Miracles of Dahesh in his chidhood according to Dr. Brax from New Light on the Founder of Daheshism and His Miracles, by Ghazi Brax, Ph.D., Melhem Chokr, Ph.D., and Fares Zaatar, Esq.:

1-First Miracle—Speaking in the cradle

The child was still in the cradle when he was inflicted with an incurable illness. His father, who worked in a print shop at the American University of Beirut, became very worried, so he contacted Dr. John Smith, an American doctor that he had knew when Wadee’ah, his third daughter, became sick. Doctor Smith came to see the child and found him to be unconscious, so he used medicines in order to regain his consciousness, but to no avail. As his parents became desperate and as the Doctor was about to leave, the child suddenly rose after being cured in a miraculous way and conversed with doctor Smith in fluent English mentioning to him the name of the medicine that he should have used in treating him. The child was three years of age and didn’t even speak Arabic well, let alone fluent English. The doctor was amazed more than the child’s parents and asked him: “How did you know the disease and the medicine?” The child answered: “I am the cure to every disease.” The doctor became even more amazed and told his acquaintances of what he saw and heard, however, he did not know anything about the truth of who this child is.

2-He spoke Hindi

Some elderly people who lived before World War I in the Musaitbeh neighborhood of Beirut—and Mr. Antoine Barood was one of them—told me [i.e., Dr. Brax] that while they were standing and chatting in the neighborhood, a strange man passed by and asked them a question in a foreign language they did not understand. People crowded around the stranger attempting to communicate with him to no avail. All of a sudden, a child around five years of age passed through the crowd and approached the man wearing the unusual attire and speaking a different language and began talking to him in his same language with fluency. Signs of happiness appeared on the face of the stranger, thanked the child, and passed on his way. The crowd is amazed and asked the child how he was able to communicate with the stranger and in what language? He answered them: “He is an Indian who lost his way, so I gave him directions.” They were puzzled and said to him: “How were you able to give him directions and you are still a young child that doesn’t know the roads and you can’t even speak Arabic with fluency.” He answered them saying: “I am the Way, and I am the Guide.” The puzzled crowd asked each other about the name of the child and they were told it is Saleem El-Ashi (Dahesh).

3-Miraculous Fishing

Mr. Antoine Barood also told me [i.e., Dr. Brax] that on one morning, long after World War I had ended, he went fishing at the beach in Beirut. He spent ours throwing his fishhook and fishing net without catching anything. As he was about to return home in disappointment, a boy around 11 years of age was hopping and playing on the sandy beach approached him and suggested that he throws his net in a particular location, however, Mr. Barood refused because he had thrown the net and fishhook in that same location several times without scoring a catch. After the boy had insisted, Mr. Barood threw his fishhook and then his net in that location and scored a big catch. He repeated the process several times and in every time his net came out full. He was astonished! The boy was his neighbor in the Musaitbeh neighborhood, however, he seldom saw him. He remembered that it is the same boy that spoke Hindi several years earlier and since that moment, he followed the news about him with interest.

4-Miraculous Healing

In 1920, while Christians in the Musaitbeh neighborhood were celebrating St. Elias’ Holiday (Elijah, the prophet), one of the boys was riding his scooter fast and traveling back and forth on the crowded street. Suddenly, he collided with something and fell on the ground. He was wounded and started to cry while his scooter got twisted from the impact. People ran to his aid and crowded around him. An 11-year-old boy made his way through the crowds until he reached the wounded boy and passed his hand over him saying: “Get up and go home in peace. Your wounds are healed by God’s permission.” The witnesses to this miracle were many to include the Barood, Al-Ashqar, and Baida families. They talked about this supernatural incident for a long time while being perplexed and puzzled by the miraculous powers that the boy, who resides in their neighborhood, possesses.