Gerhard Nehls

Over many years my wife, Hannelore, and I have had extensive contacts with Muslim people who shared their faith and culture with us, as we with them. They entreated us to study the Qur'an. They explained that the Hadith (recorded traditions on the life of Muhammad) and his Sirat (biography) were an integral part of their religion and indispensable in gaining a proper understanding of Islam. So for many years we did just that.

It goes without saying that I, as a Christian believer, am just as at home with the Bible. This makes me one of the few people who have not only sufficient insight into the two contending Books, but also into the devoted hearts of both Muslim and Christian believers.

Like most people, I am a product of my environment. When I was seventeen, and dying of starvation in one of the infamous Soviet Concentration camps, I felt confronted by questions that had never occurred to me before. What if there was a God? What if God was totally just and I was accountable to Him for my thoughts and actions?

For the first time in my life, I prayed to the God I did not know, and survived.

Years later, my wife and I migrated from Germany (where I was born in 1928) to South Africa. It was there, that I received my call to serve Him.

Since then we have lived on three continents, and, until our old age, have served the black, brown and white people living around us. We were never affluent, yet lived a contented life, thriving on a loving relationship with our five children, their children, and our great grandchildren, who are at present distributed over five continents.

Besides this present work, I have written several others on Islam, as well as a biography of my somewhat turbulent life that was published in Germany. They have all been written to help Christians serve God in a deeper and more meaningful way.