The story of Shahid Siraj Din, of Lahore, Pakistan is well known, and widely acclaimed. This account was written by his sister, Dr Tahira Saleem, with help from Dr Richard Kent from the UK. This is one of the most remarkable accounts of a Near Death Experience ever recorded. Shahid Siraj Din died for four minutes after a massive heart attack.
This story comes complete with photographs and medical evidence in the form of ECG tracings performed from the Aadil Hospital, taken by a Consultant Cardiologist. Included in this account is the ECG evidence of his Ventricular Fibrillation, and subsequent Cardiac Arrest. Shahid’s heart stopped beating completely, as confirmed by the straight line on the ECG taken at the time, and faithfully reproduced here. There is further medical support from Shahid’s brother-in-law, Dr Asghar Saleem, a Consultant Radiologist.
Summary
Shahid was a property developer, and had a severe myocardial infarction on 6th March 1990. He was admitted to the famous Aadil Hospital, in Lahore, Pakistan. Shahid Siraj Din was a patient of Dr Ansar Haider, a consultant cardiologist. Despite the best efforts of his skilled medical team in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital Shahid sustained a cardiac arrest. Shahid was resuscitated using cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and received three separate electric shocks to his heart, using a cardiac defibrillator.
Shahid was dead for four minutes. During this period he encountered angels and a demon, as well as Jesus Christ. He was ordered to return to this life by Jesus Christ, Who is described here in detail. Shahid was resuscitated after four minutes, using the very best technology available. The ECG evidence of his return to life is here for all to see, and is a testimony of the grace of God, and the skill of Dr Ansar Haider, and his medical team.
Shahid’s recovery from such a serious heart attack can only be described as miraculous. The echocardiogram taken by Dr Ansar Haider only eight days after his heart attack showed almost complete healing. After nine days Shahid was discharged from the hospital. Shahid, his family, and the hospital staff, all knew that they had witnessed a miracle. Equally miraculous was the complete change in Shahid’s life. He abandoned his property business, at considerable personal financial loss. He also sold his beautiful family home.
With his sister, Dr Tahira Saleem, he set up the Shekinah Churches and Shekinah Bible Institutes in Lahore and Quetta, Pakistan. These are now thriving Christian churches in a predominantly Moslem country. Shahid then became one of the best known evangelists in Pakistan over a period of eight years. On 14th Feb 1998 Jesus Christ called Shahid back to Heaven for the second and final time, after he sustained a second heart attack.
The background of Shahid Siraj Din
Shahid was born and raised in a nominal Christian family in Lahore, Pakistan. His father, Dr. Siraj Din, was a medical doctor and his mother was a nursing sister. He had an elder brother Zahid Siraj Din who was a professor of Zoology, and a sister, Tahira, also a medical doctor.
Shahid graduated from university, and then became a partner in a colour photography laboratory. Later he changed his career to the real estate business, which prospered very quickly. In 1990, at the age of 30, Shahid had a successful and profitable real estate business, and worked from his own office. But Shahid was far away from Jesus Christ. He seldom attended church, and never read the Bible, or even prayed. He regularly smoked cigarettes, and spent all his time at his business. Like so many people today, he did not know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour.
Shahid became a believer in Jesus Christ
On 6th March 1990 Shahid became convinced that his life should change, and decided that he should submit his life to Jesus Christ. For the first time in his life he fasted and prayed, and asked God to change his life. He was born again, as described in the Bible by Jesus Christ, in John 3:3-7. So Shahid became a believer in Jesus Christ, and his life dramatically changed.
Shahid had a massive heart attack
That very evening, while he was working in his office, he started to feel very ill. He asked his partner to drive him to his sister’s medical clinic, which was about two miles from his office. On the way he experienced severe pain in his chest, and started to vomit. Shahid soon arrived at the clinic. He was immediately medically examined by his sister and his brother-in-law, both medical doctors. They took him to the Aadil Hospital in Lahore, which was the first hospital in Pakistan to be awarded the prestigious ISO 9002 Certification, where Tahira was a Consultant Gynaecologist.
Shahid was seen immediately by Dr Anser Haider, Consultant Cardiologist, in the Emergency Room. Shahid was moved to the Intensive Care Ward, where he was given many injections, and ventilated with oxygen. The entire staff of Aadil Hospital took excellent care of Shahid, but after 30 minutes Shahid’s heart stopped beating, and the ECG on the cardiac monitor showed a straight line, indicating ventricular asystole.
The ECG taken at 9.00 p.m. on 6th March 1990 showed Ventricular Fibrillation. Dr Haider diagnosed a massive heart attack, causing the Ventricular Fibrillation. This is a major medical crisis, which is extremely difficult for any doctor to treat successfully. The outcome is very frequently fatal. Shahid’s heart muscle was not contracting normally, and was not pumping blood to the rest of his body. His ECG showed the typical tracing of Ventricular Fibrillation. This was an absolute medical crisis, because the organs of Shahid’s body were not receiving the vital oxygen rich blood from his heart and lungs.
