A Muslim man found Jesus while seeking for Allah! Indeed, God is able to reveal himself in extraordinary ways, at any time and anywhere. He is able to reveal himself through His word, through circumstances, through dreams, and in times that we don’t expect and in a place where we find it unlikely. In this particular story, He revealed himself extraordinarily to this Muslim man at the epicenter of Muslim faith!
Ali was a raging alcoholic who went to Saudi Arabia basically to protect his family from himself. While he was there, he was encouraged by some of his Muslim friends to go on Hajj and that’s what he did. Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims and the epicenter of their faith. It is the fifth and final pillar of Islam of which Pilgrims perform acts of worship and they renew their sense of purpose in the world. They need to go 7 times around the Kaaba, the building at the center of Islam’s most important mosque, that is Al-Masjid Al-Ḥarām, then at night, everyone sleeps together around the Kaaba.
Ali did all of these but he felt ashamed because he didn’t believe in it yet he still does it. During the night, when Ali slept around Kaaba with all the other pilgrims, he had an encounter with Jesus that totally changed his life forever.He recalled what Jesus said in his dream, “In the night I had this dream. And in a dream, Jesus came. First He touched my forehead with His hand and He said, ‘You have been saved. You have been saved.’ Then he opened His hand and placed it on my chest. And He said, ‘You belong to Me…you belong to Me.’ And He was smiling!”
I just can’t imagine Jesus’ love for Ali to the point of really saying all those sweet-sounding words! And that love is the same love that he has for all of us. Can you imagine Jesus himself saying, “You have been saved” and “You belong to Me.” That is just so amazing!
Ali even goes on to describe how Jesus looks like based on what he saw. “This is what he looks like: From His waist up, He was naked and shining pure white. He had a beard like in the pictures but a little bit longer. His hair and His beard…it was as if every hair was electrified light shining from every hair. That’s how handsome He was. And when He smiled, His teeth were shining white. And I was amazed at the way He stood there. And the lower part of Him was like a cloud of melted iron. And in that cloud, He was taken up.”
Ali heard from Jesus himself that he wouldn’t allow him to finish the Pilgrimage. He eventually found himself preparing to go home. While in the shower, he noticed something that reminds him that he forever belongs to Jesus. The area of his chest that Jesus had touched was all white!
“There was this white everywhere and so I tried to wipe it off and when I wiped it, it didn’t come off. I wiped it with water and soap and it still didn’t go away. And this voice said to me, ‘I’m going to show you even more things than this.’”
That led Ali to worship Jesus. The encounter that he had with Him led him to just fall down on his knees in worship!“And then since I knew it was Jesus right there in the bathroom, I got down on my knees. Because the only thing I knew to worship was to go down on my knees. So I got on my knees and I said, ‘Yes, Jesus, whatever you say, I’m gonna do it.’”
Ali is a testimony that indeed God is in the business of changing people’s life. He is able to reveal himself even to the most unlikely people in the most unlikely place. That’s how sovereign He is!
A Muslim meets Jesus in a dream while on a pilgrimage to Kaaba, Mecca. This event has changed his whole life and wherever he goes, he is marked with this special sign after this mighty meeting! God is truly amazing and works over our wildest imaginasion.