Patrick Sookhdeo was born in 1947 in British Guiana (now Guyana), to an originally Hindu father who had become a Muslim in order to marry Sookhdeo's Muslim mother. His family migrated to England in the late 1950s and, in 1965, the student Sookhdeo converted to Christianity. In 1967 he pursued studies at London Bible College (now the London School of Theology) and went on to obtain a Doctorate from the London University's School of Oriental and African studies. During that time Sookhdeo began exploring inter-faith dialogue and became increasingly concerned by the brutality being leveled at Christian minorities in Islamic nations, and the Islamic death penalties for conversion from Islam.

In 1975 with his wife Rosemary, Dr Sookhdeo founded "In Contact Ministries" later called Servants Fellowship International, promoting evangelism and compassionate ministries in multi-cultural urban contexts in the UK. During this period, Sookhdeo was also one of the organisers of the early "Greenbelt" Christian Arts Festivals.

In 1989, Sookhdeo created the London-based Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, and this saw the creation of a global database on extremist movements and ideologies whose followers were persecuting religious minorities across the Muslim world. By 1991, Sookhdeo was predicting that an "Islamic storm" was on the horizon. He also runs the Barnabas Fund, a charity that supports persecuted Christian minorities around the world.

Dr Sookhdeo was awarded the 2001 Coventry Cathedral International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation and was awarded the Templeton Project Trust prize for progress in religion in 1990.

He is Dean Theologian of the Diocese of Abuja, Nigeria, and ordained in the Church of Pakistan. Dr Sookhdeo is non- residentiary canon of Khyber Diocese, Pakistan. He has been a pastor, evangelist and Bible teacher for 40 years.

He has been the Adjunct Professor at Western Seminary and Guest Professor at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando and Washington, as well as lecturing in many other theological institutions. He has lectured, taught and written extensively on religious, cultural and security issues. He is currently Adjunct Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Defence Academy of the UK and Visiting Professor at Cranfield University, UK. He has been a visiting lecturer at Oak Hill Theological College, London; Ridley Hall, Cambridge; at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford; Guest Lecturer at the NATO school, Oberammergau, Germany. He is a Fellow of the Security Institute of the UK.

He is the author of numerous papers and author/editor of several books, including, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (reviews of which are accessible here) and Understanding Islamist Terrorism. A number of his books have been translated into German, Romanian, Russian, and at least one book is translated into Norwegian (A Christian's Pocketguide to Islam/Den kristnes lommeguide til Islam).

During a radio debate on Premier Christian Radio, he was also criticised by the News Editor of The Muslim Weekly, Hamza A. Bajwa, for presenting a distorted image of Islam and Muslims. Bajwa has also written a book review of Sookhdeo's 'Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam'.

In January 2009 the Muslim convert and Islamist blogger Matthew Smith, (also known as Indigo Jo), posted a link on his blog under the title of “Review of rotten book by the Sookhdevil” to a review of "Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam" written by Ben White of Fulcrum. Melanie Phillips reported in The Spectator that this post was the cause of a number of death threats received by Patrick Sookhdeo, even the Barnabas Fund felt it necessary to issue a plea for supporters to pray for their staff, “especially for our international director, Patrick Sookhdeo".

Articles

• The Age: Islam, The West And The Need For Honesty
• The Myth of Moderate Islam
• Evening Standard: The schools that divide the nation
• The Islamization of Europe

Books and booklets

• 1972 – The Asian in Britain, London: Community and Race Relations Unit of the British Council of Churches (booklet)
• 1972 – Asians in Britain : a Christian understanding, Church Pastoral-Aid Society, ISBN 0-85491-831-0
• 1983 – Christianity & Other Faiths, Attic Press, ISBN 0-85364-363-6
• 1990 – Sharing Good News: The Gospel and Your Asian Neighbours, Scripture Union, ISBN 0-86201-547-2
• 2001 – A Christian's Pocket Guide to Islam,Christian Focus and Isaac, ISBN 1-85792-699-4 (also 2006, ISBN 1-84550-119-5)
• 2002 – A People Betrayed: The Impact of Islamisation on the Christian Community in Pakistan, Christian Focus Publications ; Isaac Publishing, ISBN 1-85792-785-0
• 2004 – Understanding Islamic Terrorism: The Islamic Doctrine of War, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 0-9547835-0-6 (published in US 2009 as "Understanding Islamist Terrorism: The Islamic Doctrine of War", ISBN 978-0-9787141-6-1)
• 2005 – Islam in Britain: The British Muslim Community in February 2005, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 0-9547835-5-7
• 2006 – Islam the Challenge to the Church, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 0-9547835-4-9
• 2007 – Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-2-3
• 2008 – Faith, Power and Territory: A Handbook of British Islam, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-3-0
• 2008 – Understanding Shari'a Finance: the Muslim challenge to Western economics, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-7-8
• 2009 – The Challenge of Islam: to the church and its mission, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-5-4 (2nd rev. ed. of "Islam the Challenge to the Church")
• 2009 – Freedom to Believe - challenging Islam's apostasy law, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-9-2
• 2010 – A Pocket Guide to Islam, Christian Focus Publications ; Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84550-583-7 (2nd rev. ed. of "A Christian's Pocket Guide to Islam")

Co-authored

• 1981 – Christianity and Marxism, with Alan Scarfe, Paternoster Press, ISBN 0-85364-289-3

Edited

• 1974 – All One in Christ: The Biblical View of Race, Marshall, ISBN 0-551-05398-4
• 1978 – Jesus Christ the Only Way: Christian Responsibility in the Multicultural Society, Paternoster Press, ISBN 0-85364-236-2
• 1988 – New Frontiers in Mission, Paternoster Press, Baker Book House, ISBN 0-8010-8284-6
• 1991 – Sharing Good News — the Gospel and your Asian neighbours, Scripture Union, ISBN 0-86201-547-2
• 2004 – The Persecuted Church, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation (reprinted in South Africa 2005, 2007)