This close up of the ECG clearly shows:
- Ventricular Tachycardia
- Ventricula Fibrillation
- Cardiac Arrest
Shahid then had a cardiac arrest
The next ECG showed Ventricular Asystole. This straight line on the ECG can be clearly seen. This meant that Shahid’s heart had stopped beating completely, and that he had suffered a cardiac arrest. The alarm sounded loudly on the cardiac monitor. Without medical intervention Shahid was effectively dead. Shahid’s life was now in the balance, depending on the skill of Dr Haider and his medical team. Dr Haider immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He performed external cardiac massage in order to resuscitate his patient, with positive pressure ventilation of pure oxygen.
Dr Haider compressed the heart from the external chest wall, to maintain the circulation. He also established an airway from the mouth to the lungs, and pumped pure oxygen into Shahid’s lungs. Dr Haider then treated Shahid’s heart with electrical defibrillation on three separate occasions. The initial current applied to Shahid’s heart was 100 joules. Shahid’s heart did not respond to the first two electric shocks from the defibrillator.
After four minutes cardiac massage, Dr Haider performed a third and final attempt using the defibrillator. On this last attempt the defibrillator was set at the very highest electrical current of 360 joules. There were a number of doctors surrounding Shahid. These were Dr Haider, Dr Tahira Saleem, and Dr Asghar Saleem.
After this last attempt, Dr Asghar Saleem was amazed to see a blue light enter Shahid’s chest. Other individuals in the Intensive Care Ward also recall this bright blue light. The medical team had been attempting to resuscitate a corpse with no palpable pulse or heartbeat. To everyone’s amazement Shahid actually sat up on the hospital bed, and asked everyone present, “Where have you brought me?”
Shahid had recovered from a cardiac arrest. He was kept in Intensive Care, and carefully monitored. The next morning a further ECG was taken, which showed only 20% cardiac damage. Dr Haider himself commented that a miracle must have taken place during the night.
Shahid’s out of body experience, after he was clinically dead
On the third day he told his sister Tahira about his personal experiences whilst the doctors were attempting to resuscitate him. During his four minutes of physical death, his spirit left his body, and he entered a spirit world which few people have seen, and yet recovered to tell the tale.
The Bible says that when we die our spirit, the innermost part of each of us, leaves our body, and we are dead. This is confirmed, for example, by the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross: “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit”, John 19:30 (NKJ). This is also confirmed in the book of James, which clearly states: “The body without the spirit is dead,” James 2:26 (NKJ)
Shahid’s spirit left his body during the resuscitation process. According to the Bible, as recorded in James 2:26, “the body without the spirit is dead.” According to the Bible, Shahid was dead, although the medical profession would normally wait until resuscitation had failed before pronouncing death.
As Shahid’s spirit left his body, he observed angels having a discussion with a demon. The discussion was about whether the angels or the demon would take his spirit, and to which destination, Heaven or Hell. After this brief discussion the demon departed, and Shahid saw the angels beside him, comforting him.
Shahid then saw his life revealed to him. It seemed like watching a video film. During this, he saw all of his sins revealed, during his life on Earth. After that he had a most unusual feeling, as he felt himself travelling towards Heaven at a very high speed. He was aware of a new spiritual body that was quite different from his Earthly body. During his journey up towards Heaven, the angels accompanied him. The atmosphere around him seemed like a white cloud, and everything was very peaceful.
Then, from a distance, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ surrounded in a glorious bright light, which was radiating all around Him. Shahid said that he had never seen such a light as this on this Earth. The light was radiating from the face of Jesus Christ. He said that Jesus was wearing a crystal white robe, radiating brilliant white light. He then heard Jesus speaking in a soft gentle voice. Jesus gently said, “Go back”. Shahid says he had never heard such a gentle voice on this Earth. A moment later, Shahid found himself back in his Earthly body, now sitting on the hospital bed. The doctors were telling him to lie down on the bed!
The prayers of Shahid’s cousin, Naeem Parshad
Shahid also said that during his journey upward to Heaven, he continuously heard the prayer of his cousin Naeem Parshad, who was a committed Christian. Naeem prayed that God would bring Shahid back to life. Naeem was at his home, and received a strong impression that Shahid had died. So he prayed that God would return Shahid back to life, and promised that Shahid would spend the rest of his life serving God.
