Maryam Jameelah (Margret Marcus),
born in New York to a Jewish family explored Judaism and other faiths,
converted to Islam in 1961 and emigrated to Pakistan. She is an author
of over thirty books on Islamic culture and history and a prominent
female voice for Islam. Below is her letter that she wrote to her parents from Pakistan:
“Dear Mother and Father,
I have now been living in Pakistan for
more than twenty years during which time you have acquired an entire
additional family of loved-ones there, adding much to your happiness.
You have reached a ripe age, thank God, living longer in good health
than I had ever expected. You have read all my books and Islamic
literature I have sent you with a broad and open mind. Therefore you
need no introduction to the subject I wish to discuss with you now and
nothing I have to say will seem strange and new to you.
I wonder if you realize fully how very
fortunate you are. So long as you can keep in reasonable health and are
able to take care of yourselves, you can continue to enjoy a pleasant
life. But do you ever think of the tragic faith of those hundreds of
thousands of other older Americans, the victims of chronic illness and
infirmities, who crowd to over-flowing hospitals and nursing homes
(which are really charnel houses), the old-age homes and the senile
wards of mental institutions? And do you ever think of those still
greater numbers of older people who are widowed and live their lonely
lives confined to their dingy rooms in constant fear of muggings,
physical attacks and robberies by juvenile delinquents who prey on the
old and infirm with no remorse or fear of punishment? The maltreatment
of older people is a direct result of the collapse of the home and
extended family. Does your elder sister – my aunt Rosalyn, a
great-grandmother lovingly sheltered in a close and adoring family and a
happy home, ever think how lucky she is and how few of her advanced age
in America are left like her?
You must know that society in which you
were brought up and have lived all your life is in a state of rapid
disintegration on the brink of collapse. Actually the decline in our
civilization was evident as far back as World War I but at that time few
people except some intellectuals and artists were aware of what was
happening. But since the end of World War II and especially during the
last two decades, the rot has reached such a stage of advanced decay
that nobody can any longer ignore it.
The moral anarchy in the absence of any
respected, fixed standards of behavior and conduct, the obsession with
perverted sex over the entertainment media, the mistreatment of older
people, the divorce rate which has climbed so high that among the new
generation, an enduring, happy marriage is becoming rare, child abuse,
the destruction of the natural environment, the prodigious waste of
scarce and valuable resources, the epidemic of veneral diseases and
mental disorders, drug addiction, alcoholism, suicides as leading cause
of death, crime, vandalism, corruption in the government and contempt
for the law in general – all of this has a cause.
The cause of this is the failure of
secularism and materialism and the absence of absolute, transcendental
theological and moral values. Deed does in the final analysis depend
upon creed because if the intention is wrong, the work always suffers.
No doubt that it may bore you to read
this. You will protest that if you are not theologians, philosophers or
sociologists, then why bother about such “deep” matters when they do not
seem to be of any direct concern to you? After all, you are happy and
content living just as you are. You only wish to enjoy life right now,
live entirely in the present and accept each day as it comes. If life is
a journey, is it not foolhardy only to be concerned with pleasant and
comfortable accommodations along the way and never to think about the
journey’s end? Why were we born? What is the meaning and purpose of
life, why must we die and what will happen to each of us after death?
Father you have told me more than once
that you cannot accept any traditional religion because you are
convinced that theology conflicts with modern science. Science and
technology have indeed given us much information about the physical
world, provided us with abundant comforts and conveniences, increased
efficiency and discovered remedies for many diseases that used to be
fatal. But science does not and cannot tell us about the meaning of life
and death. Science tells us “how” but it never answers the question
“why”?. Can science ever tell us what is right and what is wrong? What
is good and what is evil? What is beautiful and what is ugly? And to
whom are we accountable for what we do? Religion does.
Today America is in many ways a
repetition of ancient Rome in the terminal stages of her decline and
fall. Thinking people know that secularism has failed to be a sound
foundation of our social order. They are anxiously searching in other
directions for a solution to the crisis but do not know yet where to
find it. This is not of concern only to a few sociologists. The disease
of national disintegration directly affects you and me and each one of
us.
During its most critical period, ancient
Rome adopted Christianity as its salvation and henceforth the Church
dominated Europe for more than a thousand years. This put an end to many
of the worst social and moral evils of decadent Rome and greatly raised
the moral and spiritual standards of the people. Unfortunately during
the formative period of its history, the Church compromised with
paganism and secularism, adopting an elaborate priesthood and
incomprehensive theology which could not resist the impact of the
renaissance, the revival of the natural sciences and the radical
secularism of the French Revolution. While Christians in Europe and
America have deserted their faith wholesale leaving the churches almost
empty, the missionaries continue to represent the vanguard of western
imperialism and exploitation in Asia and Africa.
