Gulshan

London, England 1966

Gulshan was unable to walk, she had been crippled by typhoid fever whilst still a baby, and confined to a wheelchair all her life. Surgeons had operated to try to obtain mobility in her deformed limbs, but without success.

Her family were devout Shi’ite Muslims, direct descendants of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. A noble lineage which purportedly bestowed automatic right of entry into Paradise upon the Sayed line.

Gulshan was schooled in the tenets of Islam by her father, a highly respected Islamic leader, and prayed five times a day without fail. She wore purdah from the age of seven, and was horrified by the sight of western women with unveiled heads and bare legs.

Gulshan’s father had flown her from Pakistan especially to obtain the opinion of Doctor David, a London Specialist.

After the Medic carefully examined her limp arm and withered leg he gravely pronounced;

“There’s no medicine for this, only prayer.”

The Specialist’s verdict crushed the fourteen year old, who faced a tragic future, never to be whole, hiding behind a veil of shame.

Shaken, but undeterred, her father immediately took the girl on Islam’s most sacred pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj.

Muslims come from around the world to pray at the Ka’aba, “The House of God”.

Gulshan’s maids lifted her wheelchair onto the Pakistan International Airways flight, and the group settled into First Class, praying for Allah to work a miracle.

They were received at Jeddah by a Sheikh, a friend of the family and wealthy land owner. Father made careful arrangements for the Hajj, ordering two sacrificial lambs for each person to ensure their prayers had special efficacy.

Everyone was confident that she would be healed, “Here where faith is strongest. Where so many prayers are centred, Mohammed will surely ask Allah to heal you.”

Gulshan was pushed in her wheelchair from the Hajj Camp and carried by four men around the Ka’aba on a wooden platform. The group performed each of the required rituals with great reverence.
The teenager was allowed to kiss the Black Stone, fully expecting to be healed as she did so. She bathed in the “healing waters” of Zam-Zam, and visited Mohammed’s Tomb in Medina (where she was given special access to pray for healing.)

During the month long trip, they also visited Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem and Iraq. However, she was not healed, there was not even the slightest improvement.

The whole Sayed family were devastated by the ineffectual pilgrimage. Poor Gulshan was suicidal.
Relatives tried to lift her spirits whilst she continued her religious duties.

Two years later another terrible blow fell, her beloved father died suddenly from acute pneumonia.
It was the lowest point in her life.

She fell into deep despair, and said to herself, “It is wrong to be alive, a useless cripple like me. Now Father is dead. God, I can’t live like this, please take me to Father.”

God seemed as far away and silent as ever.

For years she had read the Quran and prayed devotedly, but gradually she lost hope of Allah healing her.

Instead of reciting prescribed Muslim prayers in Arabic, she poured out her heart in her native tongue (Urdu).

“What terrible sin have I committed that You have made me like this? I want to die, I don’t want to live any longer.”

God loves it when we become real, and seek Him with all our heart.

For the first time in her life she heard God reply to her prayer;

“I won’t let you die. I will keep you alive.

Who gave eyes to the blind, and who made the sick whole, and who healed the lepers, and who raised the dead? I am Jesus, Son of Mary. Read about me in the Quran, in the Sura Maryam.”

Whilst the family mourned, Gulshan read avidly about Jesus in the Quran, and began to believe He did miracles, was alive, and that He could heal her.

She prayed; “Oh Jesus, Son of Mary, it says in the Holy Quran that you have raised the dead, healed lepers, and do miracles. So heal me too!”

Here’s how He responded to this precious Muslim youth, orphaned, weeping, and calling on the Name above all names.

As usual, she awoke at 3 am. and sat up in bed reading verses from the Quran.

But in her heart she was pleading, “Oh Jesus, Son of Maryam, heal me. If you are able, heal me!”

The room filled with God’s Glory until it was brighter than daylight.

Peeping from under her shawl, she saw twelve people in a row, and a figure in the middle, brighter than the rest.

Terrified, she prayed, “Oh God, who are these people, and how did they come here when the windows and doors are locked?”

The main figure said,

Get up. This is the path you have been seeking. I am Jesus, Son of Mary, to whom you have been praying, and now I am standing in front of you. Get up, and come to me.

Twice she protested that she couldn’t because she was a cripple.

Twice more, Jesus commanded her to stand up, and come to Him.

Gulshan had been crippled for nineteen years, but as she began to obey Christ, new life surged into her withered limbs.

She stood on the ground unaided, and ran to Jesus’ feet.

He put His hand on her head, and said,

I am Jesus. I am Immanuel. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am alive, and I am coming soon. See, from today you are my witness.

He said other things, then the vision faded and Gulshan was standing alone, eyes still dazzled by the Glory.

It was 4 am. Everything was normal in the room, windows and door firmly locked.

Full of joy, she praised God and walked around the bedroom.

Her Aunty knocked on the door asking,

“Who is that walking in your room?”

“It’s me Aunty!”

“That’s impossible. You can’t walk. You’re lying!”

“Well come and see!”

Seeing the new Gulshan, the household were filled with wonder.

The evidence was irrefutable.

Jesus had healed Gulshan, and sent her to the world as His witness.

People came from far and wide to see the walking miracle of Christ.

Each one wanted to hear the story firsthand.

How, the night her father died, a voice told her to read about Jesus in the Quran. That she obeyed and prayed to Jesus for three years, more and more desperately, until He appeared and healed her by His Word.

Soon afterwards, Jesus led her to obtain a Holy Bible, and reading the New Testament, she gave her heart to Christ, and was born again.

The new believer was baptized as Christ instructed, and grew into a powerful preacher of the Gospel.

Many hardships followed as a result of her bold witness.

Because she renounced Islam and became a Christian, she was disinherited by her family, and thrown onto the street. She faced death-threats, and a spell in prison.

Today she is based in England, and has testified of Christ in crusades alongside the world’s foremost evangelists. …….

From: http://bornagain.port5.com/

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