Source: The Washington Post
By Ravi Zacharias
Nabeel Qureshi, who was raised in a Muslim American family before converting to Christianity. (Photo courtesy of RZIM)
The first time I saw him, he sat at a table across from me, one of his legs constantly moving almost subconsciously, as though he was warming up for a run. It was a habit of his restless disposition to stand and gallop. I asked if we could talk about his mission in life. He joined me in the back seat of the car, that leg still moving.
That was Nabeel Qureshi. He hated sitting still. He was a man with a mission, ready to run. Sadly, for us, he died Saturday at a young age of 34 after a year of battling stomach cancer. Nabeel, who was raised in a Muslim-American family and converted to Christianity after a fellow college student sparked his interest in Christianity, worked with me in Christian apologetics.
The field of apologetics deals with the hard questions posed to the Christian faith. Each of us has a worldview, whether we recognize it or not. A worldview basically offers answers to four necessary questions: origin, meaning, morality and destiny. Christian apologetics is the discipline of answering people’s specific questions and making the truth claims clear. We aim to engage people in meaningful interactions with gentleness and respect, bearing in mind that behind every question is a questioner.
Because Islam is so much in the sights of the world right now, an articulate and attractive personality like Nabeel was often given a fair hearing. He was also a medical doctor and well studied in theology and philosophy, academic credentials that earned him respect. He was well versed in the faith in which he was raised.
Nabeel held dear the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Old and New Testaments and carried the message of salvation. He said that for years as a young man, he labored and struggled to gain “righteousness before God” only to find out that righteousness was already found in the cross through Jesus. That was his message in his best-selling book, “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.”
His grandparents were Muslim missionaries in Indonesia. His conversion to Christianity took place after he seriously examined the historicity of the gospels and the unique claims of Jesus. The conversion was very hard on his family and probably the greatest heartache he carried because he loved them.
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Categories: Religion, Religions, religious freedom, Religious Harmony, Religious persecution, Religious Values
http://www.christianpost.com – Former Muslim Nabeel Qureshi Prayed for God to Kill Him After Converting to Christianity. As a Muslim born to Pakistani immigrant parents in the United States, Qureshi’s conversion to Christianity did not go over too well with his Ahmadi Muslim parents and his Muslim friends.
“When I became a Christian, it was the most painful thing I ever did. I wanted to die,” Qureshi detailed. “I asked God to kill me because I lost my family. I lost my friends in the mosque. I lost all the people who loved me the moment I became Christian.”