Paranormal Activity in a Mosque: The Imam of Kushtia

The paranormal activity I am going to describe took place in a remote village in Kushtia district, in the mosque of my own village, and it is a story I saw the end of with my own eyes.

A Mosque Beside the Graveyard

Our village is in a remote part of Kushtia district. Just below the road is the mosque. In front of the mosque is a huge, raised Eidgah, and to its right is a graveyard. Our little village, about a kilometre away, is very neatly kept. People come from all sides to pray at the mosque, because it stands right in the middle of the village. But because it is beside such a big graveyard, the place is very frightening. With tall bamboo clumps and all kinds of trees, the graveyard is wrapped in darkness even before dusk falls. So people were very afraid to come for Isha prayer. Fewer people came for Fajr too, and the same went for the imam. For this reason the mosque committee decided that the imam would stay the night in a room at the mosque and get up in the morning to lead the Fajr prayer.

Let me say in advance that the imam was a man from a middle-class family. His was a farming family, so he worked in the fields all day and led the five daily prayers. The mosque committee arranged a room for him, from which he would lead the prayers and where he would spend the night. His house was in our own village; it was only for convenience of the Fajr prayer that arrangements were made for him to stay at night. Because the mosque had an Eidgah and a graveyard beside it, nobody easily wanted to stay there. But he was a local man of the village, and he paid it no mind and agreed easily.

The First Night of Paranormal Activity

That day too, as every day, after Isha prayer we all went home. The imam was left alone and began preparing for sleep. It was his habit to do some tasbih and recitation every night after prayer before sleeping. That day too he did so. He had another very good habit, praying Tahajjud every night. That day too, around eleven at night, he woke up. He was thinking of making wudu and praying, then his eyes fell on the clock, it was ten or fifteen past eleven. He thought, let the night get a bit deeper, I will pray Tahajjud around twelve or one. With that thought he went back to bed and fell asleep.

Suddenly he heard the sound of people walking on the roof. Outside, people seemed to be drawing water, making wudu, many taps running. He thought, perhaps I have slept a long time, the time for Fajr has come and the worshippers have arrived at the mosque. Wondering when to give the adhan and when to lead the prayer, he got up and quickly switched on the microphone to prepare for the adhan. Then it struck him, how dark it was outside! He looked out a little. He saw that the handle of the tubewell was going up and down by itself. It felt as if very tall figures in white clothes and a great many people were moving about outside. He was amazed. Taps were running, people seemed to be coming and going, yet nobody could be seen. Then it seemed that many people had come into the mosque and were preparing for prayer, talking among themselves. He could not understand what language they were speaking. Finding himself in such a situation, he began to feel afraid.

He thought quietly, it is not right to stay here now. He went to a corner of the mosque and sat quietly. He thought in his mind, perhaps angels or jinn have come, who offer prayer. Sitting in the corner, he recited tasbih and Quran. He could tell that many people were walking around him, there were sounds, windows were being raised and lowered, and there was walking on the roof. He wanted somehow to get to the imam’s room, lock the door and wait for morning. But he had neither the courage nor the strength to get up. He sat there continuously reciting tasbih and Quran.

Suddenly at some point someone put a hand on his shoulder from behind and said that he had to lead the prayer. He looked at the person’s face in astonishment. He saw a very tall man, whose head nearly touched the mosque roof. Seeing him, he was very afraid. He asked, “Who are you?” He said, “There is no need for you to know who we are. You do one thing, lead us in a little prayer.” He led the prayer. After the prayer he was told, “Now you may go.” But he was so frightened that, not knowing where to go or what to do, he simply sat down there. Then one of those tall people came forward and said, “Listen, do one thing, let us hear you recite the Quran.” He said, “What should I recite?” He said, “Whatever you know.” As he thought about what to do, he fell into such confusion that the imam himself says he could remember nothing. When he could not recall anything, they said in an angry voice, “Recite whatever you can. We want to hear. You are the imam here, it is your duty.” Because they pressed him a little, the imam became even more frightened. Then one came and comforted him, “Do not worry, do not be anxious, we will do you no harm. We live near this graveyard. We pray here. You do not know it that way. No harm will come to you.”

Read more: [LINK: Real Ghost Encounters: The Ambulance Driver and the Corpse Road]

In this state he recited as much of the Quran as he could. After he recited, he was asked, “What do you want, tell us?” He only said, “Please let me go, and you please leave this place.” At this they became a little displeased. They were being told to leave their mosque. Then he said, “Look, I am only telling you that I am willing to lead your prayer. I do not know so much. Just let me go. Whether you go or not, I cannot bear this any more.” He begged and pleaded a lot. They kept saying one thing, “Look, we will not harm you, do not be afraid. There is nothing to fear here. We too are Allah’s creation. Just as you are Allah’s servant, we are Allah’s servants too. We worship Allah. We have come to worship, we will do you no harm.”

Even though it was all very natural, he could not take it, because he had never been in such a situation before. He had newly decided to stay here, so it was very hard for him. After that, he did not remember what he said. Suddenly in the morning at the time of Fajr, people came and found him lying on the floor. Everyone called him, but he did not regain consciousness. They laid him in one side of the mosque and everyone prayed Fajr. After that he was taken to a dispensary in the village market. There, a little first aid from the pharmacy brought him round. When he regained consciousness, without saying anything, without saying what had happened, without telling anyone, he went home.

