I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman's Encounter with God

I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time, and recently, I was able to get it as an audiobook and listened to it while on a trip. What a fascinating story—but also a great reminder of Who God is and what He has done for us!

I think the biggest thing that struck me about this story was what an intimate relationship God wants to have with us. Of course, the way it looks changes from person to person, but I loved seeing how He dealt with Bilquis to draw her closer to Himself. She was very sensitive to His leading, and I think that may have saved her a lot of grief in the long run.

As far as the setting goes, I didn’t feel like I got to know Pakistan very well through this, although it’s obviously a beloved country to Bilquis. Due show more to the way she lived, almost as a hermit, that wasn’t such a big part of the story. At the same time, I think her lifestyle may have protected her to some extent, too, so there aren’t such violent things in her story as we may hear from other Christians in that country.

This wasn’t the most fascinating book I’ve ever read, but I’m glad I was able to take the time for it. It’s refreshing to hear other Christian’s stories, and I came away blessed by this read. Recommended! show less

I know this review will disappoint some readers. It has also been suggested that when I don't like a book I need to be more specific about my reasons, so I'm going to try and do that....Firstly, though, I think there has been so much hype about this book that readers are not reading it critically enough. All of our experiences should be viewed through the lens of Scripture and anything that contradicts or distorts Scripture should be discarded.... [b:Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity|18289396|Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity|Nabeel Qureshi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386802223s/18289396.jpg|25818274] is a better alternative for those wanting to read books by show more Muslims converted to Christianity.

This high caste lady living in Pakistan is nominally Muslim although she admits that she does not practice a lot of the requirements/rituals. Her experiences begin when she senses an evil presence in her garden one night. This leads her on a spiritual search and after some fruitless seeking she decides that she must get hold of and read a Bible. It is after this that her dreams begin. She has a dream about John the Baptist--she claims never to have heard of him before the dream. This leads her to approach some American missionaries who explain the Gospel to her.

She then has another series of dreams and visions during which God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit all appear to her at separate times and presumably in different forms--she doesn't explain this. She compares her experiences to Paul being caught up into the third heaven and can't put words to what she witnessed. She also at one point suffers from an apparent attack by an evil presence where she calls on the name of Jesus and is rescued.

Her conversion is again an experience rather than a decision to trust Jesus. She describes feeling full of peace as she has never felt before. There is no mention of repentance or sin being washed away. She later baptises herself believing that it must happen immediately and being unable to wait for a few hours. She is eventually placed in danger due to her conversion and flees to America....

I think that is the gist of the book. I have tried to be as open minded as possible about her experiences as I tend to be skeptical of charismatic practice. These are my main issues with what she says;

1. She refers to God's presence and glory repeatedly. She describes it as something she can feel both when "it" is absent and when it is present. She uses this feeling to make on the spot decisions about God's leading. Almost like the game where you hide something and then tell someone they are getting warmer or colder as they get nearer or further from it. She starts to speak but then feels God's presence withdraw and so changes what she is saying. She takes a course of action but feels the Spirit withdraw so she stops the action. It's almost like some kind of magic trick and is totally subjective. I do believe we can quench God's Spirit through sin and that sometimes we can feel closer or further away from God. But God is always with us as Christians and feelings are unreliable--He doesn't withdraw completely from us having promised never to leave or forsake us. Many of the decisions she makes are not sinful one way or the other, yet she uses this feeling to determine the "right way." If guidance was as easy as that life would be a lot simpler all round. I don't believe God works like a genie in a bottle. He wants us to trust Him and to walk by faith not by a supernatural feeling...

2. I don't understand the purpose of her dreams and visions. They don't seem to lead her clearly or even be accurate. The cover of her book describes them as "strange dreams." Would God send confusing or strange dreams? In one of her dreams Jesus dines with her. She later reads the verse in Revelation 3 vs 20 and is convinced that the verse applies to the dream and that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy. She believes Jesus is knocking on the door of her heart. However, this is a common misapplication of the verse as it actually refers to a specific church. We can apply the verse to churches today but not to an individual heart. Her error on this occasion should make us question her other experiences.

http://www.gty.org/blog/B151005/frequently-abused-verse-on-whose-door-is-christ-...

