I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman's Encounter with God
by Bilquis Sheikh, Richard Schneider
Why You'll Love This
A wealthy Muslim woman in Pakistan starts having dreams about Jesus — and what she risks to follow them will stay with you long after the final page.
- Great if you want: a faith story rooted in real cultural and personal cost
- The experience: intimate and quietly urgent — reads like a confession, not a sermon
- The writing: Sheikh's voice is candid and unguarded, with no attempt to tidy the tension
- Skip if: you're uncomfortable with explicitly evangelical Christian framing
About This Book
What does it cost to follow God when everything—family, culture, safety, and social standing—demands that you don't? Bilquis Sheikh was a prominent, well-connected Muslim woman in Pakistan when a series of vivid, unsettling dreams set her on a path she never anticipated. This is the true account of how she moved from curiosity to surrender, navigating the enormous personal and spiritual risks that came with each step. The stakes are not abstract: her transformation put real relationships and her physical security on the line. For readers who have ever wondered what genuine faith costs or what it looks like when someone pursues God with everything they have, her story carries uncommon weight.
What makes this book work as a reading experience is Sheikh's voice—warm, precise, and free of religious performance. She doesn't write like someone trying to convince you of anything; she writes like someone still slightly astonished by what happened to her. The narrative moves with quiet urgency, grounded in specific moments and honest doubts rather than tidy spiritual lessons. Richard Schneider's collaboration keeps the prose accessible without flattening Sheikh's distinct perspective, and the result is a memoir that reads intimately, like a letter written directly to the reader.