Maryam Jameelah (May 23, 1934 -
October 31, 2012)
Jameelah was born Margaret Marcus in New Rochelle, New York, to parents of
German Jewish descent, and spent her early years in Westchester. As a child,
Marcus was psychologically and socially ill at ease with her surroundings, and
her mother described her as bright, exceptionally bright, but also "very
nervous, sensitive, high-strung, and demanding". Even while in school she was
attracted to Asian and particularly Arab culture and history, and counter to the
support for Israel among people around her, she generally sympathised with the
plight of Arabs and Palestinians. Another source describes her interests as
moving from Holocaust photographs, to "Palestinian suffering, then a Zionist
youth group and, ultimately, fundamentalist Islam."
She entered the University of Rochester after high-school, but had to withdraw
before classes began because of psychiatric problemsIn Spring, 1953, she entered
New York University. There she explored Reform Judaism, Orthodox Judaism,
Ethical Culture and theBahá'í Faith, but found them unsatisfactory, especially
in their support for Zionism. In the summer of 1953, she suffered another
nervous breakdown and fell into despair and exhaustion. It was during this
period that she returned to her study of Islam and read the Quran. She was also
inspired by Muhammad Asad's "The Road to Makkah" which recounted his journey and
eventual conversion from Judaism to Islam. At NYU she took a course on Judaism's
influence on Islam which was taught by Rabbi and scholar Abraham katch, which
ironically strengthened her attraction to Islam. However Marcus's health grew
worse and she dropped out of the university in 1956 before graduation; from
1957-59 she was hospitalized forschizophrenia.
Returning home to White Plains in 1959, Marcus involved herself with various
Islamic organizations, and began corresponding with Muslim leaders outside
America, particularly Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in
Pakistan. Finally, on May 24, 1961, she converted to Islam and adopted the name
Maryam Jameelah. After accepting Maulana Maududi's invitation she emigrated to
Pakistan in 1962, where she initially resided with him and his family. In 1963,
she got married to Muhammad Yusuf Khan on Maulana's instructions, a member of
the Jamaat-e-Islami, becoming his second wife. She had five children: two boys
and three girls (the first of whom died in infancy). Jameelah regards these
years (1962-64) to be the formative period of her life during which she matured
and began her life's work as a Muslim defender of conservative Islam. She never
returned to USA and lived a pure Muslimah life in Pakistan. Two of her sons now
live in US and on her last night she talked to them about hurricane Sandy. On
the morning of 31st October she had a severe heart attack was taken to hospital
but could not survive.
Her marriage to Muhammad yousaf khan was quite unique. Later on he quoted that
he was standing with other two companions outside Maulana's house when he came
out and showed his anxiety about Maryam's wedding . The two other told him that
Maulana wanted him to marry the lady. He went home and talked to his wife
Shafiqa. Shafiqa was quite concerned about her and she gladly accepted it. She
came and proposed her as a second wife for her husband. After consulting Maulana
Maudoodi she accepted this proposal and nikah was done. The family lived a happy
life. Both the wives were quite coordinated with each other. Shafiqa was called
Ammi by their kids while Maryam was called Aapa. She wanted to be buried close
to Maulana but in her final days she decided to be buried near Shafiqa's grave.
