Reflections on the Passing of Nabeel Qureshi

(Credit: NabeelQuershi.com)

On Saturday, September 16th Nabeel Qureshi - author and Christian apologist - passed into the loving presence of Jesus Christ after a year-long battle with stomach cancer.  Qureshi was best known for his book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus which told his story of converting from Islam to Christianity.  

I have been following the YouTube updates (you can see them here) that Nabeel posted over the last year (43 video posts in total).  It was a long, tough, heart-rending journey that he shared with his viewers, and I am sure some will now go back to learn more about his life and this final journey.

My personal interest in Nabbel's ministry is rooted in the fact that he is part of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, a ministry that helped me grow immensely as a young Christian and throughout the years.  If you'd like to read Ravi Zacharias' final tribute to Nabeel in the Washington Post, click here. 

   

(Credit: Ravi Zacharias - Facebook)

I never knew Nabeel, and I am certainly no Ravi, but I'd like to offer a few personal reflections on the life and passing of Nabeel Quershi and why his passing has struck me deeply.

First, I am struck because I am 7 years older than Nabeel and yet he has already left this mortal life.  There is something about not just a young person dying, but someone who gives you that sense of 'that could have been me'.  Nabeel was a student of Ravi, an apologist, and someone who was passionate about bringing the Gospel to the world.  In some small way, I can resonate with all three of those characteristics, and so his passing seems to hit home for me in a different way than I had expected it to.

Secondly, Nabeel's passing reminds me of a message I gave years ago while I was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  The talk was entitled, "A Healthy Obsession With Death."  While no one likes to think about death, our Western world today has risen to an expert level of avoiding the topic.  Part of it is because of the 24-hour news cycle such that even when a famous movie star dies, we mourn for a few hours before we are often on to the next topic that is flashed across the screen.  Another part of it is that we have such excellent medicine compared to even just 100 years ago that we almost expect for every sickness to be cured with little fan fare.  These two realities (as well as other factors) shape us so that we avoid thinking much about the grave.  

Nabeel's passing reminds me that we should all be thinking about death a great deal - it is one of the few 'knowns' in our lives.  We will all die, and we do well to consider this fact on a regular basis.  The Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that it is good to go to a house of mourning.  Why?  Because it puts all of life into perspective.  I find myself thinking about Nabeel's wife and his daughter now and what their life will be like without this man.  It forces me to think about my own wife and children, and not on the level of 'will they be o.k. without me if I die', but instead the eternal question: when I die, will I see them again?  That - in the end - is TRULY the only question that matters when it comes to my family.  Success, careers, future marriages, providing via a life insurance policy - all these are fine to consider, but they are passing realities.  Eternity with those who I love in the presence of my Savior - that last forever.  

Thirdly, Nabeel's passing forces me to think about how I am using my time.  Not everyone will invest his or her life in apologetics and writing, in speaking and lecturing.  But what I do know is that I want my life to matter and Paul reminds us in Galatians 5 that in the end the ONLY thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.  And so Nabeel's death forces me to ask myself: because of my faith in Christ, am I loving others well?   

Lastly, the death of Nabeel Quershi forces me to face the hard reality that God is God and I am not.  Only by faith in the character of God can I trust that the passing of this young man, this passionate apologist - only by faith can I trust that this makes sense.  On a human level, on a ministry level, on an 'advancing the Gospel in the nations' level, this does not compute.  But I am forced to trust God's providential wisdom in this situation.  The alternative is to raise my fist to the heavens which is foolhardy.  God knows what He is doing even when it doesn't seem to add up in my paradigm.  

In closing, I celebrate the fact that because of the Resurrection of Jesus and my future resurrection, I will one day be able to speak with and celebrate the life of Nabeel Quershi with Nabeel Quershi himself.  Until that day, may my life be faith-filled like this man's life.

- tC