Next morning Dr Tahira phoned Naeem to tell him what had happened to Shahid. But Tahira did not have to tell Naeem anything, because Naeem already knew all about it! Naeem said that, whilst praying, he saw a vision in his spirit of Tahira near Shahid’s body. He then saw Shahid’s spirit leave his body, and travel to Heaven, at a speed that seemed as fast as the speed of light. Naeem had prayed for Shahid throughout the night, and knew that God had sent Shahid’s spirit back to his body for a special purpose.
The effect of this miracle on Dr Tahira Saleem
At the time of Shahid’s death, his sister Tahira was a Consultant Gynaecologist at the Aadil Hospital. She was only a nominal Christian. Shahid was Tahira’s only surviving brother, and her only surviving close relative. She had already lost both parents and also an elder brother in 1984 due to a massive heart attack.
Tahira saw her brother dying before her own eyes. The situation seemed utterly hopeless to Tahira. It seemed to Tahira that this world could offer nothing that could help her brother Shahid. At that moment Tahira felt completely hopeless and helpless. She cried out to the Lord, saying, “Lord I am a sinner, and only You can have mercy on us”. After this she collapsed onto the floor. A few minutes later her husband said, “Look your brother is now alright”.
Shahid and Tahira’s totally changed lives
After this miracle in the hospital Shahid and Tahira’s life totally changed. They started reading the Bible and praying late into the night. They started this even whilst Shahid was still in the hospital as a heart patient. The nurses used to say, “Dr Tahira, you know that your brother has had a massive heart attack. He should not be awake late at night.” But their hunger and thirst only increased for the Word of God and the presence of God in their lives.
Shahid’s miraculous recovery
Shahid experienced a miraculous recovery. Dr Ansar Haider took an echocardiogram on 14th March 1990. The results read as follows:
- Normal aortic wall and cusp separation.
- No calcification.
- Normal mitral valve leaflets’ thickness and excursion.
- Normal EF and DE slopes.
- Normal subvalvular apparatus.
- No SAM or prolapse.
- Normal Right Ventricle but hypertrophied septum, especially around apex.
- Normal Left Ventricle dimensions, with reduced movements of apical and lateral wall, with akinetic septum.
- Ejection fraction 65%
Shahid walked out of the hospital on the ninth day after his heart attack, and all of his medical reports were virtually normal. Everyone said that they had seen a miracle.
Shahid and Tahira started serious studying
After Shahid had been discharged from the hospital, he stayed at his sister’s clinic for two weeks. During that time they both spent most of their time praying, and reading the Bible. They also read books on divine healing. They started listening to audiocassettes on the subject of faith. In particular the listened to Faith To Change Your World by T.L Osborne. From that time the world of Tahira and Shahid’s certainly was changed by faith!
Meanwhile the cardiologist came every day to visit Shahid, to check that his patient’s recovery was proceeding normally. Shahid’s faith grew supernaturally, and he very soon reached the “mountain moving” type of faith. Shahid said, “Jesus is the Master Healer, and is the Master of my life, so I do not need any medicine, and I do not need the cardiologist to visit me every day”.
But his sister Tahira was a medical doctor, and was very concerned. She insisted that the cardiologist should continue to see Shahid every day. For the following two weeks Tahira heard the Lord saying to her, “If you believe, you will see the Glory of God”.
When Tahira’s faith increased, she did in fact see the Glory of God. Shahid and Tahira started giving most of their time to the Lord, and very little time to their professions. They started attending different evangelistic meetings, and going to hear the teachings of various Bible teachers.
The salvation of Dr Tahira’s family
Dr Tahira’ Saleem had four children, Asher aged 12, Areesha aged 10, Aneela aged 8 years, and Anita aged 1.5 years. During this time the three elder children also received the Lord as their personal Saviour, and Anita became a believer as soon as she was old enough. In addition, Shahid’s wife Nelofer, and her three small children, Myra aged 5, Sameer aged 4, and Adeel aged 3 years, all became believers.
On 20th May 1990 while praying with an evangelist, the Holy Spirit fell on the entire family, and they started to pray in tongues, including Myra aged 5 years. There was a great revival in the family, and they were all filled with the power of Holy Spirit.
The only person in the family who had not received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour was Dr Tahira’s husband, Dr Asghar. So the three children, Asher, Areesha, and Aneela decided to fast and pray for their father’s salvation. One week later Dr Asghar also received the Lord as his Saviour. He then started encouraging his wife and children in the ministry work. Very soon the whole family started taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to other relatives and close friends. They had soon brought many others into the Kingdom of God. These new disciples were people from different walks of life, and they all started working together as a group, under the name of The Disciples of Jesus Christ.
An appearance by Jesus Christ
On 28th June 1990 Shahid and Tahira prayed all night. During this time Jesus Christ appeared to them, and they both saw Him very close to them. Jesus touched Shahid and said, “I have given you complete healing. I will use you mightily. You shall be my witness throughout the world”. Shahid knew he had received complete healing not only of his body but also of his spirit. The Lord had given him a new heart, and had made everything else in his life new.
