By Camila Santiago*

India — Prayer. It moves mountains; faith equally moves them too. Put them together and you have the strongest remedy to any broken heart; to any yearning soul.

For Piper Ragsdale,* a woman who has worked with Muslims for years, that’s all she can do. Pray and have faith that one day, all Muslims will come to know Christ.

A couple of weeks ago, during the holiest night of all Islam nights, the Night of  Power, in a small chapel in one of India’s largest cities, Ragsdale, along with many other believers fervently prayed for them.

Muslims believe The Night of Power is the night the first verses of the Quran were revealed to Muhammad. They spend from dusk until dawn praying to Allah, asking him to reveal to them in visions and revelations what is to come in their lives.

While Muslims were praying to Allah, Ragsdale and a group of believers prayed that God would reveal Himself as the one, true God. Ragsdale calls the night believers come together to intercede for Muslims the Night of Prayer.

The Night of Prayer started two years ago with four women praying in the living room of her apartment.

“I had just started focusing on the Muslims in this state and really felt burdened to encourage others to intercede for them,” Ragsdale said.

Ragsdale spends most of her time reaching out to the Muslim community by building friendships and showing Christ’s love to them.

As Ragsdale began to understand the importance of the Night of Power among Muslims, she decided that this would be the perfect time to invite Christians to pray.

“I thought it would be wonderful to invite Christians to spend the night staying up praying for Muslims as they wait on God to reveal himself during that night,” Ragsdale said.

Because the Night of Prayer takes up the entire night, transitions between prayers were necessary to help people stay awake. Praying for direction and activities to do throughout the night, Ragsdale incorporated different exercises. Among them, were the different positions Muslims do while praying.

As the night began, everyone entered a state of worship through songs and scripture reading. Then, explaining the different prayer positions Muslims do while praying, everyone in the room took position. With each prayer position came a prayer plea for every Muslim in the city; For every Muslim in the world.

“Doing the different prayer positions made me understand Muslims more as individuals,” said  Miranda York,* one of the attendees of the night.

This year, around twenty people joined Ragsdale in the Night of Prayer. On their knees, with their arms stretched high, they prayed to God for revelations and dreams, for a change of heart, for a soul yearning for Jesus Christ.

“Seeing everyone on their knees with their hands held up to heaven praying to God for the salvation of the Muslims in our state,” Ragsdale said, “That image still brings tears to my eyes.”

The Night of Prayer started with one person’s burden for Muslims, having faith that their words and pleas would be heard and that lives would be changed.

—30—

*Name changed.

For more on loving and praying for Muslims, visit loving muslims.com.
Camila Santiago is a Hands On Intern serving among South Asian peoples this semester. For more on internships in South Asia, visit  http://southasianpeoples.imb.org/connect/sa101/.