Nabeel Qureshi: From Islam To Christianity
Nabeel Qureshi was a native to California, his parents were Pakistani and came to the United States for better opportunities. His father was in the Navy, his profession was the reason why he and his family had to relocate many times when Nabeel was a child until they settled in Virginia. In the early two thousands, Nabeel went to Old Dominion University and was the president of the Pre-Medical Honor Society. Inspired by his friend David Wood, Nabeel began to question his religious identity. Questioning his identity began a years-long conversation on the historical impact of Christianity and Islam. He finally made the decision to fully convert to Christianity in 2005 shortly after he had graduated. Nabeel went on to attend medical school at Eastern Virginia Medical School and completed his degree going on to spend his life studying and spreading the influence of the Christian Gospel by becoming a preacher under the direction of Ravi Zacharias.
Islam recognizes Christianity as a primitive version of Islam where the doctrine is considered previously unknown word given within the same tradition of Allah, however, misconstrued over time. Muslims see Islam as the only absolute revelation in the belief that people are derived from one deity, the tradition of the three Abrahamic faiths. The Islamic faith recognizes Jewish and Christian prophets, such as Abraham and Jesus, though, unlike from Christian tradition, Jesus is not considered the son of God. This account states ““I began mourning the impact of the decision I knew I had to make. On the first day of my second year of medical school, it became too much to bear. Yearning for comfort, I decided to skip school. Returning to my apartment, I placed the Qur’an and the Bible in front of me. I turned to the Qur’an, but there was no comfort there. For the first time, the book seemed utterly irrelevant to my suffering. Irrelevant to my life. It felt like a dead book.
With nowhere left to go, I opened up the New Testament and started reading. Very quickly, I came to the passage that said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ” Nabeel recalled how his family and community saw his conversion as a betrayal.
Many non-Muslims, by accident, may believe that Muhammad is the same person as Jesus in the Islamic scripture; however, Muhammad stands in the same central position in Islam as Jesus does in Christianity. Muhammad is not God, he is a prophet chosen by God to deliver his message. Christians are for the most part considered disciples of the scripture in the Quran, therefore reinforcing the spiritual connection to Islam by nature of having been given the word of God. The Islamic tradition has legally upheld this recognition of Jewish people and Christians to maintain their belief system and traditions within their communities in Islamic areas.
Opposite to the assumption that religious conversion is mostly influenced by the laws of the state or dominance of international forces such as colonization and societal pressure. This argument is such that internal hostility or opposition and social standing within a community also play an important role in the dynamics of adoption or resistance to a religion. Through taking into account this narrative of a person from a background such as Nabeel’s, between rich people and people not well off, it is evident that the significance of social hierarchy on people’s decisions to change or retain their religious practices is situational.
One of the key component that contribute to motivating people to convert to other religious traditions is the hierarchy of the human need to seek love and belonging. In influential observations in society pertaining to that of conversion, studies conducted in recent years by various scholars that took into account that profitability, community, principles, metaphysical aspects, and psychological deprivation have been described as the key motivations behind people’s decision to convert their religious identities. Other motivating factors such as previous affiliation with, or inclusion in, a religious tradition or community; the convert’s family’s religious background; an interest in finding a remedy for religious or spiritual problems; and relationships with partners, friends, and members of the community who align with a certain faith must always also be considered. An additional theory is that conversion does not only mean a change in a person’s religious identity, but it can also be a response to or reference to specific social, political, and cultural circumstance and the system of ideas that spread through them. For example, by his account of conversion he may have come to his decision not only based on personal spiritual needs, but as results of incorporation of Christianity into how he lived. In some countries with mostly one religion, conversion can also serve as a strategy for proclaiming national pride and allegiance. When religion is a part of pride for one’s country, conversion can help to establish a needed connection to others who share a certain national identity, and colonial history. According to his book No God But One, he said “After studying the historical origins of the Christian faith, I came to these conclusions: that Jesus died on the cross is as certain as anything historical can be; that he rose from the dead is by far the best explanation of the events surrounding his death; and that Jesus claimed to be God is the best explanation for the immediate Christian proclamation of Jesus’ deity. Putting it all together: Jesus claimed to be God, and he proved it by rising from the dead. The case for Christianity is powerful. Despite my ardent desire to believe in Islam, I had to admit that history was in favor of Christian claims, and even more reluctantly, that it challenged Islamic teachings. ”
Qureshi wrote with intent. He wanted to explain the evidence for Christianity. He sought to convince Muslims of that Christianity was the way. Furthermore, his message was able to show Christians that as he converted, he was dedicated. Qureshi’s book served as important information to both Muslim and Christians interested in spreading the word about their faith.
