Scan barcode
mountaineer77's review against another edition
4.0
This is the book I was looking for after finishing his first one. I felt compelled to investigate the Christian faith more and know how to defend it intellectually. It was a dense listen & took a while to chew through, yet again... by the end, I was left in tears by Fatima's story and the cost of abandoning one's family and culture to follow Jesus.
mahletreads's review against another edition
5.0
where do i even start? let me begin by noting, i couldnt read this book without my heart mourning from time to time with the reminder of Nabeel's passing. but I found solace knowing he found Jesus and that our spot in heaven is not guaranteed by our works but by the work of Jesus and the mercy and grace of God. i will(!!) see him one day in heaven and for that, i am forever grateful
its impossible to research something with 100% objectivity because we will always be biased but Nabeel took an honest approach reflecting on not only his faith, but on the objective truth of it- can it stand up to historical scrutiny? sure, people can be sent from God and God can inspire books, but can it be proven?
i, too, read this as objectively as I could. When Nabeel would make statements of Muhammad's character and life such as him stating that apostates should be killed for leaving Islam, not only allowing sex slavery but encouraging men who were hesitant to partake in it, him consummating his marriage with nine year old Aisha, and declaring women to be mentally deficient to men, I googled and googled trying to disprove them. My friends would tell me of Muhammad's good character so I didn't want to believe he would do and say such things. a lot of people like to take the Bible out of context and state it says something it doesn't say, so I took these points with a grain of salt and read the full sections in the Quran and in the Hadiths that they come from so that I could understand them better (though, I will say, context in the Quran is not as important as it is in the Bible due to the way it was put together, but I still decided to give it a shot).
and my goodness, jaw DROPPED. there's no way to disprove what he said cause..... he literally said it. I want to ask my Muslim friends if they know about these things, and if they do, how do you defend it? like genuinely, im not trying to be smart or anything, I just want to know. but I also know that when Muslim's have questions, they get a response of "because Allah says so" or something like that; there is not a lot of encouragement to seek out these answers as objectively as possible.
also, lol its cool that I know a lot of terminology used in Islam now like Hadiths, Imam, Injil, Sharia, and Tawhid to name a few.
I learned a lot about Christianity too which I found surprising. there is always so much to learn.
anyways here are some memorable quotes:
"How can God be just if he is willing to forgive serial killers and genocidal dictators?... According to Christian teaching, sin is not just doing something wrong. It is a rebellion against God, the Source of Life. Death is not a punishment for our actions as much as it is a consequence. God does not execute us for jaywalking; we get run over by a truck while jaywalking" (love this one omg, God doesn't condemn us to hell, we condemn ourselves)
"I prefer the constructive dialogue of giving each text the benefit of the doubt and discussing the merits of what they are asserting, rather than reading the texts inimically and accusing them of contradictions wherever possible"
"This was my first time opening the Quran for personal guidance instead of simply reciting memorized portions of it or asking an imam for help"
"Even though the Quran affirms that both the Torah and Injil were inspired, Muslims are not encouraged to know either of them in any detail, so instead of reading the Bible on its own terms we read it through the lens of the Quran and Islamic teaching"
"If Allah saved Jesus from the cross while making it look like Jesus died, as most Muslims believe, then Allah is responsible for the disciples' proclamation of Jesus' death and resurrection. Therefore, Allah started Christianity, a false religion that has kept billions away from Islam. Worse, Christians believe Jesus is God because of their faith in his resurrection, yet the Quran tells us that people who believe Jesus if God will go to hell (5.72). Could I really believe that, just to save Jesus from the cross, God deceived the disciples, letting them proclaim that Jesus is the risen Lord and thereby sending billions of people to hell?"
"As a Muslim, I wanted to base my beliefs not on blind faith, not on what appealed to me, and not even on my family's heritage. I wanted to ground my faith in reality"
"When we consider the gospel, we find the deep secrets of the world unfolded. We find a triune God because of whom love is eternal and absolute, who did not need the world but created it out of an overflow of his low. In him, Yahweh, we have the Father who loves us unconditionally, who offers us extravagant grace, who runs to us when we turn to him, who makes us with a purpose and orchestrates all things for the good of those who love him"
I will definitely read this again. I encourage everyone to research your beliefs for yourself not just because someone told you that "it is how it is because it is how it is" (confusing sentence I must say). don't deny history and don't deny the divine. don't read answers through the lens of what you only want to believe; be as objective as possible, test what you learn and see if it holds true
its impossible to research something with 100% objectivity because we will always be biased but Nabeel took an honest approach reflecting on not only his faith, but on the objective truth of it- can it stand up to historical scrutiny? sure, people can be sent from God and God can inspire books, but can it be proven?
