Qureshi was born in San Diego, California, to
Pakistani Ahmadi Muslim parents who immigrated to the United States. His father served in the
U.S. Navy throughout Qureshi's childhood, ultimately becoming a lieutenant commander before retiring. According to Qureshi, Wood encouraged him to research Christianity and Islam in an equally objective light.
Education and career Qureshi chronicled the story of his personal conversion in his first book,
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, which became a
New York Times bestseller, 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. Afterwards,
Christianity Today heralded Qureshi as one of "33 Under 33" in its cover story on emerging religious leaders in July 2014. 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. In 2015, Qureshi debated at Wayne State University with Muslim scholar
Shabir Ally.
2010 arrest and apology from city of Dearborn On June 18, 2010, Qureshi was arrested at the Dearborn Arab Festival in Michigan along with
David Wood, and Paul Rezkalla on charges of "breach of peace". 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. 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." 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. against Mayor O'Reilly, police chief Ronald Haddad, 17 police officers, and others, with American Freedom Law Center advocating on their behalf. O'Reilly accepted the verdict, pointing to their court's decision that the arrest had been unfounded. 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. Qureshi joined
Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in 2013.
Commentary on international Muslim terrorism 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. 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. He developed this position further in his second book,
Answering Jihad, and discussed his views during an interview with
Fox News. == Personal life ==