Formerly mute young Muslim woman now speaking out for Jesus

Oosman* and his wife, a Muslim couple, lived ordinary lives in an Arab kingdom of the Middle East. Still childless after ten years of marriage, they decided to adopt baby Ajmi* from a local orphanage.  As the child grew, baby talk failed to appear and the parents were dismayed to eventually learn their beloved daughter would never learn to speak. She could hear clearly, but was—and would always be, doctors told them—mute. Devastated but thoroughly in love with their child, they knew returning her to the orphanage was unthinkable. So as soon as she was old enough, they admitted her to a special school for deaf and mute children.

A new teacher appeared at the school the year Ajmi turned ten. Unbeknownst to school authorities, the dedicated educator and former Muslim ‘just happened’ to be a volunteer evangelist with Bibles for Mideast and began each day’s classes with prayer. Trying to stay below the radar of other teachers and staff—all strong Muslims—she did her best to quietly convey the gospel message to her students. Whenever she could fit them in, she would tell stories of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and try to make it clear that salvation and eternal life could happen only through and with Jesus.

Ajmi was intrigued. She especially treasured a picture of Jesus her teacher gave her. But when she showed it to her parents, they scolded her for carrying such a thing. Taking it from her, they ripped it to pieces, paining their young daughter deeply. When her parents left the room she managed to rescue all the bits of paper, tape them back together, and then hide the image away where they wouldn’t find it.

The fortunate Little girl in our story learns way more than math in her Arab Muslim school (Shutterstock image)

She also, in secret, began praying to this prophet man Jesus … not in words as we know them, but with the language of her heart and body. Since she now knew how to read, the teacher gave her a booklet containing the Gospel of Luke and advised her young student to read from it daily.  

Whenever Ajmi had problems with what she read, she would approach the teacher, manage to convey her questions to her, and get an explanation. It wasn’t long before she accepted this wonderful Jesus as her own personal Lord and Savior.

When she became a teenager, her cherished teacher presented her with a Bible in in Arabic. She finally had the whole precious Book!

Back at home, while her parents did their regular namaz (Islamic ritual prayers), Amji tried to distance herself from them and pray instead to the Lord she now knew. While her initial attempts to share the gospel only angered them, they couldn’t deny her increasing happiness and grew more tolerant.

One day, her father seriously injured himself in an accident. Doctors tried to help him, but the wound only worsened, got deeply infected and refused to heal. When medicine couldn’t help him he turned to Islamic priests and imams, but his wound continued to fester.

Ajmi brought her father the gospel booklet her teacher had given her and motioned to him to read it.

“Jesus will heal you!” she assured him with gestures, but he would have none of it.

"I will pray to the Lord Jesus for your healing,” she let him know with the body language they had grown to understand. “Will you believe in Him if you are healed?"

"I can believe," her mother piped in, but her father remained silent. Tearfully, she continued to press him for an answer.

“Okay,” he finally relented. “If he heals me, I will believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.”

Ajmi closed her eyes, put her hands over Oosman's wound, and prayed. Her parents watched, smiling at their fervent young daughter’s way of praying, not believing anything would change.

When she finished, Ajmi took her hands away. The wound had dried up completely! Her parents stared in disbelief. Each ran their hands over where the wound had been … now smooth, clear skin. Their doubts in Jesus as healer, Lord and Savior vanished as completely as the oozing wound had, and each willingly accepted Him into their hearts and lives.

All three knelt down before the Lord, praising and thanking Jesus. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Ajmi then began praising in language her parents understood!  Sixteen years mute and now she was bursting both earthly and heavenly language. As the family’s friends and relatives learned of her new-found speech, many came to believe in Jesus as well.

With the help of Ajmi's teacher, the family approached the local  Bibles for Mideast pastor and not long afterwards, all were baptized and became members of his church.

Now enrolled in secondary school, Ajmi mixes her studies with sharing the truth of Jesus with her friends. Please pray for her and her family as they grow in the Lord. As more and more others are coming to faith through their witness, they face increasing persecution from the Muslim community, so please be in prayer for their protection as well.

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*  Names changed for security reasons