Thoughts On Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus

   I have a   blog for book reviews, but this is not really a book review, so I am posing it here. I just finished reading the book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi. It is a very moving and detailed story of how a young man who was raised a Muslim, came to know Jesus. I read a similar book a couple of months ago, but this one was more moving and gave more details than the other. I do have some thoughts after finishing the book, and since it is 5:00 am, they may be jumbled and not make a lot of sense.

1) Muslims scare me, and have scared me since 911. And since 911, they have been behind every terrorist attack and attempted terrorist attack on our country, but according to the author of this book, there are different sects of Muslims, and some decry violence. Why they seem silent when these attacks happen, I don't know, but the sect Nabeel was from is against these attacks.

2) Mohammed may be their esteemed prophet, but he was a wicked and cruel man, something Muslims find all kinds of excuses for.

3) It is OK for Muslims to question Allah, who is God, but not OK to question Mohammed, his prophet. Seems bizarre.

4) God can truly reach anyone and bring them to Him, no matter how impossible it seems, no matter how steeped in a false religion they are.

5) Christianity totally trumps Islam, and can be backed up historically. Islam crumbles under true examination.

6) God still uses a variety of ways to reach people, in this case dreams.

7) In the book, Nabeel becomes best friends with a Christian young man, David. Over the course of a few years, David helps bring to Christ:
Marie, an atheist, who he eventually marries
Zach, a Buddist
Nabeel, a Muslim

  This may be the biggest thing I walked away from this book with. The book is by and about Nabeel, a Muslim who finds Jesus and turns his back on Islam, but I was amazed that this Christian young man, David, was so instrumental in bringing three people to Jesus who most of is wouldn't think about talking to about Jesus.

How many people have we won to Jesus who normally wouldn't darken a church door?
Can our faith stand up to questioning and examination by people from other religions?
Do we know our Bible and faith well enough?
Do we live our Christian life in a way that would win anyone, much less people like David won?

8) For most of us here in the United States, our faith costs us nothing. We might experience a little push back, but most of us have no true persecution or cost from serving Jesus. Not so for a Muslim who converts to Christianity.

If they are from certain sects of Islam, they could be hunted down and killed. Nabeel was not from those sects of Islam, but he had to deal with breaking his parents' hearts, and a lot of being ostracized. Only a few cousins came to his wedding, most of his family, his parents and sister included, did not come.

We don't deal with that. In fact, for most of us, following Jesus is easy. Maybe too easy. Sometimes we take it for granted, and take God for granted, but if we truly had to give up everything we knew, everyone we loved, to follow Jesus...... could we do it?

I do highly recommend the book. It is interesting and compelling.