Nabeel Qureshi (author)

Qureshi chronicled the story of his personal conversion in his first book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, which became a New York Times bestseller,[15] and was awarded the Christian Book Award for the categories of both "Best New Author" and "Best Non-Fiction" of 2015, the first time in award history.[16] Afterwards, Christianity Today heralded Qureshi as one of "33 Under 33" in its cover story on emerging religious leaders in July 2014.[17]

Qureshi attended medical school at the Eastern Virginia Medical School after graduating from Old Dominion University. After completing a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) there, Qureshi decided to spend his life studying and preaching the Christian Gospel and became a speaker for the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He subsequently completed master's degrees in apologetics from Biola University and in religion from Duke University.[11] He earned an M.Phil in Judaism and Christianity at the University of Oxford and was working on completing a Ph.D. in New Testament studies at the University of Oxford when he died in 2017.[3] Qureshi lectured to students at over one hundred universities, including the University of Oxford, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Biola University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Hong Kong.[18] "He participated in 18 moderated, public debates around North America, Europe, and Asia."[18] In 2015, Qureshi debated at Wayne State University with Muslim scholar Shabir Ally.[19]

On June 18, 2010, Qureshi was arrested at the Dearborn Arab Festival along with David Wood, and Paul Rezkalla on charges of "breach of peace".[20][21] The city of Dearborn later determined that Qureshi, Wood, and Rezkalla had been "engaging in a peaceful dialogue about their Christian faith with several festival attendees" but that the arrest had been made based on misinformation from some of the festival workers and attendees.[22] Soon afterwards, Dearborn mayor John B. O'Reilly Jr. released a statement defending the arrests, saying, "The real violation of First Amendment rights occurs with Acts 17 Apologetics trying to imply they were the victim, when the real violation is their attack on the City of Dearborn for having tolerance for all religions including believers in the Qur'an."[23]

Qureshi, Wood, and Rezkalla were acquitted shortly afterwards when video evidence indicated that, during the festival, they were being asked questions by a small crowd of Muslim teenagers and were not disturbing the peace.[24][20] After their acquittal, the three filed a separate civil suit[25] against Mayor O'Reilly, police chief Ronald Haddad, 17 police officers, and others, with American Freedom Law Center advocating on their behalf.[21] The court ruled in favor of Qureshi, Wood, and Rezkalla, finding that Dearborn, Michigan had violated their constitutional rights and that there was no basis in law for their arrest.[22] In 2013, the city then settled the suit. As part of the settlement, the city was required to issue a formal apology and maintain that apology on their website for three years.[22][26] Mayor O'Reilly accepted the verdict, pointing to their court's decision that the arrest had been unfounded.[22] Robert Muise, speaking on behalf of American Freedom Law Center, praised the decision and called for the festival attendees who had supplied the incorrect information leading to the arrest to also be held accountable.[22]

As a result of the events of the events in Dearborn,[27] Acts 17 Apologetics became focused on "free speech, sharia in the West, and Islam." This led Qureshi to leave and start Creed 2:6 ministries, which focused on sharing the gospel.[28] Qureshi joined Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in 2013.

Following the 2016 Brussels bombings and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Qureshi wrote an op-ed in USA Today stating that, from his perspective, Islamic terrorism stemmed from a literal interpretation of the Quran, specifically Surah 9.[9] He further wrote that he believed this to be the most accurate understanding of the Quran but noted that most Muslims do not subscribe to this interpretation.[9] When Muslim writers responded critically to this assessment, Qureshi wrote another op-ed for the Huffington Post stating that he appreciated the response to his initial article and welcomed dialogue, adding, "Such public dialogue and discussion is the key to moving forward and addressing the roots of jihad."[29] He developed this position further in his second book, Answering Jihad, and discussed his views during an interview with Fox News.[30]