CATEGORY:
Biographies - Modern REVIEWER:
Rick
I Dared To Call Him Father
Bilquis Sheikh
After several months of ‘doctrinal’ type reading and discussions it has been
a real refreshment of spirit and soul to read this testimony book. Bilquis
Sheikh, a highborn Pakistani woman, came to know the Lord in a very
‘supernatural’ way in 1966. I know all conversions are supernatural, just as all
are radical and life changing but her experience involving prophetic dreams
particularly reflects the former. The early chapters of the book move fairly
quickly through the series of events that brought Bilquis to a full knowledge of
God. Significantly, she came first to a revelation that God is a Father – and
‘dared’ to address Him as such, feeling at first that it was a most peculiar
thing to do. To refer to God as “Father” is so unlike the Muslim portrayal of
Allah. She next came to an understanding of who Jesus really is – The Son of
God. This also is in such stark contrast to Muslim beliefs and the declarations
of the Quran. Finally, she crawled out bed in the early hours one morning and
asked God to fill her with His Holy Spirit. She had come to conclude that this
was her need after reading through the Book of Acts. The following day she told
a newfound Christian friend, “I am a Christian now! I have been baptised in the
Holy Spirit!” (I liked her clear, instinctive testimony: she knew in her heart
that it is only this that makes someone a ‘Christian’!)
The book rolls on to cover some of her experiences in her walk with Jesus during
the next seven years. As you can imagine, becoming a Christian in a resolutely
fundamental Muslim country can make life very precarious to say the least. The
ostracising from family and talk in the village of “something having to be done”
about this woman who had become an “infidel” were not easy to bear. However,
there is always a compensating factor in God’s economy it seems. Although
Bilquis had only a limited circle of people with whom she could fellowship, God
continued to speak to her and instruct her heart quite directly in a number of
ways. In particular, she quickly learnt that when we begin to either fear or put
our trust in the ‘arm of the flesh’ (our old natural strengths) spiritual peace
departs. Whenever she repented of these things and simply trusted and obeyed the
guiding of the Holy Spirit in her heart she would find afresh that comfort and
sense of God’s presence and protection. Maintaining the knowledge and sense of
His presence was everything to her.
This book was a fast read for my wife and I; we eagerly completed it together
over the weekend. It is a compelling story that leaves you wanting to know at
the end of each chapter what is going to happen next. It became imperative to
reach the end quickly and find out how things finally turned out. There is a
short epilogue in this modern edition that I have which brings you up to date
with events after – up to the day of her death in 1997.
This book would make a very suitable gift for a wide variety of people. I think
women in particular, both Christian and many non-Christians, will find much to
stimulate. (That’s not to say that it is not a book for men of course!) It is a
potentially good tool for evangelism as well as Christian inspiration. I would
say that it is very suitable to give to any Muslim ‘seeker’ who is open to
investigating the Gospel of Jesus. It is not the right book if your wish is to
gen up generally on Islam although it does give some sundry insights. What it
does do though is paint a picture of what it is like to live as a Christian
convert in a fundamentalist Muslim country, albeit Bilquis’ upper-class
existence means that you see this more from this particular angle.
In a nutshell: This is a powerful, inspiring and authentic testimony to
salvation and God’s ability to work in a soul with little reference to human
agents. Highly recommended reading for all Christians and with a lot of
potential to speak to the unsaved.
