Patterson urged Caner and his brother to write a book about Islam, citing the need for Christians to understand the Muslim religion in order to convert its followers to Christianity. Caner said the importance of writing the book was impressed upon him following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The book, "Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs", was published in March 2002. Paperback editions of the book included a foreword by Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The book was a commercial success, selling 100,000 copies in its first year of publication. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association awarded it the Gold Medallion for a missions/evangelism book in 2003.