3. Whilst I do believe that she was genuinely converted due to her perseverance in the faith and spiritual growth, I am not sure about her initial conversion or when exactly it happened. It all seems to be about feelings again with no reference to Jesus' death or confession or repentance of sin. This had been mentioned to her by the missionary but she doesn't refer to it, she just talks about a feeling of peace.

4. She frequently speaks about God having told her to do this or that and has conversations with all three persons of the Trinity. I don't believe God speaks to us audibly--He has given us His Word which is more than sufficient.

5. Her steady diet of supernatural experiences might make someone think that is normal Christian experience. Indeed, one of the missionaries says to her that God often speaks to his children through dreams and visions. Yet, even in biblical times it was not a frequent occurrence. I fear that others in her culture may expect these things to also happen to them or may somehow believe that this is what the Christian faith is about--they may seek signs and wonders instead of Jesus and the Bible.

6. She is often driven by fear and believes God wants her to do things suddenly due to an unspecified threat that might overtake her. She acts impulsively and almost like a crazy person at these times yet no threat is subsequently revealed.

7. She baptises herself in a tub due to fear of waiting for later in the day. She describes feeling her sins being washed away as she does this. That is not what baptism does. It is an outer symbol of inner change and presumably a chance to bear public witness to that change. Our sins are washed away at the point of conversion when we trust Jesus not at the point of baptism.

8. She believes that she needs a second baptism of the Holy Spirit after conversion. I do not subscribe to this view. The Holy Spirit comes to live in us at the point of conversion. We can pray for the Spirit to fill us/strengthen us etc but there is no second baptism or special spiritual platform. All true Christians have the Holy Spirit residing within them.

I sensed that this lady began to mature by the end of the book as she was beginning to pray for guidance and use Scripture in context instead of just opening her Bible at the first verse and applying whatever she read to her situation. I had a friend who behaved like this once--she seemed to always be operating on a different spiritual level to everyone around her, she wouldn't be held accountable because God was apparently speaking to her directly. She was headstrong and later suffered the consequences.

On the positive side, i'm pretty certain this lady is now in heaven having died several decades ago. Ultimately, she came to faith through reading the Bible and the witness of the missionaries. In my view and based on her account, the dreams/visions were not what led her to faith. I don't recommend this book as I think it is far too full of confusion and experiences that cannot be corroborated and some of which contradict Scripture. show less

I had a hard time connecting to Bilquis at the beginning because of her condescending attitude towards her servants, but her condescension came from her position as an aristocrat. I also started to question if the story was real because she used "Christianese" terms that a Pakistani wouldn't, but then I realized (1) that this book was written after she had for years recounted her story before churches and (2) that she had written this book to Christians. The best thing about this story was how she learned to listen to God's voice.

I got more out of a similar book: Nabeel Qureshi's [b:Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity|18289396|Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity|Nabeel show more Qureshi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386802223s/18289396.jpg|25818274]
[bc:Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity|18289396|Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity|Nabeel Qureshi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386802223s/18289396.jpg|25818274] show less

I have read many books of both missionaries and converts. Bilquis Sheikh's is one of the most moving and authentic that I have read. She openly admits her mistakes and at times, she displays her faith even more brilliantly than her mentors, the missionaries who have come to Pakistan. I would recommend this book over "Because they hate," by Bridget Gabriel to anyone who wants to read about christian/muslim relations.

How do I give myself to God completely? What happens when I do? True story of Bilquis, a prominent Muslim woman who faced these questions at the crossroads of her life - and found the astonishing answers. Her entire life turned upside down as a series of strange dreams launched her on a ques that would forever consume her heart, mind & soul.

This is a really powerful, moving, and touching story about a young woman's experience with God. Recommended to anyone who may be having doubts about either faith or religion. Five stars.

Amazing story of one woman's faith and her turn to Christianity from Islam. Provides a glimpse into the honor culture of Islam and its immense ties to family, society, and culture.