Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity

by Nabeel Qureshi

seemed to me that if I wanted to hold onto an Islamic version of Jesus’ crucifixion — whether through the substitution theory or the theistic swoon theory — I would have to discard history. The Quran required me to close my eyes to the evidence and believe solely on faith.

the Christian claim aligned with the evidence 100 percent.

Abba

For one reason or another,

had elected to ignore an obvious truth during our conversation, and that did not ...

I realized I could no longer uncritically trust what my parents had taught me. I did not doubt their sincerity, their devotion, or their love, but I was b...

veil of certainty was lifted, and I was seeing the potential of the world in a new light.

Everything looked different, and I wanted to examine it all more carefully.

Maybe, just maybe, I should start considering it a remote possibility that the Christian message could possibly be true.

noticed something for the first time: the books Abba had on Jesus’ life were all polemical. They started with a conclusion, found facts that supported their position, and then made their case. As Gary had pointed out about Abba’s argument, the treatments were not careful or fair. They did not grapple with counterarguments, which left the cases they made untested and brittle.

Even though I had seen our arguments fail multiple times, I now became convinced it was because we had poor methodology.

Eastern authors were able to make passionate cases that compelled the heart, but Western authors thought more systematically and linearly, equipping themselves with excellen...

Perhaps if I employed Western methodology with Eastern passion, I would be able to craft the most compell...

To my parents, a second meeting could indicate that I was beginning to give Mike and Gary a place of authority in my life. This would be especially true if I did not bring Abba with me to the meeting, but bringing him was out of the question. I wouldn’t be able to speak freely if he were to come along.

decided to tell my parents I was going to hang out with David, which was the truth, but not the whole truth.

There were humorous announcements, a brief break during which people seemed coerced to greet one another, and a bucket that people passed along to collect money.

had never seen any of this before, and it all seemed very irreverent to me.

Worship was supposed to be a solemn, reflective time of bonding between man and God, yet these people were bangin...

That there were girls on stage during a worship service seemed to border on sacrilege.

the worship service disturbed me and left a sour taste in my mouth.

Gary

delivered a sermon on immortality. He argued that Jesus’ resurrection was a historically verifiable event and that the implications were tremendous.

Jesus’ resurrection

meant that the Christian message was true and that we could know we would be in heaven forever with God if we trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

“Gary, let’s say the resurrection of Jesus actually happened. That doesn’t all of a sudden mean that we ought to accept him as our Lord and Savior. That just means he was raised from the dead.”

I don’t think Jesus claimed to be God.”

already believe something’ is not a good reason to continue believing it. You need better reasons, ones that are grounded in objective facts. If the resurrection happened, we have good reason to believe that God approves of Jesus. That’s the point.”

What does that mean for me?”

“It means you should look and see if Jesus really did claim to be God.”

“Okay, I want to do that. But how? And that’s my main question here: how can I investigate this stuff more or less objectively? How should I go about this methodologically?”

Mike had one final point. “Nabeel, the most important thing is that you have to be consistent when you do your research.

We finished our lunch, said our goodbyes, and parted ways.

I would not see Gary or Mike again until a great Muslim debater came to town more than a year later. His objective was to argue against Jesus’ resurrection in front of hundreds.

His opponent? My new fr...

This was going to be a great opportunity to see a Muslim scholar, a sheikh, challenge Christian arguments.

That Mike himself was the debate opponent made this scenario almost too good to be true. Would the arguments he shared with me and Abba for the death of Jesus hold up under the scrutiny of a Muslim scholar?

David had the privilege of chauffeuring Shabir around town before the debate. Shabir asked David if they could watch Mel Gibson’s new movie, The Passion of the Christ,

Mike was an engaging speaker, and he started by sharing that he went through a period of time where he tested his beliefs, not simply accepting what his parents believed but rather seeking to find the truth about life and God.

He continued his opening statement by emphasizing the importance of the resurrection.

this evening’s debate is much, much more than an academic discussion. The eternal destiny of our souls may very well hinge on what we do with Jesus and his resurrection.”

“Fact number one: Jesus’ death by crucifixion. That Jesus was crucified and died through the process is granted by virtually 100 percent of scholars who study the subject.”

“Fact number two: The empty tomb. An impressive 75 percent of scholars who study the subject acknowledge the empty tomb.”

“All the strictly historical evidence we have is in favor of [the empty tomb], and those scholars who reject it ought to recognize that they do so on some other ground than that of scientific history.”51

“Fact number three: Testimony to the resurrection of Jesus.

Not only the disciples testified to this but foes of Jesus as well.”

not only were the disciples willing to die for this belief, but so were a couple people who had been opposed to Jesus’ message during his life, namely, Paul and James.

So what if people were willing to die for their belief that Jesus appeared? That does not mean he did. But Mike anticipated this and clarified that, at the very least, it meant they truly believed he had appeared to them, and they weren’t lying about their beliefs. His point was pithy: “liars make poor martyrs.”

We’ve seen that these facts are strongly evidenced historically and that they’re granted by an impressive majority of scholars, if not virtually every scholar who studies the subject, including skeptical ones.

Jesus’ resurrection easily explains all of these facts without any strain. In the absence of any plausible alternate theories to account for these facts, Jesus’ resurrection can be accepted with confidence as an event that occurred.”

other theories required investigators to strain, twist, or ignore the facts.