Nabeel Qureshi, made famous for being the Muslim who converted to Christianity, in a recent op-ed reaches insidious conclusions about Islam. Qureshi alleges the culprit behind the Belgian atrocities isn’t necessarily the corrupted beliefs of extremists, but the Qur’an itself.
Although Qureshi claims that he is not questioning the faith of over 2.1 billion Muslims, he clearly is when claiming that their holy scripture is inherently violent. By cherry picking verses from a 1,400-year-old religious scripture without reference to its historical and literary context, Qureshi falls into the same trap of many amateur scholars when attacking Islam under the guise of academic pursuit.
If this wasn’t the case, then surely Qureshi would mention that the Qur’an encourages all to read it and reflect upon it (Chapter 30: Verse 22). The Qur’an encourages mankind to test their faith with reason and rationality (Chapter 8: Verse 22). When one does this, one finds that the Qur’an fosters interfaith harmony (Chapter 109), freedom of choice (Chapter 2: Verse 256), abstinence from disorder (Chapter 2: Verse 11), and justice and respect for all human beings (Chapter 25: Verse 8; Chapter 57: Verse 25). In fact, the word “Kafir” (unbeliever) appears only six times in the Qur’an. Even then, an unbeliever doesn’t necessarily mean a non-Muslim but rather one who isn’t a believer in the eyes of God. Only God knows who’s a believer or not.