The other day I read in Newspaper Jasarat that Amir Jamaat Islami Pakistan Syed
Munawar Hassan went for condolence to her her husband Yusaf Khan Sahib. It seems
that he is alive.Her biography is called "The Convert" written by Deborah Baker
is worth reading. Author of some 25 books and still a resident of Lahore, Maryam
Jameelah wrote extremely powerful diatribes against the West & her home country
America and how she had experienced in her life in there.Here is a brief review
of the book in Dec, 2011"The Convert- A Tale of Exile and Extremism" written by
Deborah Baker ( wife of Amitav ghosh ) is an expertly written book that
chronicles the life of Margaret (Peggy) Marcus born to a liberal Jewish couple -
Herbert & Myra of New York. She was an unusual child-- a loner, socially
maladjusted and initially shy but later a voluble inquisitive and annoyingly
talkative girl. At school she was ceaselessly teased by bullying classmates in
the 1940s and was reportedly molested. She was a college dropout and became an
autodidact-- reading all the time at the fabled New York Public Library. After
several trips to the Psychiatrist's couch and two mental institutions (where she
was committed by her parents), she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She read
voraciously about Islam, became enamored with Pakistani Islamic Thinker and
author Abul Ala Mawdudi's whose books and philosophy she adored and ended up
corresponding with him. She uprooted herself in the early 1960s from America to
permanently move to Lahore under the initial guardianship of Maulana Maududi,
living at his house in Icchra, Lahore. She stayed a worker of the Jamaat Islami
and till her last breath, lived in Sant Nagar in Lahore. She wrote over 25
books---- essentially very forceful diatribes against the West in general and
her home country America in particular pitting Islam against the Western
civilization. She has not swerved from the path of pure unadulterated disdain
for the West in the past 50 years although her literary output went into decline
in the 1980s. Deborah Baker has written a riveting account of her life and has
travelled to Lahore staying at Najam Sethi's house, received moral support and
help from Asma Jahangir and interviewed Haider Farooq Maududi and eventually
interviewed Maryam Jameela herself .
Jameelah 's books:
Jameelah started writing her first novel, Ahmad Khalil: The Story of a
Palestinian Refugee and His Family at the age of twelve; she illustrated her
book with pencil sketches and color drawings. She also studied drawing in Fall
1952 at Art Students League of New York, and exhibited her work at Baha'i
Center's Caravan of East and West art gallery. On her emigration to Pakistan she
was told that drawing pictures was un-Islamic by Maulana Maududi, and abandoned
it in favor of writing. Her writings are supplemented by a number of audio and
video tapes.
Jameelah was a prolific author, believing in basic , fundamental, traditional
Islamic values and culture. She was deeply critical of secularism, materialism
and modernization, both in Western society, as well as in Islam. She regards
traditions such as veiling,polygamy, and gender segregation (purdah) to be
ordained by the Quran and by the words of Prophet Muhammad, and considers
movements to change these customs to be a betrayal of Islamic
teachings.Jameelah's books and articles have been translated into several
languages including Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Bengali and Bahasa Indonesia. Her
correspondence, manuscripts, bibliographies, chronologies, speeches,
questionnaires, published articles, photographs, videocassettes, and artwork are
included in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library collection of the New
York Public Library.
Articles and Books Of Maryam Jameelah
1. ISLAM VERSUS THE WEST
2. ISLAM AND MODERNISM
3. ISLAM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
4. ISLAM VERSUS AHL AL KITAB PAST AND PRESENT
5. AHMAD KHALIL
6. ISLAM AND ORIENTALISM
7. WESTERN CIVILIZATION CONDEMNED BY ITSELF
8. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MAULANA MAUDOODI AND MARYUM JAMEELAH
9. ISLAM AND WESTERN SOCIETY
10. A MANIFESTO OF THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT
11. IS WESTERN CIVILIZATION UNIVERSAL
12 WHO IS MAUDOODI ?
13 WHY I EMBRACED ISLAM
14 ISLAM AND THE MUSLIM WOMAN TODAY
15 ISLAM AND SOCIAL HABITS
16 ISLAMIC CULTURE IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
17 THREE GREAT ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS IN THE ARAB WORLD OF THE RECENT PAST
18 SHAIKH HASAN AL BANNA AND IKHWAN AL MUSLIMUN
19 A GREAT ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN TURKEY
20 TWO MUJAHIDIN OF THE RECENT PAST AND THEIR STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AGAINST
FOREIGN RULE
21 THE GENERATION GAP ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES
22 WESTERNIZATION VERSUS MUSLIMS
23 WESTERNIZATION AND HUMAN WELFARE
24 MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND THE DEHUMANIZATION OF MAN
25 ISLAM AND MODERN MAN