Dr. Dahesh prophesied Bachir Othman’s
Parliamentary victory and the exact number of votes he received.
This article appeared in Al-Lewa’ Magazine (Lebanese magazine), issue 76, June 12, 1964.
…On Saturday, February 29, 1964, and just before traveling to ‘Akkar, [a Lebanese province] Bachir Othman and ‘Awatif Othman, his wife, felt like stopping by the residence of Dr. Dahesh hoping to see him. They were fortunate enough to find Dr. Dahesh present in his residence reading a book in one of the rooms…it is 4:30 PM and Dr. Dahesh rushed to welcome his visitors, saying that he is very happy to see them. ‘Awatif Othman brings up the subject of the elections in ‘Akkar, where her husband is a parliamentary candidate from that province, so Dr. Dahesh addressed his friend Bachir Othman saying: “How do you see the campaign going?” Bachir answers: “One should anticipate surprises, even though I am generally certain that ‘Akkar would not fail me—despite efforts by some individuals from the opposition, whom I’ve been to a past ally and friend.” ‘Awatif then said: “Money is the only weapon that scares us in this battle.” Dr. Dahesh responded by saying: “Madam, rest assured…”
In the presence of Bachir Othman, his wife, a relative of theirs called Haidar Sa’d-Allah Muhammad, and Dr. Farid Abou-Suleiman. Dr. Dahesh held the hand of Bachir Othman and with an unusual tone said: “Rest assured, my brother…and be calm!” Then Dr. Dahesh wrote a few phrases on a yellow sheet of paper [Ramz sheet], folded the paper and asked Bachir Othman to enclose it within another piece of paper and to write on it with his own handwriting the date of the Spiritual Session. Bachir Othman wrote: February 29, 1964 and kept the folded and enclosed paper in his wallet and then got up, bid Dr. Dahesh and Dr. Fareed Abou-Suleiman farewell and headed to ‘Akkar…
Dr. Dahesh did not hear from any of his visitors during the election period that resulted in victory for the four-seat parliamentary block, representing the province of ‘Akkar, where Bachir Othman and Baheej Al-Kaddour, represented the Sunni, Rushdi Fakhr represented the Maronites, and Y’akoub Al-Sarraf represented the Greek Orthodox. Being the head of the block, the total vote count that Othman received was 11,856.
Time passed by…
Fate had it that I met with Dr. Dahesh last Saturday and he said to me: “I prophesied victory to one of the parliamentary members from your district (north). I prophesied the exact number of votes he received. This prophecy is written on a piece of paper that he kept in his wallet. When he opens it, he will be surprised like no one has.” So, I asked him:
Who is this member of the Parliament? He smiled and did not respond.
Is he married? He said: Yes.
Was he a previous member of the Parliament? He said: Yes.
Is he from Tripoli? He said: No.
Is he from an area near Tripoli? He said: Yes.
Is he Bachir Othman? Again, Dr. Dahesh did not respond. He then said: “You will visit this individual on Monday accompanied by Dr. Farid Abou-Suleiman, who will ask from our friend to open the prophecy and read it.”
It is Monday evening…Dr. Farid Abou-Suleiman called me to say that he will wait for me at 8:30 PM in his car in front of the “Laic” school for girls in the vicinity of “Karakoul El-Druze.” I met Dr. Farid Abou-Suleiman at the specified time and place and accompanied with Ryad Gerkas, the editor, and “Vaskeen,” the magazine’s photographer. We then entered the house of Bachir Othman, the Parliament member. Bachir was surprised to see us and apologized for not having any of the family members at home to greet us because the family went to the airport to welcome a relative returning from the United States. He also said that the reason for not appearing in any of the receptions attended by members of the Parliament was because of a sickness he contracted and kept him at home until the period of recuperation is concluded. I asked him: Are you not involved in the Parliamentary negotiations over the leadership battle? He said: Yes, I was just visited today by Rashid Karameh, the Prime Minister and Mr. Renée Mu’awad.
Just before politics dominated the session, Dr. Farid Abou-Suleiman preempted us and addressed Bachir saying: Dr. Dahesh delegated to me to visit you in his name to check on your health and to ask you to open the paper that he had delivered to you on February 29. Here Bachir remembered the paper and said: Yes, that’s true…I have not opened it yet, however, it is present in my wallet, currently placed in one of my suits in the closet. I will go get it…Dr. Farid said: You are sick, let me bring it to you…just let me know which suit and I’ll bring it to you. Bachir said: I don’t know which suit…I will search for it myself…He got up and headed to the closet, found the wallet and returned back to his bed. He then searched for the paper within his wallet and found the folded yellow paper in the form of a triangle, with the date “February 29, 1964” that he had written with his own handwriting.
After he opened it and read its content, he was speechless! I heard him saying “strange…impossible…what is going on and who is this man?” He searched for his eyeglasses so that he can carefully read it again and when he did, he returned back to saying: “strange…what is going on?” I was surprised myself from his behavior and said to him: What is written on the paper? He said: Here, take it and read for yourself. So, I read the content of the yellow paper…it was crowned with the following phrase: “In the name of God and the Beloved and Guiding Prophet.” In the middle, a pentagram with Arabic characters then the following phrase: “To grant a Spiritual Assistance to brother Bachir Othman, in order to win the election. God willing, he will be victorious and will receive 11856 votes.” It was dated “February 29, 1964” at 4:30 PM.
I then said to Bachir: What do you think of this? Bachir said: This is an amazing man that I have never seen anyone like him. I left the home of the Parliament member from ‘Akkar and couldn’t get over the signs of astonishment on his face. The editor and photographer were so afraid that their knees were trembling.