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Following the Bondi Beach attack, the story of Nabeel Qureshi highlights Islam’s contested foundations and urges Australians to confront rising radicalism with informed conviction and Christian clarity.

Currently, in our nation, there is a lot of focus on Islam. The horrific massacre at Bondi Beach on 14 December has precipitated this. As we know, two Muslim men attacked a group of Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah. This highlighted the current antisemitism in Australia, and it also brought a focus on the refusal of our federal government, particularly our Prime Minister, to identify the cause of the problem as being radical Islam.

Since then, Muslim voices have spoken up defending Islam, and the pro-Palestinian rallies in Australia have continued, with a recent one even containing a group of Muslim men blocking public access as they knelt in prayer. Pauline Hanson’s comments about Muslims have added to the Muslim focus.

My concern is that the vast population of this nation, including the politicians, have little knowledge of Islamic beliefs. I think until recently, I was in this category. While as a Christian I recognised differences between Christianity and Islam, I was not aware of the vast difference.

Recently, I have read the three books by Nabeel Qureshi: Answering Jihad, Seeking Allah Finding Jesus, and No God but One. In this article, I want to introduce you to the life and writings of Nabeel Qureshi. I do this as a way of highlighting the uncertain historical foundations of Islam and the challenge we face in confronting its rise in our nation.

Introducing Nabil Qureshi

Nabeel Qureshi was a devout Muslim who eventually became a devout Christian. The story of his journey from Islam to Christianity is a compelling story. On September 16, 2017, Nabeel died of cancer. He was 34 years old, and the impact of his short life continues today.

He was born in the United States of America into a Pakistani migrant family. They were devout Muslims, and he was raised as a devout Muslim. His family were Ahmadi Muslims, and one of their emphases is a peaceful approach to Islam. They certainly promote Islam as a religion of peace.

For 22 years of his life, he lived as a Muslim, defended Islam against all criticism and especially against Christians who challenged his beliefs. He graduated as a doctor and then completed three master’s degrees in religion. It was while he was studying for his doctor of philosophy at Oxford University that he contracted cancer and died in 2017.

Nabeel meets David Wood

His friendship with David Wood was a strong one. It began when he entered college, the Old Domain University. David was a Christian who had spent the previous five years studying the Bible and learning what was involved in following Jesus.  Even though he was passionate about his beliefs, he did not initiate the conversation about his faith. The issue of their beliefs was raised by Nabeel.

Their first area of discussion was the reliability of the New Testament, and David defended its reliability by pointing to the strong manuscript evidence for it. However, Nabeel was not convinced. They discussed the life of Jesus, later the Trinity and the history around the life of Mohammed.

Here were two intelligent young men with a deep friendship engaging in serious discussion and defence of their beliefs. However, it was David’s influence that was pushing him to examine the basis for his Islamic faith.

Nabeel examines his fundamental Islamic beliefs

In his interactions with David, he is caused to consider the history of Mohammed. Then he is challenged to examine the Islamic claim that the New Testament is unreliable.

It is important to understand that his quest to defend Islam against Christian challenges was done from the basis of his devout Islamic faith and his love for his family. Initially, he did not doubt for a moment that Islam was true and Christianity was false.

However, he began to discover that the basis for his cherished beliefs as a Muslim was not solid. His research about Mohammed brought to question the Islamic claim that Mohammed is the perfect man.

I want to draw your attention to what he discovered about the early history of Mohammed. He did this in responding to the challenge that Islam is not a religion of peace. Of course, we hear this claim often. Here is what he discovered:

The earliest historical records show that Mohammed launched offensive military campaigns and used violence at times to accomplish his purposes. He used the term Jihad in both spiritual and physical context but the physical Jihad is the one Mohammed strongly emphasised. The peaceful practice of Islam hinges on later often western interpretations of Muhammad‘s teachings whereas the more violent variations of Islam are deeply rooted in Orthodoxy and history. [1]

In defending Islam, he says:

I started off by emphasising that Islam is a religion of peace and that Muhammad was the most merciful and irenic man in history. I assured everyone that the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon did not represent Islam, … I recently had heard from an email that the terrorists who hijacked the planes on September 11, also hijacked Islam. [2]

Later, he quotes Mohammed from a Hadith that Mohammad stated that he had been ordered by Allah to fight against people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah‘s apostle. Further, he points out that this Hadith said that the greatest thing a Muslim can do after having faith is to engage in jihad; he goes on to clarify what jihad is, stating that it was religious fighting. [3]

He concludes that in his examination of Muhammad‘s life, particularly in the Hadith, he found one violent story after another about Mohammed.  He says, “I consciously tried to dismiss each one just like Muslims online, but subconsciously, the pressure was building. How many could I dismiss? How was I going to go on like this?” [4]

He reached a point of deep crisis — torn between loyalty to his family and the evidence he believed pointed to Christianity — he prayed for God to guide him through dreams. He received three significant dreams, and they confirmed that Islam was not the true way. [5]

Surrendering to the Truth

The challenges that he had faced and the uncomfortable truths he discovered about the history of the origin of Islam drove him to find a solution to his crisis of faith.  Through the summer of 2005, he continued resisting the Gospel. He travelled to more mosques and spoke with more Imams. He was searching desperately for answers but finding none.

