With due respect: Nabeel Qureshi is not a good example of a convert

Recently, the Christian blog Pulpit and Pen criticised Christian convert Nabeel Qureshi, joining the chorus of several religious commenters. Their issues concerned the legitimacy of his conversion and whether he was truly Muslim in the first place.

While I do not know Nabeel personally, I have followed the news of his ministry from 2008. I feel compelled to write something in his defence before others continue to slander him. So let me deal with the unfair criticism.

1) Nabeel's contradictions in his conversion story

In Nabeel's conversion story, he had dreamt of a banquet hosted by Jesus that he was not allowed enter. This was one of his more potent dreams as his friend David stopped him from entering the banquet.

What was this major contradiction? In some of the stories, David was standing while in others, David was sitting.

Firstly, the whole point of the story was that Nabeel was disallowed from entering the banquet, rather than David's stance.

Secondly, a simple check of Nabeel's stories reveals that in most versions of the story, David was sitting. Nabeel's simple slip should not make us judge his character.

2) Nabeel was never really a Muslim

Nabeel never hid the fact that he was an Ahmadi Muslim. While Ahmadis are regarded as heretics by orthodox Muslims and are persecuted in some countries, Ahmadis do see themselves as Muslims. So naturally, Nabeel would introduce himself as an ex-Muslim, rather than an ex-Ahmadi as the differences would be too pedantic for most listeners.


So Nabeel was not being deceptive as introduce himself as an ex-Muslim, even if one feels that Ahmadis are not Muslims.

3) Nabeel should not participate at a conference (Together 2016)where "enemies of the cross" are also speaking

Well, I would also jump at a chance to preach the gospel even if someone invited me to speak at an atheist conference. At Together 2016, there were famous Christians like Francis Chan, Ravi Zacharias and Louie Giglio. They are hardly the sort one would call heretic Christians.

That said, we cannot expect everyone at a conference to agree with everything we are saying.


Conclusion
Pulpit and pen's editor Seth Dunn was being unfair in his judgement of Nabeel. He did apologise somewhat, but stuck to his general opinions.


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