His previous life, his addictions, and the company of old unbelieving friends had gone, and his life had become entirely new. The disciples of Jesus Christ were a small group, but they soon started arranging seminars, conventions, crusades, and home fellowships. The Lord started adding many people to this group.
The vision to start a Bible institute
In 1994 the Lord gave Shahid and Tahira a vision to start a Bible institute. The vision was that the institute was to be attended by lay people. These lay people were intended to be those who had felt a calling from God in their lives, but were unable to attend full time theological colleges, because of their commitments to their professions, or academic studies
Jesus said, “It is end times, and I am raising an army for Myself from various walks of life. You will train this Joshua Generation, and train them as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.”
Shahid’s call into full time ministry
In the very same year the Lord confirmed through different Christians that the Lord was indeed calling Shahid into full time ministry. Shahid gave up his business interests, and lost a great deal of money, but continued in his calling to serve the Lord. As he started walking in the path that the Lord had prepared for him, the Lord started opening many doors very quickly. Shahid was invited as a speaker in many crusades, conventions and seminars. The Lord gave him a special anointing for healing and deliverance. In his meetings many people received salvation, healing, and also received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In a very short time Shahid touched many lives and became a popular speaker all over Pakistan. During his meetings the Lord did amazing miracles. One person came to the meeting on a wheelchair. After prayer, he left the wheelchair and walked out perfectly healed. Many people were delivered of evil spirits, and the demons would scream as they left their bodies.
Eventually the whole family started to help Shahid and Tahira, who arranged their own big tent meetings and healing crusades. A large crusade was held in 1992 called The Victory Healing Crusade. On average, nine thousand people attended every day, over a period of five days.
Later Tahira became acquainted with Pastor Derek Walker, of the Oxford Bible Church, UK, and through him with Dr Richard Kent, also from the UK.
Shahid Siraj Din died for a second time
On the evening of 14th Feb 1998 Shahid came to visit Tahira to discuss a seminar, which would start on the very next day. Shahid parked his car and climbed up the stairs to Tahira’s home with his Bible and mobile phone. When he entered her home he was humming, praising God, and seemed to be very happy. He started to talk about his proposed sermon at the seminar. Suddenly he said he was not feeling well, and went to lie down in the bedroom.
Asghar said that he had never seen Shahid so unwell since he had received complete healing from the Lord eight years before. He phoned the nurse from the ground floor clinic in the same building. She arrived within one minute. The two doctors and the nurse entered Shahid’s bedroom, only to see Shahid gasping and taking his last breaths. Before they could even check his blood pressure, he was dead. The whole process hardly took five minutes.
When the Lord called Shahid home to Heaven, Tahira’s world was turned upside down. She thought she would never be able to continue the Lord’s work.
The building of The Shekinah Bible Institute was not yet completed, but the Lord encouraged her to continue the work. Many Christians from all over the world sent Tahira the same messages from the Bible: Joshua 1:2-3 (NIV) “Moses my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses”
God gave Dr Tahira courage and strength, and a team of believers to help continue the vision. Tahira’s main help was from her son Asher and Advocate Aneel Chaudhry.
The Shekinah Bible Institute opened on 29th Jan 1999, when the first batch of fourteen students from different walks of life enrolled in the college. The Lord later extended their vision. The Shekinah Church opened in Lahore, Pakistan, on 6th Feb 2000, and now has a membership of 150 families. Their vision was extended in December 2001 when they opened The Shekinah Church in Quetta, which is spiritually very hard ground for Christians. The Shekinah Bible Institute was opened in Quetta in February 2002, and now has 40 students.
The vision of the Shekinah Church in Pakistan is to start new Christian fellowships in places where there are no Christian churches, led by students who graduate from the Shekinah Bible Institutes. The vision of the Shekinah Church is also to provide a free mobile medical clinic, to provide poor people with free medical treatment, and also share with them the good news about Jesus Christ.
The family and relatives of Shahid Siraj Din would like to thank Dr Ansar Haider and all the staff at the Aadil Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan for their treatment of Shahid, and for the medical evidence that they have kindly provided.
Contact address
Dr Tahira Saleem speaks on “What does God think about Abortion?” and many other topics, in many countries, often in meetings of Women’s Aglow. She may be contacted on the following address:
Dr Tahira Saleem, MB BS, DGO, MCPS, MDiv, DDiv, DD
Skekinah Bible Institute
159 Hamza Town,
19 km Main Forozepur Road,
Lahore,
Cantt,
Pakistan
E-mail: [email protected]
The true story of Shahid Siraj Din is included, with the kind permission of the Saleem family, in the book BEYOND THE FINAL FRONTIER which includes 27 similar true stories, and may be freely read and downloaded from this site.