He travelled with his father to a mosque in Europe. He was desperate and was hoping to overturn what he had learned during the past four years. However, the answers he sought that would confirm his Muslim faith did not eventuate. He was praying for more dreams. Perhaps there would be one that would confirm Islam. There were no more dreams, and deep down, he knew that he already had been given the dreams he needed.

He is now coming to the climax of four years of challenges that led him on a course he never expected. He says:

Looking for a living word, I put the Quran down and picked up the Bible. I have never read the Bible for personal guidance before I did not even know where to start. I figured the New Testament would be a good place so I opened at the beginning of Matthew, blessed are those more they shall be comforted. The words were like a current sent through my dead heart electrifying it once more. This was what I was looking for. It was as if God had written these words in the Bible 2000 years prior specifically for me.

I continued reading fervently, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, I do.

Tears flowed from my eyes once more but now there were tears of joy, I knew that what I had held in my hands was life itself. This was truly God‘s word and it was if I was meeting him for the first time.

I could not put the Bible down. I literally could not. It felt as if my heart would stop beating, perhaps implode, if I put it down, I ended up skipping the whole day of school but I really had no choice in the matter. The Bible was my lifeline. [6]

What is he to do? All his defences had been demolished. He was now convinced that what he had based his life and given his devotion to was a falsehood.  He surrenders.

He said:

“But Lord, admitting that I believe in You will be the end of my life. At the very least, my life as I know it will end, if I do not pass away physically from emotional suffering or at the hands of a misguided Muslim fanatic.”

I sensed Him say, whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it, Nabeel My child. To gain his life, I had to sacrifice my own. This was no cliché or platitude. I was being called to die by the Gospel.

I stayed up late that night, burdened by the statements. Sleep was not something I resisted, but rather something I felt embarrassed to experience. I was tired of denying God. At three in the morning on August 24, 2005, I prayed while resting my forehead on the foot of my bed.

I give in. I affirm that the Lord of heaven and earth is Jesus Christ. To atone for my sins, He came to earth and by rising from the grave, He demonstrated His Lordship. I need Him to save me because I am a sinner. I welcome You into my life, Christ.

As sleep swept over me, the challenging night that had not brought me serenity was rapidly coming to an end. At last, I had preached the Gospel truth. At last, I became a believer. [7]

Australia at the Crossroads

This devout Muslim, when forced to defend his faith and research its foundations, came to conclude that he could no longer be a Muslim, that His beliefs did not hold up in the light of solid historical research and examination. In fact, Islam is based on serious false foundations.

All the time that he engaged in discussions and research to answer the Christian critics, he did it with an irenic attitude. His books are not an angry rant against Islam but a well-researched and humble recognition of its false claims. And his solid refutation of them.

His careful research revealed the startling truth that Mohammad was a man of war. He discovered that Mohammad engaged in violent wars and promoted violence. Mohammad was not a man of peace; hence, it is fallacious to declare that Islam is inherently a religion of peace. We should not be surprised when devout Muslims engage in terrorism. Violent acts against Jews, unbelievers and even Muslims they consider false are part of the example of the prophet and his teachings. [8]

Australia may be facing an existential crisis as it encounters Islam‘s rise in the nation and the failure of its government to understand what is at stake. The current government policy continues to cover over the dangers of an ideology that is against the foundational values upon which this nation was founded and a belief system that falsely rejects the essential beliefs of the Christian faith. Islam and Christianity are incompatible.

Many Christians, particularly progressive Christians, fail to understand what the challenge of Islam is to authentic faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be informed of the challenges that Islam brings, and we need an empowering from the Holy Spirit to be faithful witnesses to Jesus for such a time as this. On the political front, we need to ensure that our vote does not go to politicians who are blindly following the popular Islamic narrative. We are at the crossroads. Which way will we go?

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[1] Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah Finding Jesus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2018), 116.

[2] Ibid., 209.

[3] Ibid., 219.

[4] Ibid., 223.

[5] Ibid., 260-266.

[6] Ibid., 275.

[7] Lushonnoh Matthews, A Pious Muslim meets a Christian- Biography of Nabeel Qureshi (2025), 112, 13.

[8] Nabeel was an Ahmadi Muslim. Sunni Muslims do not regard Ahmadis to be true Muslims. Sunni and Shia Muslims are often in conflict.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.

Appeal for the Bondi Terrorist Attack Victims

Celebrate Israel, in partnership with the Canberra Declaration and other supporters, have organised a relief fund appeal for the victims and families of the Sydney Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

Our giving team is called Celebrate Israel Australia on the platform and is part of a much larger appeal run on the Charidy giving website. All donations are tax-deductible and will be administrated by the Jewish United Support Fund.

The relief fund will provide direct financial support, helping families begin to rebuild their lives after this tragedy. Assistance is especially needed to cover essential commitments when the family’s primary breadwinner has been killed. Find out more about this appeal on The Daily Declaration here.

Please stand alongside the Jewish community as a visible demonstration of God’s love to them at this critical time of need. So far, over $29,000 has already been donated, and we prayerfully seeking to raise $100,000.

Please share this appeal button with your church networks and friends.

Give by clicking the green button below.

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