No God But One

PERSONAL WORKBOOK 

 NO GOD BUT ONE 

A FORMER MUSLIM INVESTIGATES THE EVIDENCE FOR ISLAM & CHRISTIANITY 

 ALLAH OR JESUS ? 

NABEEL QURESHI, Author of THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SEEKING ALLAH, FINDING JESUS 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION ... l

A WORD TO GROUP PARTICIPANTS ... ll

SESSION 1 QUESTIONS ... 1-2 

SESSION 2 QUESTIONS ... 3-4 

SESSION 3 QUESTIONS ... 5-6 

SESSION 4 QUESTIONS ... 7-8 

SESSION 5 QUESTIONS ... 9-10 

SESSION 6 QUESTIONS ...11-12 

SESSION 7 QUESTIONS ...13-14 

SESSION 8 QUESTIONS ...15-16 

SESSION 9 QUESTIONS ... 17

SESSION 10 QUESTIONS ...18-19 

SESSION 11 QUESTIONS ... 20-21 

SESSION 12 QUESTIONS ... 22 

INTRODUCTION 

This workbook is designed to help individuals and groups facilitate thinking and discussions on one the most strategic conversations in the today's world. People hear and read many things about Islam in the popular media. Yet Christians in general know very little about the faith and practices of Islam. Nabeel A. Qureshi, a former Muslim and dedicated advocate for the Christian faith, presents excellentanswers to the questions about the differences between these two world faiths. Nabeel writes, "It is my prayer that this book will reach many who are in the throes of their search [for God], and I pray it will lead them to the altar of the one true God. If that is you, know that I have prayed and shed tears for you, and that this book is written for you." 

This workbook is organized into twelve sessions. Each of these sessions-except sessions 9 and 12-covers the material from three or four chapters. The questions in the guide are designed to focus on the main objective in each chapter. 

A WORD TO GROUP PARTICIPANTS 

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR GROUP DISCUSSIONS 

A Safe Place 

You are engaged in a strategic conversation about Islam and Christianity. In the context of extreme Islamic terrorism, keep your heart and mind focused on what will help Christians reach Muslims for Christ. Nabeel wants us to learn, not debate, tragic world events. Imagine a seeking Muslim in your group. How would you behave? Keep all discussions and reflections confidential. 

Respect is Vital 

Others in the group may not see things like you do. Give each person space to process what they are learning. With only an hour (or so) for your meeting, share your thoughts kindly and briefly, giving space for others to share as well. 

Just Do It 

Your leader will expect you to read the assigned chapters and answer the discussion questions before your meetings. For maximum benefit from the book and this group, do the assignments. The group discussions center on the valuable information that Nabeel presents. The questions are designed to get you into the book and prepared to discuss what you are learning. 

The Power of Reflection 

Take time to ponder what you read and learn. How does it change your perceptions of the Christian faith and the Muslim faith? How does what you learn help you pray for the conversion of Muslims to Jesus Christ? How might God want to use you in that endeavor? Reflect, also, on what others contribute to the group's growth. 

The Power of Community 

While you might be informed by reading No God but One: Allah or Jesus? alone, you will experience stimulating personal transformation in group discussions. Jesus meets us through his Body, our fellow believers. God seeks to use you to help others grow in the faith and God wants to use others to help you as well. Be willing to contribute to your group and be eager to listen and learn from your group.

SESSION 1 

QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY? 

Part 1: Sharia or the Gospel? Two Different Solutions

 (read Preface and Chapters 1-4) 

Preface 

In his Preface Nabeel writes,"Both Islam and Christianity are monotheistic, believing there is 'no God but one,' but they differ fundamentally on who that God is: Allah or Jesus." What are the four ways that the words "Allah" and "God" are used by Muslims and Christians that may cause some confusion"? 

PART 1: SHARIA OR THE GOSPEL? TWO DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS 

Chapter 1 "The Way to Life" 

1. What are some surprising similarities between Islam and Christianity? 

2. How would you describe "the way to life" in both Islam and Christianity? What was your initial reaction to these two different ways? 

Chapter 2 "Comparing Sharia and the Gospel" 

3. What is the concept of "prophet" in Islam and how is it different from that in Christianity? 

4. What is the Islamic solution for the problem of the human condition and how does it compare to the Christian worldview and solution? 

5. What are the Five Pillars of Islam that are the basic requirements of Sharia? 

6."So important are the hadith that, after the Quran, they form the second rung of sharia." What are the hadith and how do they inform Islam? 

Chapter 3 "Questioning Grace" 

1. Nabeel is often asked an expected question,"If God just forgives all Christians and none of them go to hell, why would any Christian do good when they can sin all they want?" How would you answer this question? 

2. How would you answer a Muslim who asks,"How can God be just if he is willing to forgive serial killers and genocidal dictators? You're telling me Hitler could have gone to heaven if he had become a Christian?"

