Bilquis Sheikh 12 December 1912 – 9 April 1997
A stunning classic – true story of how a Muslim lady from Pakistan found a deep relationship with God. The link to her book is given below.
Pakistan, Wah
Change The winds of change were blowing for Bilquis Sheikh. Born into an affluent Pakistani home. Her husband General Khalid Sheikh through a shocking series of events suddenly walked out, left to London, leaving her alone and hurt. Bilquis Sheikh beautiful with large luminous eyes and a husky voice was strong, indomitable and courageous. She refused to cry, but she was angry and hurt. She rose up again, left Rawalpindi and moved into her grand ancestral white palatial bungalow in the cools hills of Wah. She immersed herself in the care of her four-year-old grandson, Mahmud who she adopted due to her daughter’s tumultuous marriage. Life will go on again she told herself fiercely.
Strange Events One evening, as the dusky shadows loomed over the sprawling green carpeted lawns, Bilquis Sheikh hurried across to the bungalow, and was about to snip off a aromatic spray of white flowers for her bedroom from a bush, when suddenly, a white unholy mist floated by, the air turned dark and a chill shot through her while the weeping willows in the garden shivered. Bilquis sensed evil though she did not believe in the supernatural. And then she felt a very firm tap on her right shoulder. She screamed and ran to the bungalow, perturbed. That evening, she asked her two maids, Nur-jan and Raisham, if they believed in ghosts. They seemed reluctant to answer but Nur-jan did suggest asking the local mullah to come and pray and sprinkle holy water. Bilquis shook her head. Then a further incident sparked off Bilquis with worry. Mahmud started refusing food and when Nur-jan suggested he was being attacked by evil spirits, this triggered more fear for Bilquis. She called the mullah home who prayed and read the Koran over Mahmud, and she started to read her Koran faithfully, finding comfort as she read it until the part which read ” “When ye have divorced women, and they have reached their term, then retain them in kindness or release them in kindness.” These words haunted her, for her husband had cruelly left her, did she reach her term? After that day, she found no comfort in reading.
Memories and Questions She hoped to find peace in nature old memories and took a long walk looking over the lavender hills. She remembered her noble late father who used to walk with her, wearing his white turban, dressed in a British suite from Saville Row as a high-calibre government officer. He had many good conversations with her. He was gentle and understanding and Bilquis missed him terribly, remembering standing by his open grave in the Muslim cemetery of Brookwood outside of London. He had travelled to London for surgery and had never came back. The Muslim custom requires that a body be buried within 24 hours of death and when Bilquis reached the cemetery, his coffin was ready to be lowered into the grave. As they unfastened the coffin, Bilquis looked the cold gray clay in that box thinking this was not him; where had he gone? Numb with pain she asked Allah, “Where is the promise of comfort?” As Bilquis read the Koran, she was intrigued by the numerous references to Jewish and Christian writings and suddenly wondered if she could get a Bible, but was a little afraid, wasn’t the Christian Bible falsified as the mullahs taught them?
Interest In The Bible One day, she asked Manzur, her Christian chauffeur , asked if he could show her garden to some local American missionaries who had admired it through the fence. “Of course,” she said thinking Manzur wanted to impress these people. The American couple Reverend and Mrs. David Mitchell strolled through the garden. Bilquis told the gardener to give these missionaries some flower seeds. The next day, Bilquis called Munzur in her bungalow and said, “Namur, I want you to get me a Bible.” Manzur looked extremely nervous. A Christian had recently been murdered for giving a janitor a Bible, and he knew the hard consequences of giving a Bible to a Muslim. But Bilquis was very firm. She was determined to get a Bible and told him sharply, “If you don’t get a Bible by tomorrow, you will be fired!” Pale and trembling, he nodded. The next day just before a visit from Tooni, her daughter, Mahmud ‘s mother, a little Bible appeared in her drawing room table.
Printed in Urdu, it had been translated by an Englishman 180 years before, she read a little, finding the language difficult, and then put it down and forgot about it. Her daughter noticed the Bible and said, “Oh, a Bible!” she said. “Do open it and see what it has to say.” As a way of looking for a prophetic word, she opened the Bible a verse caught her eye. Romans 9:25- “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” 26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” The words mysteriously burned in Bilquis’ heart and she quickly shut the Bible. What was this Book?, she asked herself.
Over the next few days, different Bible verses spoke to Bilquis. She read ” Romans 9:31: But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Ah, she thought, the writer must have been a Muslim, the Israelites missed it as they don’t know righteousness. Then she found another verse, Romans 10:4. For Christ is the end of the struggle for righteousness to everyone that believeth. She was puzzled and she read on in Romans 10:8-9 For the secret is very near you, in your own heart, in your own mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. She shook her head as this contradicted the Koran who wrote Jesus was a mere human who never died on the cross, was whisked to Heaven and a look-alike was placed on the cross.
