Strange Events and DREAMS Drew Bilquis to God the Father
Bilquis Sheikh (1912–1997) was an upper class Muslim Pakistani woman [Begum] used to wealth and perks. Embittered because her husband had divorced her, she sought solitude and drew much of her pleasure from her flower garden. Several unsettling events in 1966 punctured her peace and made her wonder if she was under spiritual attack.
From the age of nine, she had read the Quran, but found little comfort in it. She did, however, notice that it often referred to the Jewish and Christian holy books. She ordered a low-caste Christian servant to get her a Bible. After repeated commands, she found an old, hard-to-read Urdu translation on one of her tables. She began to read.
That same night Sheikh dreamed she was eating with Jesus. Jesus left. And she found herself conversing with someone whose name she knew was John the Baptist. (At that time she had never heard of John the Baptist, nor had she read Revelation 3 where Jesus promises to dine with whoever opens to him.) She continued to read and compare the Bible with the Quran. Soon afterward she dreamed a salesman placed a dish of lovely perfume on her dresser, saying its fragrance would fill the world. When she awoke she found her Bible where the perfume of her dream had been.
Who was John the Baptist? Why had she dreamed his name? What was the meaning of the perfume which she had also smelled in her garden? She visited local Christian missionaries to find out. Synnøve Mitchell received her and answered her questions.
Synnøve was in a crisis herself. She had been praying for a breakthrough in her seemingly fruitless ministry. Otherwise she had made up her mind to leave Pakistan. The arrival of Bilquis Sheikh on this day, 24 November 1966, was the divine affirmation she needed to stay in Pakistan. The Lord had laid on Synnøve's heart to prepare a lesson about the Magi and how God led them by a star and through dreams. This was exactly the message Sheikh needed to hear: She realized that just as God had formerly used dreams to guide some individuals, he still did.
Soon afterward, a nun urged Sheikh to pray to God as if he were her father. She began to sense his fatherhood. The day came when she put aside the Quran because it did not point her to God as Father. Shortly afterward, tutored only by the Bible, she encountered God as the Son and was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Sheikh lost the fellowship of most of her Muslim family and friends when she came out for Christ. However, through obeying Scripture and abiding in the sense of God's presence, she found herself in a new life. She became more approachable to other people and kinder to her servants. She even learned to pray sincerely for the well-being of her ex-husband. Eventually she gave her witness before large audiences world wide.
—Dan Graves
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Other Muslims have also come to Christ through experiencing dreams. The stories of five are told in More than Dreams. Watch it at RedeemTV.
More than Dreams can be purchased at Vision Video.
Other Events on this Day
- One by One Cordoba's Christians Testified and Died
- FALCKNER WAS THE FIRST LUTHERAN ORDAINED IN THE NEW WORLD