From what I have managed to read about Esther Ahmad and how she wished that her father a Muslim would show on how much he loves her. Unfortunately it was via suicide mission she thought that her father would show her his love. Luckily for Esther journey out of Pakistan God was leading her on another mission. Unfortunately for women and girls like Esther have no rights, respect or voice Esther explains what this Muslim life is like for them.
Even though I would have liked to fully read the book to have an understanding of what Muslim young girls and women went through and how they are treated by the men in their lives but unfortunately it didn’t hold my entire attention. Whereas I recommend Unveiled for fellow Christians who like to read about Muslim women and how they are treated and the religion and spirituality genre. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harvest House Publishing via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own thoughts, feelings and viewpoints of the book.
#Unveiled #NetGalley

Review run date was set for 05 May 2020 for Netgalley, unfortunately life stood at a standstill as I finished the final semester and three subjects of my studies. On 28 March 2021 I was set to write the review and my health became an emotional roller coaster so here I am today 05 October 2021 going to write my review will be post on my blog, Facebook blog, Amazon.com.au, goodreads, kobo, googlebooks and iBooks.

My WordPress blog is http://bluefalkon95adorationofallgenres.wordpress.com My Facebook reader blog page link, is https://www.facebook.com/BlueFalkon95-Readers-blog-104660277776984

5 stars. WOW. What a testimony. Review to come.

Due to being a high school teacher, I have been falling behind on reviews. Here are my initial thoughts.

I really enjoyed this transparent, at times haunting, and beautiful memoir from Esther Ahmad on her journey from radical Islam to faith in Jesus. Her story was well written, clear, compassionate and vulnerable. It was a window into the life many girls and women in Islam face, and a beautiful picture of the way Jesus can change a life. Highly recommend!

Unveiled is an autobiography of a muslim woman who finds God through dreams and a missionary.

I cannot exaggerate in saying that this book changed my life. It took me deeper in the knowledge of God through story. She takes you on a chair gripping, heart wrenching, teeth gritting journey of how she escapes the patriarchal world of her home country. God shows his RECKLESS love and pursuit of her.

You must read this.

As you read this book, you cannot help but see the power of God's Word. This book looks specifically at women as viewed in the Qur'an. She also shares her own story and the story of other friends. It was through a dream that Jesus came and spoke to her. She then set about to find the truth that she had heard. She had spent time reading the Qur'an.

As the title implies, this book is contrasting how God views and loves women and how the Qur'an allows for abuse of women. "According to Islam, women are a problem that cannot be fixed. They have a status that cannot be elevated."

This was an excellent book to read to help to understand this. It causes me to pray more for the eyes to be opened to the truth.

Writing this book took courage but it is evident that the author has a message of hope that she wants to share. That hope is found in Christ.


Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book. The opinions and review are my own.

Unveiled
The Bible, The Qur'an, and Women
by Esther Ahmad; James Chester


Harvest House Publishers

Harvest House Publishers
Christian
Religion & Spirituality
Pub Date 05 May 2020



I am reviewing a copy of Unveiled through Harvest House Publishers and Netgalley:


Esther Ahmad spent three first eighteen years of her life living the life of an Islamic Girl/Young Woman in Pakistan. She knew the way to earn her Fathers love, and that was to raise her hand for a suicide mission. In his view Esther’s Martyrdom would secure his place in Heaven.



God had other plans did Esther Ahmad though, she came to Christ, despite knowing her conversion meant the very real danger of being killed by her Father. In order to escape persecution from her family Esther fled Pakistan.



Unveiled is not only a Esther’s story of going from despair to hope, from shame to purity, it is a journey of faith against all odds. Unveiled also examines which women have no rights, no worth, no voice, and she shows how the treatment of Muslim women is linked directly to Islamic teachings. With vivid personal stories, she lays out the lies of the Qur’an against the truth she found in the Bible.


I found Unveiled to be a powerful testimony of one woman’s escape from Pakistan to America, in order to be safe from persecution.



I give Unveiled five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Reading this book is like sitting down with someone from another culture and learning about it. Gentle glances into Esther's restricted childhood in Pakistan, from her longing to be a good Muslim and her wish to gain her father's approval, to her realization that the only immediate entrance to heaven preached to Muslims is that of a martyr's end. A mere two days before her enrollment in jihad school, she has a vivid dream about the Christian Jesus.

I loved reading about how she came to trust Jesus and to believe in the Christian God. My heart broke for the thousands of girls trapped in situations like hers and for the incredible tragedy of the pictures she outlined...girls kept as sex slaves for their fathers and brothers, girls told they have no need for education, girls told their god has no use for them, men and women trapped in such a hopeless system of "good works" that they end up committing suicide in despair.