The Dreams She went to sleep perplexed and then had a strange dream. Normally she did not dream but this night she did. She saw herself having supper with a man she knew to be Jesus. He visited her home and stayed for two days and in the dream, she felt incredible joy and peace. Then the dream changed and she found herself on a mountain top with another man who wore a robe and sandals on his feet. In her dream she heard the name, John the Baptist and thought, “What a strange name!” She started telling John the Baptist that she had a meal with Jesus but asked, “Where is He now? I must find Him! Will you lead me to Him?” She awoke calling ” “John the Baptist!” For the next three days, she read the Koran and the Bible side by side. One incident in the Bible caught her attention, a woman was caught in adultery and what fascinated her was the way Jesus handled it, He said, “Let the first person found without sin throw a stone at her.” All the men were convicted and crept away! Three days later, she had a second dream, she was in the bedchamber when a maid announced that a perfume salesman was waiting to see her. She asked her to show him in, and he came in, dressed in garb of perfume salesmen in the old days, a black frock coat and his perfumes in a valise. He took out a golden jar, removed the cap and handed it to her. She was about to touch it, but he said, “No!” and placed it on her bedside table and said, “This will spread throughout the world,” When she got up the next morning, the dream was very vivid to her, the sun shining and a wonderful fragrance filled the room. She looked at her bedside expecting to see the golden jar but saw the Bible there instead! A tingle went through her. That afternoon when she went for her stroll in the garden, she felt a different sense of wonder and joy and a new lovely fragrance filled the garden. She needed to know more about the Bible, she could not ask her Christian helpers, they would not know, she had to ask someone who knew. Then a thought struck her, she would drive herself to Reverend and Mrs. David Mitchell’s house. Now, it was unthinkable for her to drive as she was the daughter of Nawab nobility, though she had been an officer in the Royal Indian Army women’s division in World War II and had driven ambulances and staff cars thousands of miles over all kinds of terrain. But that was wartime, and anything was permissible!
Meeting Mrs. Mitchell Her black Mercedes approached the Mitchell’s home in the early evening. Suddenly, the house door opened and a group of chattering village women filed out, and Bilquis stiffened for they would know her and the story would spread that Begum Sheikh had visited a Christian missionary, the unthinkable! The women too were stunned to see her and stopped talking, saluted her and hurried by. Mrs. Mitchell was a young, pale, and fragile lady. As soon as she saw Bilquis, she exclaimed in surprise, “Why, Begum Sheikh- come in!” Bilquis stepped in and then found the moment to ask her the big question, “Mrs. Mitchell,” she asked, “Do you know anything about God?” Mrs. Mitchell sank down into one of the wooden chairs and said, “I’m afraid I don’t know too much about God, but I do know Him.” Bilquis found herself telling her about her dream of the prophet Jesus and the man named John the Baptist. She felt the same electricity as she relayed the dreams. She then said, Mrs. Mitchell, I’ve heard about Jesus, but who is John the Baptist?” Mrs.- Mitchell replied, John the Baptist was a prophet, a forerunner of Jesus Christ, who preached repentance and was sent to prepare the way for Him. He was the one who pointed to Jesus and said: `Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ He was the one who baptized Jesus.” Bilquis’s heart skipped at the word “baptized?” She knew many people who were murdered after their baptisms. This also happened under British rule when supposedly there was freedom of religion. She said again, “Mrs. Mitchell, forget I am a Muslim. What did you mean when you said you know God?” “I know Jesus,” Mrs. Mitchell said. She told her what God had done for her by removing the bridge between God and humans when Jesus visited the earth in flesh, dying for our sins, taking the sins of the world upon Himself so all could enter Heaven one day, if they receive His gift. Finally, Bilquis took a breath and told her the strange events in the house and asked Mrs. Mitchell, “Can you pray for me?” Mrs. Mitchell look surprised, they both knelt down and she prayed, “”Oh Spirit of God, “I know that nothing I can say will convince Begum Sheikh who Jesus is. But I thank You that You take the veil off our eyes and reveal Jesus to our hearts. Oh, Holy Spirit, do this for Begum Sheikh. Amen.” Bilquis’ heart was strangely warmed after this prayer. Mrs. Mitchell noticed the gray Bible Bilquis was carrying and gave her a New Testament, written in modern English, which was an easier translation, telling her to start with the Gospel of John who also writes about John the Baptist.