3. How does Nabeel answer the common Muslim question, "How can Jesus die for the sins of mankind?" 

4.What reasons do Christians have to do good? 

Chapter 4 "Diagnosis and Deliverance" 

1. In spring of 2009, Nabeel volunteered with a humanitarian organization called Physicians for Peace helping with educating young mothers in the barrios of Santo Domingo. What was Nabeel's point in telling that story? 

2. According to Nabeel how do Islam and Christianity "diagnose" the spiritual condition of humanity? 

3. Nabeel makes three observations to support his view that "the gospel resonates with reality." What observation was most compelling for you?  

 SESSION 2 

PART 2: TAWHID OR THE TRINITY? TWO DIFFERENT GODS 

Chapter 5 "The Islamic Inquisition" 

1. "Tawhid teaches that Allah is absolutely one; and the conclusion naturally arose among some thinkers that since Allah is absolutely one, he cannot have attributes. Attributes would curb his absolute unity, being things he has as opposed to things he is." 

2. What theological problem did Tawhid create for early Muslim scholars regarding the Quran? 

3. What was the Mihna? What happened to Muslim thinkers who believed in the eternality of the Quran? 

4. What does bila kayf mean and how does it relate to the eternality of the Quran? 

5. What is the Sufi Muslim view, wahdat al-wujud that creates divisions among Muslims? 

Chapter 6 "Comparing Tawhid and the Trinity" 

1. What is the difference between "the eternal Word of God" in Islam and in Christianity and how does each faith have "a physical expression of God" in the world? 

2. Why is the idea-"person is not the same as being"-crucial to the discussion about Islamic Tawhid and the Christian Trinity? 

3. What are the five elements found repeatedly throughout the Bible that are best interpreted through the lens of the Trinity? 

4. What intrinsic reason separates Allah from Yahweh regarding relationships with people? 

Chapter 7 "Questioning Complexity" 

1. What does quantum physics have to do with the differences between Islam's view of one God and the Christian view of one God? 

2. What is the very significant theological problem with Allah being "relational," that is, how can Allah be called Allah the Merciful or Allah the Gracious? Why is this not a problem for the Trinity? 

3.What is the shema? How can Christians account for the shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 and still believe in the Trinity? 

(Shema Yisrael is a Jewish prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse, Deuteronomy 6:4, encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one".

Shema (“hear”) is the Hebrew word that begins the most important prayer in Judaism. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4, which begins with the command to “Hear.” The whole Shema prayer, which includes verses 4-9, is spoken daily in the Jewish tradition:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

4.What do some notable Jewish scholars teach about Jewish views of God in Jesus' day? 

Chapter 8 "Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?" 

1. How are the views of God in Islam and Christianity "diametrically opposed"? What texts in the Quran support your answer? 

2. How does the Islamic model of theism promote service to others, yet the Christian model of theism "goes further still" to intrinsically require service to others? 

3. Nabeel writes, "People ought to be selflessly loving because it is who we are." How does he support that truth? 

4. Why is belief in the Trinity not just a "theological curiosity"? 

 SESSION 3  

PART 3: MUHAMMAD OR JESUS? TWO DIFFERENT FOUNDERS 

Chapter 9 "The Council of Nicaea" 

1. What did Christianity experience before and after the Edict of Milan in AD 313? 

2. At the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 what was the controversial view of Arius? 

3. What is the popular Muslim misconception about the Council of Nicaea and Jesus? 

4. What is the "fundamental fact" that separates Muhammad from Jesus in the understanding of the Islam and Christianity? 

Chapter 10 "Comparing the Messenger and the Messiah" 

1. When Nabeel hears Muslims say, "We respect Jesus, but you Christians do not respect Muhammad," what are those Muslims really saying? 

2. What did you learn about God coming to be among us from Nabeel's teachings from the first chapter of the Gospel of John? 

3. What is the "hypostatic union"and how does it support the Christian view of Jesus the Messiah? 

4. What is the role of the Prophet Muhammad and the hadith in the life of the Muslim believer? 

Chapter 11 "Questioning the God-Man" 

1. How would you answer this question from Sahar, a Muslim woman,"How can you believe Jesus is God if he was born through the birth canal of a woman and that he had to use the bathroom? Aren't these things below God?" 

2. How do you answer a Muslim who asks, "If Jesus is God, and God died, who was ruling the universe?" 

3. Why is God not unjust in punishing Jesus for others' sins? 

4. Why does Nabeel ask, "Sahar, let's imagine that you are on your way to a very important ceremony and are dressed in your finest clothes. You are about to arrive just on time, but then you see your daughter drowning in a pool of mud. What would you do? Let her drown and arrive looking dignified, or rescue her but arrive at the ceremony covered in mud?" 

