said. He put aside what his family said. Most important, he put aside his bias and prideful assertions. He opened his heart and mind to the possibility that he may actually be wrong. That his faith may in fact not be true. That Sharia may not be the one true way to God. He did this all with a thorough comparison between the Bible against the Quran and the Hadiths. I dont think many people today can claim they did an intellectual honest search for truth the way Nabeel did. In his earliest moments of reading the Bible as a Christian, Nabeel shares that:

Tears flowed from my eyes once more, but now they were tears of joy. I knew what I held in my hands was life itself. This was truly Gods word, and it was as if I was meeting him for the first time. I began poring over the Bible, absorbing every word as if it were water for my parched soul, a soul that had never before drunk from the fountain of life. As I read, I perused the study notes at the bottom of the page and cross-references in the margins, not willing to miss a single angle of a single verse. Questions would come into my mind, and within moments, either the text I was reading or its footnote would lead me to the answer. This happened more times than I could count. I could not put the Bible down. I literally could not. It felt as if my heart would stop beating, perhaps implode, if I put it down. I ended up skipping the whole day of school, but I really had no choice in the matter. The Bible was my lifeline. - page 276

If our eternity is at stake, it is crucial to know what the truth is. There are many paths that claim to be true, but there can only be one true path. Nabeel knew this and sacrificed everything to know that one true path. We all know there is a cost to following Jesus. But for Muslims, the cost is so much higher. They can lose their community, their family, their honour, and even their life. But Nabeel understood that knowing the truth is a reward that by far outweighs all those costs.

On September 16, 2017, Nabeel lost his life to stomach cancer, but found eternal life.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus was a treasure to read. As I read this book two years after his death, his words continue to inspire millions of Christians, Muslims, and many other seekers. Whatever your worldview is, this book is a page turner that will place you right with Nabeel wanting to join him in this investigation. To the Christian that reads this book, love and embrace your Muslim neighbours. Build a relationship with them. Know the truth the way David did, speak it in love, and live it out as you walk this journey with them. You will be surprised how much your Muslim friends will be willing to listen to you. To the Muslim that reads this book, be inspired and encouraged by Nabeels life to seek truth at all costs. Nabeel had demonstrated that the sacrifice was beyond worth it. If you seek the truth with all your heart, you will find it. Nabeel proved that with his own life.