She outlines basic Muslim beliefs about women and how they are often applied to the populace. This includes comparing and contrasting Qur'an and Bible passages to show the major differences in the treatment of salvation (or lack thereof) and life purpose for each believer, and then narrows the focus to the treatment of women in particular.

One thing that really interested me was how she points out that there is no forgiveness offered to Muslims. You're either a good believer, racking up points to get out of hell sooner; a careless believer, who will stay longer in hell; a martyr, who goes straight to heaven along with his/her family; and an infidel who stays in hell. This reminded me of a nastier version of purgatory (which I strongly oppose on a theological basis) and I wondered if there were any historical ties to the two ideas.

It was great to see how she defended her beliefs by pointing out truths and issues in the Qur'an and how God gave her the words to make a good answer. I'll be wanting a hard copy of this for future reference.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.

For anyone who only knows Islam as a 'Religion of Peace' this book will be an alarming eye opener. For those who do understand the true nature of Islam its story may not be surprising in itself regarding Islam but it is a story you will still want to read. It is personal, insightful, frightening and liberating. The story of the stark differences between Islam and Christianity, It's the story of how Jesus frequently seems to reveal himself in the Muslim world through dreams and the extreme cost of both being a woman in an Islamic world and of converting to Christianity in a Muslim world. The fact that it is written by someone with such inside insight into Islam makes it all the more compelling. Unveiled should be required reading. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harvest House Publishers for ARC.

What an eye opening look into Islam from one who was raised and well versed in the religion. Anyone interested in the contrast between Christianity and Islam would definitely find Esther's book fascinating. It's heartbreaking how women are treated in Islam and this book draws more awareness to their plight. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC all opinions are my own.

I’m not sure what drew me to this book, I think it was the cover, but I genuinely didn’t know what to expect.

What I got was a heart-rending story of true bravery. A woman who left her devoutly Muslim family after Jesus appeared to her in a dream to tell her he was ‘the way, the truth, and the life’.

At this point in the author’s life, she was just about to go off to commit Jihad, to die for the Muslim faith in order to guarantee her entry into heaven, and that of her parents too.

I have to say this book was eye opening in many ways, but I learnt a lot about the Quran and what it teaches about women. After the previous book I read, it was a stark contrast.

Growing up, the author knew that as a daughter, and especially as the third daughter, she was not wanted by her father. A culture that values men has no need for another daughter.

“I grew to understand that in my father’s eyes, I was never going to be enough. Even when I volunteered to give my life in Jihad – guaranteeing him instant access to heaven in the process – he did not talk to me.”

But as we hear other stories of girls that Ahmad knew, we realise that to be shunned by her father as a young girl was potentially a good thing, as others have suffered more at the hands of the men who were supposed to protect them.

I’ve never read the Quran or much about what it teaches, so I found the authors deep knowledge so helpful. She talks about how much she studied as a young girl, and that clearly shows. And being able to contrast the teachings of the Quran to the Bible makes this an extremely intriguing book.

For example when she talks about prayer:

I learnt that in Islam, “each prayer you pray earns you a certain number of points, and some earn more than others. There is no limit to the number of points you need, so you just have to keep on earning as many points as you can every day.”

But “today as a follower of Jesus, prayer is different. I feel joyful whenever I come into his presence to pray. As a Christian, I understand that I do not have to feel fear; instead I can feel peace. God is not wrathful if I do not offer morning prayer. I can pray any time.”

I read this book in one sitting, the style of writing was informative yet easy, almost as if I was being told the story over a coffee with a friend. But that easy style was backed up with quotes from both the Bible and Quran which clearly showed that the author knew what she was talking about.

I see that the author has another book, which I will definitely be trying to pick up. This was not an easy read, but one that I’m definitely thankful that I chose.

Rejected by her father and living in daily fear of a torturous future, Esther saw only one way to redeem her life – by death, preferably a violent death. It was the only thing would ensure her entry into a heaven of material pleasures. But – what if she wasn’t worthy? What if she was rejected even after the supreme sacrifice?
In this book, Esther Ahmad shows us the earthy and eternal despair that was her lot as the daughter of a strict Muslim father. It is more than a biography though. She also explains how Islamic teaching has naturally lead to these conditions for women.
It would be heartbreaking if that was the end of her story. She also shows us the love and hope that she found as a saved daughter of Jehovah. As she describes the disintegration of her Islamic beliefs from her studies of the Koran, she also shows us the glorious dawning of truth from her studies of the Bible. It is a beautiful story of an escape from fear and hate to one of trust and love.
It is organized more toward teaching about the fallacies of Islam’s view of women than toward her personal story. So it does not flow chronologically, rather each section uses her experiences to illustrate one particular doctrine.
It was riveting. I would recommend it to everyone. It is a wonderful presentation of God’s love for women.
I received this one as a free ARC through NetGalley and Harvest House Publishers. No favorable review was required. It is my pleasure to provide my honest opinions.