After Christianity, the Jews comprise
the second largest religious group in America who dominate politically,
and economically, as well exercising considerable control over the
media. But Judaism has always been parochial and tribal, seldom
welcoming converts. It is not and has never been a universal faith. The
Zionist movement which resulted in the establishment of the state of
Israel, is the secular expression of Jewish nationalism and tribalism.
The dreadful atrocities committed by the Israelis in occupied Palestine,
the unprovoked aggression in Lebanon and adjacent areas and attempted
genocide of the Palestine Arabs, depriving them of all human and
political rights, is the logical result of this same narrow parochial
outlook. This is the reason why even the most orthodox of the rabbis
refuse to believe that Israel can do any wrong and uncritically support
everything she does. These glaring moral and spiritual defects
automatically disqualify Judaism as the faith of the future.
The Muslims comprise the third and
fastest growing faith in America today. No longer is Islam confined to
remote regions of the deserts and jungles of Asia and Africa. No longer
is Islam foreign to the American scene. There are more than three
million Muslims in America today and their numbers are increasing fast.
There are thousands of students from all Muslim countries studying in
American universities, and well-educated, highly-trained Muslims are
busily at work in all professions. In the last two decades, hundreds of
native-born American converts have swelled their ranks. At first most of
the converts were black people who found in Islam, dignity, honor,
self-respect and racial brotherhood as did Malcolm-X, but in recent
years more and more white converts of European origin, searching for
guidance in all the affairs of their formally chaotic lives, have also
embraced Islam, making many sacrifices and enduring much hardships to do
so. Few of them are fortunate as I am to have loving parent like you.
Most of them suffer severe frictions with their non-Muslim parents and
relatives. Today churches and synagogues are almost deserted but the
newly-built mosques and Islamic centers, springing up in every important
American city and town, are attracting rapidly growing numbers. Most of
the new Muslims in America are young, intelligent and well-educated.
What attracts so many young Americans to Islam?
Americans today, both young and old, are
desperately searching for guidance. They know from bitter experience
that the personal freedom and opportunities they as Americans enjoy are
meaningless and self-destructive without reliable guidance, direction
and purpose. Secularism and materialism are powerless to provide any
positive or constructive moral values for Americans either individually
or collectively. That is why after Christianity and Judaism have failed
them, more and more people in America today are turning towards Islam.
In Islam as new Muslims, they find a sane, healthy, clean and honest
life. And for Muslims, everything does not come to an end at death. They
look forward to an Eternity of bliss, peace and perfect happiness (in
the Hereafter).
This Guidance found in the Holy Qur’an
and the recorded words and deeds of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, upon whom
be peace, is not only for foreign races in some far-away corner of the
East, centuries ago. Here are to be found the solutions to all economic,
social, moral and political problems which face us right here in the
West today. Furthermore, Islam is not cold, remote and impersonal.
Muslims have complete faith in a very personal God who not only created,
sustains and rules the universe but also loves and deeply cares about
the fate of each of us. The Holy Qur’an tells us that God is nearer to
everyone of us than our jugular veins!
Since the Holy Qur’an is divine
revelation, it cannot and will never be changed. Because it is perfect,
it cannot be improved, revised or reformed. Since Muhammad, upon whom be
peace, is the final Prophet, his guidance can never be superseded by
any other. The Qur’an and Sunnah are addressed to all peoples, in every
country of the West as well as the East. Since it is relevant for all
times, in all places, it can never become obsolete or out-of-date.
You are both of very advanced age and
there is so little time left. Yet it is not too late if you act now. If
your decision is positive, your ties with your loved ones in Pakistan
will not only be by blood but also in faith. You cannot only love them
in this world but be all together with us forever in eternity.
If your decision is negative, I am very
much afraid that your happy, comfortable and pleasant life will very
shortly come to an end. As soon as the inevitable occurs, it is too late
for remorse and regrets. The punishment will be terrible from which
there is no refuge and no escape.
It is as your daughter who loves you and
hopes to the end that you will be spared this fate. But the decision
rests entirely with you. You have complete freedom to accept or reject:
Your future depends upon the choice you make now.
All my love and best wishes.
Your devoted daughter,
(Maryam Jameelah).
(Courtesy: The Universal Message). Also see Iqra: The Islamic Journal, Nairobi, Rabi-ul-Awwal 1407, November 1986, p35-37.