Madame Bilquis Sheikh (1926–1997)

Pakistan: Author/Refugee/Missionary

Bilquis Sheikh, the wife of a high-ranking government official in Pakistan, gave her life to Jesus Christ in 1966. Born in Punjab, Pakistan, to an elite Muslim family, she never fully embraced her family’s religion. Curious about the Jesus she read about in the Quran, she asked her Christian chauffeur to bring her a Bible—and Romans 9:25–26 caught her attention. She approached two local American missionaries who answered her questions and explained the gospel, and soon after, Sheikh experienced a series of dreams and visions that confirmed her decision to convert. News of her conversion reached her family who considered her a traitor and an infidel and shunned her. After she was threatened and her home torched, she fled to the United States where she began speaking about her experience and love for Jesus in churches. Years later her health declined and she returned to Pakistan, where she died in 1997.

You can learn more about Bilquis through these resources:
1. I Dared to Call Him Father, by Bilquis Sheikh (available in audiobook)
2. From Darkness to Light (her testimony)
3. Wikipedia Entry (very informative)