Work-in-Progress Book Update

Greetings, friends. As I type, it’s coming up to midnight here in London. I’ve just woken up after falling asleep late evening — my sleep pattern is quite random at the moment! Maybe someone reading this can relate (I know that Covid has messed with the body clocks of many). In any case, as I’m planning to go to the library tomorrow to return and borrow some books, I felt I’d like to offer a quick update on the thought process behind the book I’m working on writing.

The motivation behind my upcoming book release is largely personal. After I read the Qur’an at the end of 2020, with its oft-repeated stark contrast between the fate of those whom God guides and those whom He leaves to stray, it raised a lot of questions for me in relation to the doctrine of hell. Having been immersed in Christian theology exclusively for many years, I felt there was a doctrinal puzzle presented by the Qur’an in relation to which I needed to put the pieces together. How should I reconcile the warnings about hell emphasised in the Qur’an with Christian theology? Is there a way in which the Qur’an and the Bible fit together, or is it a case of ‘either/or’ — that I must accept one of these holy books and reject the other?

To begin with, I felt so impacted by the clarity of the Qur’an that the whole world of Christian theology began to feel like a complex mess by comparison. I was reading some books about New Testament textual criticism and all the complex issues to do with manuscripts, translation, and canon, and I honestly considered whether I should abandon the whole thing and focus my spirituality solely on the Qur’an. However, I have witnessed miracles being performed in the name of Jesus, and I spent years worshipping as a member of Christian congregations. Surely I could not abandon the faith in Jesus that had led to so many euphoric worship sessions and a complete reorienting of my life towards Biblical principles and Biblical teaching?

I prayed long and hard about this. Specifically, the Jesus divinity issue became a pressing concern for me. I had attended prayer groups for years and had frequently experienced troubles melting away when gathered in a Christian fellowship for prayer and worship. I had surrendered my life to Jesus! Honestly, I felt, how could I even conceive of embracing Islam and its teachings concerning the unity of God and its rejection of the Trinity and deity of Jesus? This presented an almighty predicament.

And this, friends, is where I’m currently at. I cannot dismiss the feeling that the Qur’an is divinely inspired, and I cannot wholly reject the Bible, which has been such a huge part of my life over the last decade, and which led me to get baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit. Writing about Islamic theology on this blog is difficult sometimes, because I completely understand the resistance to the Qur’an from some of my Christian readers who haven’t yet read it. I was in the same boat — I used to be part of a Christian street outreach team and talked with and prayed for quite a few Muslims who I was keen to persuade that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to have peace with God. However, I hadn’t even read the Qur’an before doing this! How arrogant.

The book I’m working on writing is giving me an opportunity to try to reconcile the Bible and the Qur’an in my own mind. And while the motivation is selfish in a sense, I think the book will be well worth a read for anyone who is open-minded enough to take Islam seriously, despite their Christian background.

To begin with, I was going to call the book ‘How to Avoid Hell’, and was planning to compare the teachings on hell found in the Torah, the New Testament, and the Qur’an. I hoped through my research to come to a deeper understanding of all the relevant issues. I didn’t know where it would lead. I designed a very simple temporary book cover reflecting this focus on the doctrine of hell. Designing a cover before writing a book might seem like a case of putting the cart before the horse, but it was a way of helping me to keep focused and inspired concerning the task at hand. I actually developed that original cover and produced a new version I was reasonably happy with, though I felt the fire extinguisher would perhaps create too much of a jovial impression — not good, because I take the idea of hell very seriously indeed.

I continued to undertake research for the book. I read a concise introduction to the Hadith literature in Islam and realised this would need to be discussed as part of the book. I read a 10-part blog series on Christian universalism, and realised I would have to discuss this in the book as well. I felt that writing exclusively about hell was not going to be enough. This was going to have to be a book about divine justice in general, even though the scope of the project would become very wide. I went back to the drawing board and felt the title ‘Divine Justice’ would be wholly appropriate. I designed a new cover (again, to keep me inspired and focused), and felt really happy with this.

The books I’m due to collect from the library tomorrow are all about Judaism, and this is the main area where I feel my understanding is currently lacking. Obviously through studying the Christian Bible I have a basic understanding of the Torah, but I feel for this project I must explore Rabbinic teaching more broadly. This is the next ‘phase’ of my research, and eventually I hope to produce a book which compares approaches to divine justice in the Tanakh, the Christian Bible, and the Qur’an. It could take a few months or a few years to write, but I hope that by the time the book is published I will have the deepest possible understanding of divine justice in the Abrahamic religions considering the resources I have access to.

If any of you are still reading this, thank you for indulging me. It’s late, I’m a little tired, and I know this post isn’t perfect. But it helps me to share these thoughts and hopefully helps some of you with an interest in my books to better understand the driving forces behind my latest project. You can subscribe to this blog and follow along with this journey if you’re interested in interfaith matters — I’d love to have your support as I work on producing the best book I possibly can.

Just a reminder that all my books are currently free in their eBook editions — visit my Books page for details. Feel free to comment below and give me some encouragement!