islamrevolution.org

In July 2003, my wife and I experienced a beautiful, extraordinary miracle.

My wife will explain in her own words what she witnessed, and I will then give my own interpretation and mention some other signs.

► 1. We were driving back from the foundry where we had been working on our new pieces. That night Pierre had just happened to finish sculpting in clay the sculpture of a semi-abstract shepherd, which is the sculpture you can see in the photograph above—it depicts a shepherd holding his staff, fighting against the wind and rescuing a lost sheep held under his tunic. 

It was around 10:00 p.m., the night was very clear with bright stars shining everywhere and apparently not a single cloud in the sky. Pierre was at the wheel driving very slowly, when I suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Stop! STOP!!" Then, "Pierre, regarde dans le ciel [look--in the sky]!"

Pierre stopped the car and looked in the sky: Right in front of us, right next to our home, there was actually what seemed to be the only cloud in the sky that night, a great white cloud we could easily see because of the brightness of the night. Pierre, absolutely stunned, could hardly say a word—he dared not say what he saw.  So he asked me softly, "Qu’est-ce tu vois? [What do you see?]"

And I said crying "C’est ton berger [It’s your shepherd]!  Yes, look it is your shepherd!” 

In the sky directly in front of us was a cloud in the exact shape that Pierre had just finished sculpting that same night, a fairly low white cloud about 200 yards wide against the background of the beautiful starry night. Most astonishing was that the cloud had the exact same proportions of the sculpture that Pierre had just finished. There, in the sky, right above our home, was a shepherd holding his staff, looking at us in precisely the same manner that he had designed his shepherd to look at people from the side. Even the negative space between the staff, the arm and the tunic were identical to that in Pierre’s sculpture!

We remained in the car silently another five or ten minutes, contemplating the shepherd in the starry night, who was looking at us so strangely. The shepherd cloud was moving extremely slowly, heading east in San Diego, and it maintained this exact same shape the entire time we were looking at him.

Pierre renamed his sculpture after the miracle we had witnessed—it was no longer merely the shepherd, but now "The Shepherd Angel"-- because to us, there is not a single doubt that God sent an angel in the form of a cloud to give us a sign.

► 2. How to interpret this miracle? Why was this a "sign", and why did it appear then? I believe that there are multiple meanings:

The appearance of my own sculpture in the form of a shepherd angel in the sky couldn’t possibly be merely fortuitous.

The reason why I sculpted the Shepherd Angel is simply to reflect the profound message of unconditional love of the shepherd who is ready to do whatever it takes, even give away his own life if it is the price to pay, to go rescue the lost sheep and take him back to the shepherd’s house: He will cross over the mountains, he will cross streams, in the night, in the rain, he will give absolutely everything to try to save the sheep gone astray and take him back to the shepherd’s house. I see it as a strong sign from God that even if we experience hardship or fall down as we all have from time to time in our lives, we must hang on, remain faithful and never, ever, give up: God will always send us a shepherd to pick us up, out of His infinite, unconditionnal love and mercy.

The Shepherd Angel appeared in the sky right above our home. This is why I happened to realize that the shepherd angel was heading very precisely in the same direction I perform the five daily ritual prayers: Towards Mecca, the Sacred Temple of Islam located in Arabia. I initially calculated the direction to the Sacred Masjid (of Mecca) when we first moved out in our home with a special compass which includes directions to do the ritual prayer all around the world accurately. In my opinion, it is very obvious that the Shepherd Angel was symbolically showing the way to the “Shepherd’s House”, the holy Temple of God, the beacon which allows the human race to unite and glorify Him five times per day. It is also the place where we reunite at least once in a lifetime, if we can afford it, to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, symbolizing that we are one nation, one people, one race, one brotherhood united and living in submission under God. It acknowledges that we follow the right path which He designed for us: Islam.

I hope the Shepherd Angel will inspire some people from various religious backgrounds as it has inspired us and that it will be a bridge to unite people. Whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim or any other religion initially divinely inspired, we all enjoy and proclaim the same message of unconditional Love and Mercy.

Psalm 34:7

The angel of the Lord protects those who fear him and delivers them.

Matthew 18:12-14

What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray? If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Reference: World English Bible

Quran, sura 1

In the name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Praise be to GOD, Lord of the universe. 

Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

He who reigns over the Judgment day.   

It is You whom we worship; it is from You that we seek help. 

Guide us onto the right path, 

The path of those whom You blessed, not that of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor that of those who have gone astray.

► A long time ago, before I even was Muslim, I had a spiritual dream pretty much in line with the Shepherd Angel. I had very good friends and we were enjoying a profound extraordinary friendship, more like a brotherhood. It is hard to describe because how profound and beautiful it was. All a sudden and for a reason I don’t remember, we had to part company and each go our own way.  It was terribly sad because of how close we used to be and how much love was in our hearts. At the end of the dream, I was walking all by myself in the countryside and at one point I reached an intersection still all by myself. To my surprise, all my friends then reached the same intersection at the same time and were coming from every side. It was extraordinarily beautiful, everybody was crying out happiness and falling in each other's arms. What I hope it means is that the human race will come together at one point, accomplishing the prophecy of sura 110, where throngs of people will embrace Islam, the religion of God, the religion of Love.

► Another sign I would like to mention is a mathematical sign which again involved my wife. I was working the graveyard shift in a hotel in Paris, the same night my fiancé (at the time) was in Washington staying in a hotel in room # 619. Around 5:30 in the morning, the first (and only guest before the end of my shift which was very unusual) came to the front desk to check out, and it caught my attention because he was staying in room # 619. The amount on his bill was 114 francs, which he paid in cash. What was also surprising is that it was possible to divide the cash amount in two times 57 francs. I felt something very unusual was happening, and it is only after quite some time which I understood the mathematical sign to its full extent:

Number 619 happens to be the 114^th prime number (114 = 19x6), which is also the number of suras in the Quran. Number 57 (19x3) is also a symbol of Quran because the Quranic initial Q, which stands for Quran, prefaces two suras (42 and 50) and the initial is found 57 times in each Q initialed suras. In the Quran, number 619 is in my opinion associated with the victory of Islam:

6:19 Say, "Whose testimony (shahada) is the greatest?" Say, "GOD's. He is the witness between me and you that this Quran has been inspired to me, to preach it to you and whomever it reaches. Indeed, you bear witness that there are other gods beside GOD." Say, "I do not testify as you do; there is only one god, and I disown your idolatry."

61:9 He has sent His messenger with the “guidance” (GV 19) and the true religion, and will make it dominate all religions, in spite of the idol worshipers.

My fiancé and I happened to get married a few months later in America in the 619 area code, where she used to live, and before she moved to France.

The bottom line regarding signs in our lives is reflected by the following verse:

2:118 Those who possess no knowledge say, "If only GOD could speak to us, or some miracle could come to us!" Others before them have uttered similar utterances; their minds are similar. We do manifest the miracles for those who have attained certainty.