Keep It Secret

At home he told his wife, “Such and such happened to me tonight, I saw this, what should I do?” His wife said calmly, “You do not need to tell anyone else, keep it to yourself.” He did so, and felt no need to tell anyone. Since he was from a middle-class farming family, he had two cows, with which he ploughed the field. That day, after finishing at the mosque, actually without even getting the chance to pray, after regaining consciousness he decided to leave and go to the field. His wife reminded him again not to tell anyone what had happened. That day too he told nobody.

The next day at Isha prayer time he said, “I will not stay here today. A lot happened to me yesterday. I will go home and sleep.” The mosque committee people said, “Look, that was an accident, it will not happen every day. You stay and sleep with your body sealed, then there is no problem.” He thought, if the body is sealed there should be no trouble. So he agreed. That day he slept, nothing happened, he only saw some dreams. In the dream he saw some people standing in a circle around him, all in white clothes, very tall. He could not see their faces clearly. They all said one thing, “Look, do not reveal to anyone what happened to you yesterday. Keep what you told those people within yourself. Otherwise if it becomes known, we will have trouble. We pray here too. We do not want to harm you. Do not do anything that forces us to leave this place.” He only said, “All right, I have not told anyone, I will not tell tomorrow either, do not do anything to me.” This was the plea he made in the dream. After that he slept again as on any other day.

In the morning when he woke, he told his wife again, “Today I dreamed those people came and forbade me.” His wife said, “When they have forbidden you, why would you tell anyone? There is no need to tell anyone. You carry on as you are.” That day too he went to the field in the morning with the two cows to plough. At the field a terrible restlessness was working inside him, what did I see, what is happening to me. He tied the ploughing cows in a shady place under a tree. Then he sat down to eat. His wife had brought food. While eating he began to discuss the matter, “If it goes on like this, what will I do? I have two cows, how will I manage? I cannot give up being an imam, the money from here is what keeps the household going. If I do not do this work, how will the household run?” His wife said, “There is no point worrying so much about all this. You keep going. As long as Allah has kept your life, you will be here.” He did not give the matter much weight. He thought, whatever will be will be. I am doing the worship of Allah, they will not harm me.

The Young Man Who Stayed

It was decided that from the next night one person would stay with the imam. There are many young men in the village. After Isha prayer the mosque committee consulted and kept one young man. The young man’s name was Saddam. This is not his real name, I am using it for the story. Saddam went to sleep with the imam. Saddam had the habit of fiddling with his mobile. Fiddling with his phone, he stayed up very late. The imam fell asleep. Saddam was listening to songs or something on his phone with headphones on, he might also have been listening to recitation. At some point he fell asleep. Suddenly Saddam realised that some kind of sound was coming from inside the mosque. Walking sounds all around, terrible thumping. The sound of the tubewell being pumped, water falling from taps. It felt as if many people were rushing into the mosque making noise. He had heard the day before that the imam got frightened seeing these things. So fear began to work in him too. He thought, will I be in trouble today in the imam’s place? Without thinking, he called the imam, “Maulana Sahib, look, what is this noise here?” The Maulana got up from sleep and saw that today too a lot of noise had started in the mosque. Perhaps they had come for prayer. He told Saddam, “You be quiet, do not say a word. Whatever happens, let it happen, you stay lying here.”

But Saddam could not stay lying down any more. Curiosity rose in him, let me see who they are. He went to peep. He saw that someone was calling him. Seeing the gesture of beckoning, he could not bear it. He saw many tall, tall people. He fainted right there. Because Saddam fainted, the imam shouted loudly to wake him. Suddenly the people of the house in front of the mosque realised. They got up at once and came and saw the imam trying to wake Saddam, who had lost consciousness. Because of this the jinn did not get a chance to do anything more that day. Nothing happened that day. Everyone prayed, the time of Fajr came and went.

The Field

That day the imam told his wife again, “Today someone was with me, and this happened to him. He could not bear what he saw and fainted.” His wife said, “All right, what has happened has happened, there is nothing more to say about it. You do not have to do that job. If it happens every day, that is very dangerous. Leave that job. Allah will keep us going this way.” Free of these worries, he left from the mosque, I mean with his cows, to go and plough. But the thought of the mosque would not leave his head, what happened today, what did I see.

After he went to the field with the cows, as every day his wife went with food. What she saw when she got there was not good at all. She saw that the cows were far, far away, their ropes broken, standing there. They were panting very hard. And the imam was lying at one corner of the field, on the ridge, in a terrible state. So terrible that it seemed someone had torn him apart in places. His whole body was wounded and torn. It was a very horrifying death for the imam. Nobody knows why this death happened, how he died. The cows were so frightened that it cannot be described, they were panting hard. When the imam’s wife saw this she screamed, throwing down all the food things. At her scream, people came one by one from the nearby fields and from our home, everyone. After seeing the death, nobody could bear it easily. The story slowly became known to everyone. The imam’s wife told everyone what had happened.

Anyway, about a week after the imam died, Saddam’s mind was not working properly either. He was kept in hospital in Pabna for a long time. Slowly Saddam is well now. The incident was a long time ago.

This was a small incident. The imam’s death was cruel. We saw it with our own eyes. I thought, I do not know whether it is frightening, but it can be shared.