"Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus"

Romans 5:6-8

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

I was a Muslim. I always get asked the question when people hear my name. It's a looooong story. I have little time to discuss my personal history with those not really interested only curious. Back in high school, at the turn of the millennium, in the wake of 9/11, I made sure I defend Islam within my predominantly Catholic/Christian campus environment arguing that Islam is truly a religion of peace and that a tiny fraction of the population who are terrorists do not represent us or Islam at all. I get teased a lot even back in elementary. Fast forward to the time that I was seeking God, disillusioned with both communism and nihilism in college, and after years of studying worldviews, I rejected Islam for having an inadequate concept of God (who supposedly only loves his own believers and the righteous, Surah 3:32, 30:45 etc, compare that with John 3:16, Rom 5:8 etc), historical errors in the Qur'an and in the Hadith traditions (mainly about the life of Muhammad the prophet), political implications, and the violence that is deeply embedded and active. Another ex-Muslim, prof. Nabeel Qureshi of Oxford, author of "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus", explores the idea why Muslims are generally peaceful though Islam is a violent faith, saying "peaceful Muslims who say that Islam is a religion of peace aren't lying to you, they honestly believe it." While there are many Hadith the peaceful ones can point out to say this is what Islam is, there are also those to which the Jihadi can justify their acts as how Muslims should be. And there is indeed a well-established line from the Qur'an and the Hadith that enshrines violent struggle that is quite unlike the context of which Biblical Old Testament history of armed conflicts "in the name of God" occurs, even moreso in drastic contrast with the message of Jesus Christ. Prof. Nabeel receives a lot of replies from threats, offensive reactions to gracious disagreement and prayerful hope of return. I still get the latter once in a while. Just this year, someone once said to me over the phone, "I will continue to pray for you, brother, that you would come back, Insha'Allah". Only in my mind, I replied: It isn't Allah's will, brother, but Isa's (Jesus Christ)."

1 Timothy 2:3-5

"This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all —the testimony given in its proper time."

~20.11.2015