This eye opening memoir from Esther Ahmad will encourage you, challenge your pre-conceived notions, and strengthen your faith. It tells the story of how Esther came to faith in Jesus and compares and contrasts how women are viewed in treated in Christianity and Islam. Unveiled reminded me that time and time again Jesus leaves the 99 to go after the 1. God is a personal God with a heart that shows He wants everyone to know Him and follow Him. That despite cultural, religious, and distance restrictions His love and truth will be on display. That He loves with an everlasting love and He will be with us even in our most trying and desperate time. I would have loved to have seen more examples of cultural Islamic examples than just in Pakistan. I think it would have given the book a more rounded approach, because Islam differs so much in Arabic speaking countries and non-Arabic speaking countries. I would have loved to hear Esther’s thoughts on a contextualized approach to sharing the Gospel and what that could look like in the context of Pakistan and surrounding areas. I learned so much and was grateful for the bravery it took to write and publish this incredible story! I received this book from NetGalley and my opinions are my own.

Esther’s story begins with a FB search for a Pakistani Muslim whom she would tell about following Jesus in Urdu, her native language.
Esther was the third daughter of a wealthy businessman in Pakistan who wanted a son, not another daughter. He did not look at her, go to the mosque to pray for her, or visit her mother after her birth. He worked hard selling spices for 3 days and increased his business - he called Esther Zakhira, which means “wealth.”
When Zakhira was 10, her father began spending more time with the Islamic extremists in the neighborhood and he stopped wearing “Western” clothes.
Zakhira was allowed to attend school until she was 12, when she begged for more schooling, the imam said she could go to the madrassa and learn to be a militant Islamist.
Girls were the property of their fathers, Zakhira’s sisters had been married off in their teens in arranged marriages, so she was glad she got to go to school. Once when Zakhira visited her uncle’s home, the tip of one of his daughters’ nose was cut off for disobedience. From then on, her father threatened Zakhira and her sisters with a knife if they disobeyed him.
Zakhira studied the Qur’an diligently and prayed from early morning until night to gain Allah’s approval. She even volunteered to be a jihadi and blow herself up - that night she had a dream about a graveyard and a man bathed in light....

Do you want to learn more about the difference between the Qur'an and the Bible, between Islam and Christian faith, between Allah and God and between fear and freedom?

Then this book is a must read, especially for all those feminists who think the veil is a deliberate form of expressing one's faith out of one's own will or those self-declared liberals who believe that Islam is a religion of peace and the veil an expression of respect for females.

The author doesn't tell her story to increase prejudice and hatred towards Muslims, far from it. But her story will help you to understand the fundamental difference between these two religions. It will show you the amount of despair born from the need to please your god by your actions following the rules and the unsettling disregard of girls and women. And on the other hand the peace and freedom when you experience God's overflowing trustworthiness and love.





Reading Progress

A jihadist wanna-be turned Jesus follower, Esther Ahmad tells the story of her journey to Jesus despite being raised in a devout Muslim Pakistani home. A very learned young woman, Ahmad tells of her dream of Jesus, how her search through the Scriptures proved over and over again the reality of a God who loves and pursues who is so different than the angry and vengeful god of the Qu'ran.

From the first lines, Ahmad drew me into her story, and I could hardly put down the book, wanting to know what would happen next. While she weaves her story together, she also pulls in deep heart issues that many Muslim women face and how Jesus met her in those places. Ahmad shows how she moved from something to something--from a piece of property to a cherished daughter, from silent rituals to intimate prayer, from dead letters to the living word, and so on.

Ahmad's story includes marriage to a Christian man, having a daughter, fleeing Pakistan to Malysia as refugees, and then finding asylum in the American south. Her story is inspiring, heart-wrenching, and encouraging. It's also a call to prayer for millions of other women like Ahmad who grow up and live in similar cultures to meet the God who sees, the God who knows, the God who loves. Such an encouraging and inspiring story!

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Esther Ahmad fled her home country of Pakistan due to life-threatening persecution for her Christian faith. In this book she documents her many experiences growing up as a Muslim and she gives the reader the differences that she has encountered between Islam and Christianity. She uses scriptures, reasoning and experience to spread the gospel message of Jesus Christ and to enlighten the reader of the many disturbing behaviours she grew up believing were “the right way.” This book was fascinating and at times challenging and disturbing to read, however, the testimony of Esther is one I would highly recommend.