Chapter 12 "Libya's Best Friend" 

1. What is Ronnie Smith's story and how does it relate to a discussion of Islam and Christianity? 

2. What motivated Ronnie Smith and his family to move to Libya? 

3. How was Jesus' teaching and life an Example for Ronnie Smith? 

4. What do you feel reading Ronnie's wife ending sentence in a letter to her husband's killers,"Ronnie loved you because God loves you. Ronnie loved you because God loved him-not because Ronnie was so great, but because God is so great"? 

(December 12, 2013

An Open Letter from the widow of Ronnie Smith to the Libyan People

My husband and best friend Ronnie Smith loved the Libyan people. For more than a year, Ronnie served as a chemistry teacher in a school in Benghazi, and he would gladly have given more years to Libya if unknown gunmen had not cut his life short on December 5, 2013.

Ronnie and I came to Libya because we saw the suffering of the Libyan people, but we also saw your hope, and we wanted to partner with you to build a better future. Libya was very different from what we had experienced before, but we were excited to learn about Libyan culture. Ronnie grew to love you and your way of life, as did I. Ronnie really was “Libya’s best friend.”

Friends and family from home were concerned about our safety, as were some of you. We talked about this more times than I can count. But we stayed because we believed the Libyan people were worth the risk. Even knowing what I know now, I have no doubt that we would both make the same decision all over again.

Ronnie loved you all so much, especially his students. He loved to joke with you, tell stories about you, help you with your lives and challenge you to be all that you could be. He did his best to live out his faith humbly and respectfully within a community of people with a different faith. 

To his attackers: I love you and I forgive you.

How could I not? For Jesus taught us to “Love our enemies” – not to kill them or seek revenge. Jesus sacrificed His life out of love for the very people who killed him, as well as for us today. His death and resurrection opened the door for us to walk on the straight path to God in peace and forgiveness. Because of what Jesus did, Ronnie is with Jesus in paradise now. Jesus did not come only to take us to paradise when we die, but also to bring peace and healing on this earth. Ronnie loved you because God loves you. Ronnie loved you because God loved him – not because Ronnie was so great, but because God is so great. 

To the Libyan people: I always expected that God would give us a heart to love you, but I never expected you to love us so much. We came to bless you, but you have blessed us much more. Thank you. Thank you for your support and love for Ronnie and our son Hosea and me. Since Ronnie’s death my love for you has increased in ways that I never imagined. I feel closer to you now than ever before.

I hear people speaking with hate, anger and blame over Ronnie’s death, but that's not what Ronnie would want. Ronnie would want his death to be an opportunity for us to show one another love and forgiveness, because that’s what God has shown us. 

I want all of you – all of the people of Libya – to know I am praying for the peace and prosperity of Libya. May Ronnie's blood, shed on Libyan soil, encourage peace and reconciliation between the Libyan people and God.)

 SESSION 4 

PART 4: THE QURAN OR THE BIBLE? TWO DIFFERENT SCRIPTURES 

Chapter 13 "The Burning of Scripture" 

1. In 2011 what senseless violence happened in Mazar-e-Sharif, considered a safe city in Afghanistan, and what caused the deaths of 12 innocent people? 

2. In 2009 what happened at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan when "the US government officially announced that the Bibles were trash, and accordingly they were burned"? 

3. Rather than caricatures of Muslims and Christians regarding their holy books, what compelling reality does Nabeel offer regarding the two faiths and their holy books? 

Chapter 14 "Comparing the Quran and the Bible" 

(Because this is a lengthy, significant chapter, more questions will be asked.) 

1. What must Westerners know about Islam that makes the thought of burning a copy of the Quran a highly inflammatory insult to Muslims? 

2. While Christians do not suggest or like the idea of burning Bibles, what is one reason why Christians do not riot and murder when the Bible is treated as trash by US military officials? 

3. How would your view of the Quran be changed if you believed it to be "the closest thing on earth to the incarnation of Allah"? 

4. How would you describe the differences in the composition of the Quran and the Bible?

5. How would you summarize the Christian view of the Bible? 

6. Is the Islamic practice of "abrogation"? 

7. When Nabeel discusses "the sufficiency of Scripture," how does this apply to the Quran? What guides most Islamic practices? 

8. How would you contrast the Muslim and Christian views regarding "why" they believe and "what" they believe.

 

Chapter 15 "Questioning Texts" 

1. What are the stories of Ahmed Deedat and Zakir Naik and what is their main argument for the superiority of the Quran over the Bible? 

2. Why is this observation important in the Muslim/Christian debate: "The Quran is written in one uniform style, whereas the Bible is written in many genres"? 

List at least four contradictions within the Quran (see page 120). 

3. How does Nabeel, using 1 Peter as an example, answer the Muslim charge about "wholesale omissions or insertions of New Testament teachings, [and] intentional alterations by ruling powers"? 

Chapter 16 "The First Burning of the Quran" 

1. What did Caliph Uthman do and why did he do it? What does this reveal about human control over the Quran in human history? 

2. What is Nabeel's personal story about the impact of the Quran and the impact of the Bible on him at a significant moment in his life? 

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