THE REAL STORY OF THE “TORN VEIL” OF GULSHAN FROM PAKISTAN

V.S.Gopalakrishnan

I have seldom come across a more sincere self confessed life-story than that of Gulshan, contained in her book “The Torn Veil” as told to Thelma Sangster. The book was first published in 1984 in Great Britain by Marshall Pickering, part of Harper Collins Publishers.

The book is remarkable not only in terms of simple story-telling but also of the ups and downs in the life of a simple Pakistani girl who is the subject of an extra-ordinary and miraculous transformation in life. The happenings in her life are so varied and absorbing that they can make for a delightful Hollywood script!

Gulshan Fatima was born in 1952 into a fairly aristocratic family of Jhang, 250 miles from Lahore, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. She lost her mother soon after her birth. Her father was a fairly rich businessman with estates and property, and a large family of children. He was a pir that offered him a religious standing in the society and was otherwise a social leader too. Gulshan was the youngest daughter in that Sayed family, and the Sayeds - Sayed means Lord or Sir- are Shias, reckoned as descendants of Prophet Mohammad through daughter Fatimah who was the closest to the prophet amongst his children. Gulshan had two elder brothers and two elder sisters.

When Gulshan was a child of six months of age, she was paralysed and became crippled due to typhoid. Yet, she lacked nothing in her upbringing. When she was 14 years old, in 1966, her father took her to London in order to explore a permanent cure for her handicaps. But the specialist, one Dr.David, examined her and announced that no cure was possible and recommended “only prayer”.

Gulshan’s father was so extremely caring for and loving of her that he would not easily give up. He takes her from London straight to Mecca, and it was the Haj time, hoping for a heavenly intervention. This chapter on the Haj trip is most fascinating for the insights the readers get. Of course, Gulshan brings out very evocatively all the mental agonies she passes through in her quest for a cure so that she could be able to walk and also use her hands freely like a normal person. She is in a constant state of saying prayers. Mecca has seven hills around it, and this reminded me of Tirupati! The pilgrims circle Kaaba seven times that reminded me of “saptapati”! A turn is called a “tawaf”. Of course, Gulshan had to be carried on a “palki” (palanquin). She wears the while pilgrim’s dress called “Ihram”. She explains how her devout father had developed a depression in the forehead, called “mihrab” due to the forehead repeatedly touching the ground in the prayer rituals. They also visit Arafat, a place seven miles from Mecca, where God tested Abraham by asking for the sacrifice of his son. Abraham (Ibrahim) is a revered Prophet in the Holy Quran. Readers may note that the Kaaba (literally meaning the Cube) looks black as it is actually draped in black brocade (referred to as “kiswah”) with golden embroidered letters on it taken from the Quran.

From Mecca, Gulshan and her father visited Medina, Jerusalem and Karbala (the holy Shia city in Iraq) before returning to Pakistan. All the devout prayers and the very Holy Pilgrimage made no difference to Gulshan’s condition. Then follows a description of many a family matter, including the beloved sister Anis Bibi’s wedding and the sad passing away of her very dear father from pneumonia on 28 Dec 1968. Gulshan, in constant prayers for a cure, is shattered beyond hopes. Then comes that great incident – she heard a voice that reassured her of a cure. The voice referred to the raising of the dead, healing of the lepers, and claimed it was owned by Jesus. The voice told Gulshan: “Read about me in the Quran, in the Sura Maryam”. Maryam is Mary, the mother of Jesus, and “Sura” stands for the Chapter in the Quran.

Gulshan managed to get a copy of the Urdu Quran in order to more ably follow the pointed passage as revealed by the voice. The Arabic Quran in which prayers were said was far less comprehensible to her. (Sura Maryam is the 19^th sura as I find from my copy of Quran.) To Gulshan it became more and more clear that Prophet Mohammad was not said to be invested with healing powers whereas Jesus Christ was admitted to having had them even as per the Quran.

Gulshan was increasingly captivated by this following claim of Jesus as mentioned in the Quran: “By Allah’s leave I shall give sight to the blind man, heal the leper, and raise the dead of life”. The word Allah in this passage is the generic for God. (Gulshan does not mention the actual sura number, and with my tiny exertion, I find that the above passage is contained in Sura 3:49) What followed were her constant prayers to Jesus to heal her. And that day arrived. Jesus and his disciples appeared in a vision early one morning. Jesus asked her to arise and walk up to him. She gets up and walks miraculously! This is the climax point in Gulshan’s story and life. This was when she was 19 years of age. The actual date is not mentioned that has surprised me, but we must remember that the story was written and published in 1984, nearly 13 years later.

Thanks to the miracle, which her relatives and friends could not really believe, Gulshan decided to become a Christian. When she announced such intention, the behaviour of her brothers and others, went to the bottom of the pit. Her eldest brother said: “For the sake of Islam we can murder you. It says in the Holy Quran”.

The saddest part of the story according to me is the inhumanity of Islam. The relatives who should have exulted at her healing were threatening to kill her rather than let her lead a life of her own according to her own beliefs. Islam seems to say “be a Mussalman or become a Mussalman” but “death unto you if you move away”.

Gulshan is forced to sacrifice the wealth bequeathed by her rich father, and she took the option of walking out of the family house penniless. She underwent baptism and became a full-fledged Christian. Her name changed from Gulshan Fatima to Gulshan Esther. Life after that for her was full of dramatic and interesting developments of various kinds from time to time which I shall not describe here. What is surprising is that even her Christian bosses showed her inhumanity when she reported to work in a Blind School three days late, by terminating her services without asking for reasons. Hitlerism is often-times the mark of hierarchical institutions and power can become a cause for revelry if I may put it so!

On the whole, Gulshan’s sisters are friendly to and sympathetic with her. The males in the family (the brothers), bearing the intolerance-aspects of Islam on their shoulders, are the most evil-natured creatures going to any lengths to humiliate her and just stopping short of murdering her. A second miraculous episode finds place in the book when Gulshan’s prayers revived the life of her sister Anis Bibi when she was dead for a few hours.

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On the whole this book comes out as a very plausible story. Nothing is overstretched or underplayed and the recounting is very sincere. It does not appear that the underlying intention of the book is to proselytize people to Christianity or to condemn Islam. In fact, there are thousands of cases of conversion of people from one religion to another, and the driving force behind a book is normally the un-usuality of the experiences. There are always lessons on humanity and morality that such books throw to us.

The curious point is that the copy of the book that I got was published by Evangelical Literature Service, Chennai (<elsindia@md4.vsnl.net.in>) with permission from Harper Collins, UK. It consists of 155 pages and is priced at Rs.60. The Book title: “The Torn Veil”. Author: Gulshan Esther (as told to Thelma Singer).

Gulshan Esther, now about 59 years, is said to be living at Oxford, UK. A google search and a YouTube search reveal many entries about her. She is now Sister Gulshan.

The following is a video on Gulshan:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4x4qchBBGg

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