The Fragrance As she drove home, she experienced for the second time that same fragrant Presence she sensed in her garden earlier that day. She read about John the Baptist in the night. When she got home that night, Raisham came in with a note which she said had just been delivered to the house. It was from Mrs. Mitchell. It read, “Read Second Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 14.” As she read the Bible, she was stunned to read, Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on Christ’s triumphant way, and makes our knowledge of Him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume) She sat there in bed, and re-read the passage, the knowledge of Jesus spreads like a lovely perfume! In her dream, the salesman had put the golden dish of scent on her bedside table and said that the perfume “would spread throughout the world.” The next morning I had found my Bible in the same spot where the perfume had been laid! Bilquis called for tea, her mind in a flurry as she called for order in her life, this was getting uncanny! She decided she would not meet Mrs. Mitchell again, because things were getting too supernatural for Bilquis to handle.. However, one afternoon Nur-jan rushed into her bedroom and gasped with a strange look, “The Reverend and Mrs. Mitchell are here to see you,” Bilquis went down to meet them, and sandy-haired David Mitchell warmly greeted her and Mrs. Mitchell threw her arms around her. Bilquis was stunned for no one ever did that, even in the family and stiffened for a while. Later, they got around to talking about the Bible, and she questioned them about the trinity. In answer, David compared God to the sun which manifests itself in the three creative energies of heat, light and radiation, a trinity relationship which together makes the sun, yet singly is not the sun. After they left, she continued to read the Bible and Koran. She knew the messages were both different, so which would she accept finally?
At The Hospital One day, little Mahmud came up to her holding the side of his head and crying. He had a eye pain and Bilquis took him o the hospital, and stayed overnight with him in an adjoining room. In the night at the hospital, Bilquis sat up in bed, reading her Bible. She read the Koran out of duty. Suddenly, the lights went out and the room was shrouded in darkness. Bilquis was annoyed, just then the door opened and Dr. Pia Santiago, a Filipino nun stepped inside with a flashlight and another nun came with candles brightening up the room. Bilquis noticed the doctor staring at her Bible and said, “Can I sit with you for a while?” “Sure,” said Bilquis. As Dr. Santiago sat down, a little later she leaned forward and asked Bilquis, “”Madame Sheikh, what are you doing with a Bible?” Bilquis replied, “I am in search of God, but you Christians somehow make God so personal, I find that confusing.”, and then told the doctor of her dreams, and comparing the Bible with the Koran The doctor listened carefully and then said with eyes filled with emotion, “Madame Sheikh, ,there is only one way to find out why we feel this way, pray to Him and ask Him to show you the way.” She then said something that made electricity shoot through Bilquis, she said, “”Talk to Him as if He were your father.”
The Encounter At Three In The Morning After the doctor left, Bilquis’ head was reeling for as a Muslim she could not talk to God in such a familiar way. Later as they went back home to Wah, she went to her room and made an attempt to talk to God, but words were stuck and she could not. She finally fell asleep. She got up at an odd hour of the night after midnight. It was her birthday, December 12th and she was 47 years old. A rush of childhood nostalgia filled her and she remembered her wonderful father and then the thought struck her, could she talk to God as she talked to her earthly father? Trembling with excitement, she got out of bed, sank to her knees on the rug, looked up to heaven and said, “”My Father.” As she kept saying, “My Father,” a mighty presence filled the room, and she started weeping, she poured out her heart to Him and told Him she was sorry she had not spoken to Him before. A warm blanket of Love surrounded her, and this was the same loving Presence in that fragrance-filled afternoon in her garden and the same Presence she sensed as she read the Bible. She then said, “I am confused, Father , I have to get one thing straight right away.” She reached over to the bedside table where she kept the Bible and the Koran side by side. I picked up both books and lifted them, one in each hand. “Which, Father?” she said. “Which one is Your book?” Then a very strange thing happened. Nothing like it had ever occurred in her life before. She heard a Voice inside her being, a Voice that spoke to her as clearly as if she was repeating words in her inner mind. A Voice that was kind, but full of authority. The Voice said, “”In which book do you meet Me as your Father?”She said, “In the Bible.” That was it! She looked at her watch, and found that three hours had passed but she wanted to read more, talk to Him more. This was the beginning of her very fascinating walk with Christ!
Do read the book as it is an outstanding classic that one never gets tired of reading again and again!
Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Dared-Call-Him-Father-Miraculous-ebook/dp/B004TS1MAG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Begum Bilquis Sheikh (12 December 1912 – 9 April 1997) was a Pakistani author and Christian missionary. She was a prominent member of a noble Muslim of Wah in Attock and known throughout the country for her political and social work. She is known for her high-profile conversion from Islam to Christianity, following a series of visions and prophetic dreams. She told her life story in the book, I Dared To Call Him Father. Published in 1978, the book is a classic in Christian literature and evangelism. It is a best-selling book with worldwide sales exceeding 300,000. Her autobiography was one of the most popular Muslim-to-Christianity conversion books of the 20th century, prior to 9/11.[1] It has been printed numerous times, in several different languages around the world. A 25th Anniversary edition was released by Baker Publishing Group in 2003.
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