Mark A. Gabriel
Mark A. Gabriel, is a lecturer and writer on Islam who lives in the United States. He is the author of five books critical of salafi Islam, including "Islam and Terrorism", "Islam and the Jews", and "Journey into the Mind of an Islamic Terrorist". Biography. In his first book written in 1997, "Against the Tides in the Middle East: The true story of Mustafa, former teacher of Islamic history" Gabriel tells of his birth on 30 December 1957 to Muslim parents in Upper Egypt. He explains that his birth name was Mustafa. His parents, wealthy owners of  a clothing factory, as well as his six brothers and one sister, were all devout Muslims. He describes himself as a Muslim by birth who taught as professor of Islamic history at Cairo's Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt before converting to evangelical Christianity at the age of 34. In a long interview in Tulsa World, Gabriel claims to have fled Egypt after his own father threatened to have him killed for converting to Christianity, and to have lived in South Africa before moving to the United States in 1999. Mustafa subsequently changed his name, taking the Christian name  of Mark Gabriel. He claims to be unable to use his birth name because of fear of assassination by Islamic extremists. Baylor University professor Thomas S. Kidd, situates Gabriel in the context of a series of converts from Islam to Christianity whose books and speeches have attracted attention among "conservative American Protestants." These include Ergun and Emir Safa, authors of "Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs"; Pastor Reza Safa, an Iranian-born former Shi'a Muslim and author of "Inside Islam; Exposing and Reaching the World of Islam"; and Abdul Saleeb (a pen name,) a former  Sufi Muslim and author of "the Dark Side of Islam" (co-authored with R. C. Sproul). After summarizing the details of Gabriel's life story, Kidd mentions that "there have been questions raised about his real identity." In December 2016 Mark A. Gabriel was awarded a PhD in Public Law by the University of Cape Town for his dissertation "Reforming Hudud Ordinance to Reconcile Islamic Criminal Law with International Human Rights Law". Impact. Reviewing Gabriel's book "Jesus and Muhammad: Profound Differences and Surprising Similarities", for "Foreign Affairs", Walter Russell Mead described it as one of a number of books  that were "doing far more to frame the future of U.S. policy toward the Middle East than most books published by scholars with more conventional credentials and views", since "It is from books like this one that many millions of Americans form their impressions of Islam as the war on terror grinds on". In "Fundamentalism in the Modern World", Oddbjorn Leivik asserts that Gabriel's books "Islam and Terrorism," and "Islam and the Jews," were the main source of Pastor John Hagee's "attack on Islam", the former book also being distributed free to members of the Norwegian Parliament. According  to Leivik, Hagee's 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown", like the two Gabriel books from which he asserts that it is largely drawn, "combines apocalyptic visions of Israel being threatened by its enemies, with the 'unveiling' of Islam as an inherently violent religion." ' Like the Gabriel books "Islam and Terrorism," and "Islam and the Jews," Hagee's "Jerusalem Countdown," was published by Charisma House publishers. Gabriel's website contains a declaration distancing his writings from their use and abuse by "right wing organisations and individuals...Many of these misguided people use my writings to wrongly justify hate against Muslims." Mark A.