i, too, read this as objectively as I could. When Nabeel would make statements of Muhammad's character and life such as him stating that apostates should be killed for leaving Islam, not only allowing sex slavery but encouraging men who were hesitant to partake in it, him consummating his marriage with nine year old Aisha, and declaring women to be mentally deficient to men, I googled and googled trying to disprove them. My friends would tell me of Muhammad's good character so I didn't want to believe he would do and say such things. a lot of people like to take the Bible out of context and state it says something it doesn't say, so I took these points with a grain of salt and read the full sections in the Quran and in the Hadiths that they come from so that I could understand them better (though, I will say, context in the Quran is not as important as it is in the Bible due to the way it was put together, but I still decided to give it a shot).
and my goodness, jaw DROPPED. there's no way to disprove what he said cause..... he literally said it. I want to ask my Muslim friends if they know about these things, and if they do, how do you defend it? like genuinely, im not trying to be smart or anything, I just want to know. but I also know that when Muslim's have questions, they get a response of "because Allah says so" or something like that; there is not a lot of encouragement to seek out these answers as objectively as possible.
also, lol its cool that I know a lot of terminology used in Islam now like Hadiths, Imam, Injil, Sharia, and Tawhid to name a few.
I learned a lot about Christianity too which I found surprising. there is always so much to learn.
anyways here are some memorable quotes:
"How can God be just if he is willing to forgive serial killers and genocidal dictators?... According to Christian teaching, sin is not just doing something wrong. It is a rebellion against God, the Source of Life. Death is not a punishment for our actions as much as it is a consequence. God does not execute us for jaywalking; we get run over by a truck while jaywalking" (love this one omg, God doesn't condemn us to hell, we condemn ourselves)
"I prefer the constructive dialogue of giving each text the benefit of the doubt and discussing the merits of what they are asserting, rather than reading the texts inimically and accusing them of contradictions wherever possible"
"This was my first time opening the Quran for personal guidance instead of simply reciting memorized portions of it or asking an imam for help"
"Even though the Quran affirms that both the Torah and Injil were inspired, Muslims are not encouraged to know either of them in any detail, so instead of reading the Bible on its own terms we read it through the lens of the Quran and Islamic teaching"
"If Allah saved Jesus from the cross while making it look like Jesus died, as most Muslims believe, then Allah is responsible for the disciples' proclamation of Jesus' death and resurrection. Therefore, Allah started Christianity, a false religion that has kept billions away from Islam. Worse, Christians believe Jesus is God because of their faith in his resurrection, yet the Quran tells us that people who believe Jesus if God will go to hell (5.72). Could I really believe that, just to save Jesus from the cross, God deceived the disciples, letting them proclaim that Jesus is the risen Lord and thereby sending billions of people to hell?"
"As a Muslim, I wanted to base my beliefs not on blind faith, not on what appealed to me, and not even on my family's heritage. I wanted to ground my faith in reality"
"When we consider the gospel, we find the deep secrets of the world unfolded. We find a triune God because of whom love is eternal and absolute, who did not need the world but created it out of an overflow of his low. In him, Yahweh, we have the Father who loves us unconditionally, who offers us extravagant grace, who runs to us when we turn to him, who makes us with a purpose and orchestrates all things for the good of those who love him"
I will definitely read this again. I encourage everyone to research your beliefs for yourself not just because someone told you that "it is how it is because it is how it is" (confusing sentence I must say). don't deny history and don't deny the divine. don't read answers through the lens of what you only want to believe; be as objective as possible, test what you learn and see if it holds true
colemire's review against another edition
5.0
So much content, really shows just how superior and true Christianity is when set against Islam. Sara Fatima’s story made me want to cry and the fact that Nabeel Qureshi has passed too makes it all the more special.
lewislover's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Very helpful and educational.
utalan's review against another edition
5.0
Very good analysis of the evidence for Christianity vs Islam. I learned a lot about Islam that I did not know before, and it was very helpful to see some familiar arguments for Christianity framed in a new way.
da_marii's review against another edition
4.0
A lot more dense than his last book, although that’s how it was meant to be! It was enlightening but there were a lot of points he made that I wish he would have expanded on.
rociocartes's review against another edition
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
I loved this book so much I flew through it! What an incredible and wonderful God we have. ❤️💛 feeling so blessed. I think everyone should read this. — but go in with an open heart.
neil_reimer's review against another edition
5.0
The sheer amount of investigation and research done by Nabeel Qureshi to write this book is fascinating. He dug to the depths of both religions searching for any piece of historical or theological information he could gather in order to reach his verdict. All of his claims are backed by strong evidence and you can tell that this was written by someone who has spent many years developing his knowledge of both these religions (as is evident from all his time in school attaining a MD at EVMS, an MA in apologetics at Biola University, An MA from Duke university, and a MPhil from Oxford). The book is extremely well written, it’s packed with information but it’s written in a way which allows anyone to be able to follow along even if your unfamiliar with some of the subjects he writes about. I was personally hooked and it was probably the fastest I’ve ever finished a 300 page book. After your done I’d also recommend digging deep into this book and looking through his noted references and historical sources at the end. Definitely worth it, and if you enjoyed this one I would recommend also reading “Seeking Allah, finding Jesus” also by Nabeel Qureshi.