Cover Image: From Cairo to Christ

From Cairo to Christ

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Member Reviews

Good story. And an insightful and a great non-academic resource for when you want to understand and work well with Muslims.

To be honest, I was surprised that I actually enjoyed this book. I liked the author's story and there were a few places where I actually laughed out loud.

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From Cairo to Christ
How One Muslim's Faith Journey Shows the Way for Others

by Abu Atallah, Kent A. Van Til





InterVarsity Press







IVP Books

Biographies & Memoirs , Religion & Spirituality

Pub Date 02 Jul 2017



I am reviewing a copy of From Cairo to Christ through Intervarsity Press and Netgalley:
The author talks of how his Father was allotted only one small fish, and three loaves for the day during the war in the Suez, they were in Port Sa'id Egypt in 1956. He talks about how he was a good Muslim kid. He tells how his Mother was more religious than his Father, praying five times a day.eddr

The author goes on to talk about other Muslim customs like a Mmulim boy being circumcized at the age of twelve. He talks about the tradition of marrying cousins. He talks about growing up as a Child of Privillege and it being surprising to everyone himself included when he became a Christian.

In his final year of high school Stephen goes on to talk about joining The Muslim Brotherhood because his best friend had joined, thenrs he saw his friend go to the extreme of beating his wife.

Stephen goes on to tell how becoming a Christian could cause a Muslim to loose their life not only figuratively but literally.

Stephen talks about becoming a Christian, and then being baptized on Christmas Day 1977. The author goes on to talk about hiding his conversion at first, entering church services from the back and leaving early,

Stephen goes on to talk about getting kicked out of his home, his family, for converting to Christianity.

In 1989 Stephen was ordained as a minister and was sent to be a missionary among the muslims in Dearborn Michigan!

The author goes on to tell us of the complicated history between Egypt and Israel.

He goes on to tell us that a Muslim man is allowed to take a Christian or Jewish wife, that the tradition goes back to Mohammed, but a Muslim woman is not permitted to convert to Christianity.

The author goes on to remind us that it is no longer possible for missionaries to go openly into Muslim countries, so some do Evangelism as Biovocational Missionaries.

Despite all the difficulties, many Muslims are coming to Christ! But the transition often is not easy!

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

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Not what I expected, but managed to finish anyway... and there WERE some touching, good parts. An emotional journey of one man's conversion from Islam to Christianity. Worth reading when you're in the mood for a soul-searching kind of book. Recommended.

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It was wonderful to read of Stephen’s salvation and heartbreaking to read about what he went through afterward. However, I cannot recommend this book.
Replacement theology, I thought there might be some in this book, but I didn’t expect it to be taught in great depth. It’s heartbreaking. More scripture is misused in an attempt to strip Israel of its God-given Promises than were used to explain Salvation. From other little glimpses of his theology, I’m guessing that we would have serious differences on other doctrinal issues as well.
The vast majority of this book is an attempt to explain Islamic Culture to Westerners. There is very little contrast drawn between it and the Bible, and much of this book reads as any other introduction to Islamic Culture. It does an adequate job. The writing style isn’t that great, but it’s not terrible either.
I received this book as a free ARC from NetGalley and InterVarsity Press. No review was required.

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From Cairo to Christ is an informative memoir by Abu Attalah, cowritten with Kent A. Van Til. I chose to call it informative because it reads like a Wikipedia biography, rich in information but empty of emotion, thoughts, beliefs, and all the necessary ingredients of a compelling memoir.

However, the emotional deficiency of the book should not be interpreted as shallow. The book is packed with helpful information, especially on Israeli-Muslim relations, Muslim culture in Africa and challenges of Muslim background immigrants in the US. I recommend this book to people who want to know about Muslims in the US.

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