Sister Maryam Jameelah Passed away

Lahore: Religious scholar and writer, Begum Maryam Jameela, who was born a Jew but embraced Islam after being impressed by the writings of Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, died of cardiac failure here on Wednesday.

Jameela was born in New York, USA. After embracing Islam, she came to Lahore in 1961 and was married to a JI member, Yousuf Khan.

She devoted her life to the spread of Islam. She wrote 34 books on Islam of which “Islam in Theory and Practice” and “Islam and Orientalism” are widely known. All her writings are in English.

She was laid to rest at the Sunnat Nagar graveyard in the afternoon. Her Namaz e Janaza was led by Hafiz Muhammad Idrees. JI leaders including its deputy chief, Ch Muhammad Aslam Saleemi, Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, Mian Maqsod Ahmed and hundreds of JI workers attended it. Ameer JI Pakistan, Syed Munawar Hasan, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, Prof Khurshid Ahmed, Sirajul Haq, Liaquat Baloch and other central party leaders expressed deep grief over her sad demise.

They said she was a great lady who found truth after great struggle and after entering into Islam’s fold mad spent her life in the service of the Deen. The deceased presented Islam as a practical religion to the entire humanity and tried to convince them of its truthfulness. They prayed that Almighty Allah may accept her services to Islam and rest the departed soul in eternal peace.

Muslim Digest of Durban, South Africa where she became familiar with the writings of Maulana Sayyid Abu Ala Maududi, the founder of the Jamaati Islami, who was also a contributor to the journal.

On the advice of Maududi, Jameelah traveled to Pakistan in 1962 and joined his family in Lahore. She then got married to Muhammad Yusuf Khan, as his second wife.

Her writings include marvelous religious and intellectual materials. A list of her articles and books is mentioned below:

• Islam and Modernism
• Islam versus the west
• Islam in theory and practice
• Islam versus Ahl al Kitab past and present
• Ahmad Khalil
• Islam and Orientalism
• Western Civilization condemned by itself
• Correspondence between Maulana Maududi and Maryum Jameelah
• Islam and Western Society
• A Manifesto of the Islamic Movement
• Is Western Civilization Universal
• Who is Maududi ?
• Why I embraced Islam?
• Islam and the Muslim woman today
• Islam and social habits
• Islamic culture in theory and practice
• Three great Islamic movements in the Arab world of the recent past
• Shaikh Hasan al Banna and Ikhwan al Muslimun
• A great Islamic movement in Turkey
• Two Mujahidin of the recent past and their struggle for freedom against  foreign rule
• The generation gap its causes and consequences
• Westernization versus Muslims
• Westernization and human welfare
• Modern technology and the dehumanization of man
• Islam and modern man