INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR

Maryam Jameelah was born in 1934 in New York at the height of the Great Depression, a fourth-generation American of German-Jewish origin. She was reared in Westchester, one of the most prosperous and populated suburbs of New York, and received a thoroughly secular American education at the local public schools.

Always an above-average student, she soon became a passionate intellectual and insatiable bibliophile, hardly ever without a book in hand, her readings extending far beyond the requirements of the school curriculum. As she entered adolescence, she became intensely serious-minded, scorning all frivolities, which is very rare for an otherwise attractive young girl. Her main interests were religion, philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology and biology.

The school and local community public libraries and later, the New York Public Library, became her second home.

After her graduation from secondary school in the summer of 1952, she was admitted to New York University where she studied a general liberal arts programme.

While at the university, she became severely ill in 1953, grew steadily worse and had to discontinue college two years later without earning any diploma. She was confined to private and public hospitals for two years (1957-1959) and only after her discharge, did she discover her facility for writing.

Allama Muhammad Asad’s two books—his autobiographical The Road to Mecca and Islam at the Crossroads—ignited her interest in Islam and after correspondence with some prominent Muslims in Muslim lands¹ 6 carrying their arms, in their equipment and in all their mode of living. In fact every country which has powerful conquering neighbours tends to a large extent to imitate those neighbours as we see among the Spanish Muslims today in respect to their Christian neighbours. For the Muslims imitate the Christians in their dress and ornaments—and indeed in many of their customs and institutions even to the extent of having statues and pictures on the walls of their houses and shops. And in this, the careful observer will mark a sign of inferiority.

An Arab Philosophy of History: Selections from the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun of Tunis (1332-1406), compiled and translated by Charles Issawi, John Murray, London, 1950, pp. 53-54.

True to the genius that he was, Ibn Khaldun shows his profound insight into the psychology of human nature which applies as much to us here in Pakistan now as it did to the Spanish Muslims of his day. However, it must never be forgotten that our blind and uncritical imitation of foreign civilization is far from spontaneous. From the very beginning of their rule our foreign masters had very carefully mapped out a conspiracy to destroy every manifestation of our indigenous way of life and replace it with their own.

About a hundred years ago, the British Government appointed Dr. William Hunter to write a report on the condition of the Muslims of the subcontinent and suggest specific measures as to how they could be ruled most effectively. Accordingly in 1871 he wrote: Our Indian Musalmans: Are They Bound in Conscience to Rebel Against The Queen? In order to break the spirit of resistance of the Muslims and make them resigned to accept foreign subjection indefinitely, 7 the panacea Dr. Hunter proposed was English education. Thus in the concluding pages of his book, he advised his Government:

We should thus at length have the Muhammadan youth educated according to our own plan. Without interfering in any way with their religion and in the very process of enabling them to learn their religious duties, we should render that religion, perhaps less sincere, but certainly less fanatical. The rising generation of Muhammadans would then tread the steps which have conducted the Hindus, not long ago the most bigoted nation on earth, into their present state of easy tolerance.

Such a tolerance (to modern Western civilization) implies a less earnest belief than their fathers had but it has freed them, as it would liberate the Musalmans from the cruelties which they endured in the name of their mistaken religion. It is more than doubtful whether the Muhammadan law should be taught as a regular study incumbent on all. It certainly should not be made the chief object of instruction. For the Muhammadan law means the Muhammadan religion—that religion too, at a time when its followers looked upon the whole earth as their lawful prey and before they had learned the duties of modern Musalman states in alliance with or in subjection to a Christian government. The study of Muhammadan law no longer answers any requirement of the Government nor does it offer to its students any career in life. We should instead develop a rising generation of Muhammadans no longer learned in their own narrow learning nor imbued with the bitter doctrines of their medieval law but tinctured with the sober and genial knowledge of the West. An English training would secure them an entry into the lucrative walks of life. I do not permit myself here to touch upon the means by which through a state of indifference (to their faiths), the Hindus and Musalmans alike may yet reach a higher level of belief.

But I firmly believe that that 8 day will come and that our system of education which has hitherto produced only negative virtues is the first stage towards it.

Dr. Hunter’s prophecy has literally come true and today we are reaping its results.

This legacy has continued down to the present day virtually unchanged despite the two decades of our alleged independence. So efficiently implemented was the British educational policy that until now there does not exist a single school in this country where an adequate knowledge of Islam is imparted in relation to modern needs to combat secularism, materialism and atheism.

Is it then any mystery why our youth are growing to maturity without the slightest appreciation for their own cultural heritage?

At the close of the last century, Lord Cromer (formerly Sir Evelyn Baring) was the master-mind of British imperialism in the Arab world. For twenty-five years from 1883 to 1907 he ruled unchallenged over Egypt.

His voluminous book, Modern Egypt, (Macmillan, New York, 1908) is indispensable for any student who wants to know the machinations of British imperialism in all its aspects. In its concluding chapter, he leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind that his policy regarded cultural imperialism much more important than direct political intervention:

Let no practical politician think that they have a plan capable of resuscitating (Islam) which is not indeed dead and which may yet linger on for centuries, but which is nevertheless politically and socially moribund and whose gradual decay cannot be arrested by any modern palliatives, however skilfully they may be applied. (p. 184)

9 So far as can be judged at present, only two alternative courses are possible. Egypt must eventually either become autonomous or it must be incorporated into the British empire. Personally I am decidedly in favour of moving in the direction of the former of these alternatives. All we have to do is to leave behind us a fairly good, strong and, above all things, stable government which will obviate anarchy and bankruptcy and thus prevent the Egyptian question from again becoming a serious cause of trouble to Europe. We need not inquire too minutely into the acts of such a government. But it is essential that, subsequently to our evacuation, that government should act on principles which will be in conformity with the commonplace requirements of Western civilization. It is absurd to suppose that Europe will look on as a passive spectator whilst a retrograde government based on purely Muhammadan principles and obsolete oriental ideas, is established in Egypt. The material interests at stake are too important and the degree of civilization to which Egypt has attained is too advanced to admit of such a line of conduct being adopted. (pp. 563-565). Let anyone who is inclined to take a sanguine view of this subject, cast for a moment, all details aside and consider the general nature of the problem which presents itself for solution. It is nothing less than this: that the new generation of Egyptians has to be persuaded or forced into imbibing the true spirit of Western Civilization. I ask myself… is it destined that under the guiding hand of England, the rays of true civilization shall at last pierce into the oldest and most interesting corner of the dark African continent and brighten with their sunshine, even the mud hut of the Egyptian fellah (peasant)? In spite of the ignorance and alleged ingratitude of the Egyptians, I still dare to cherish a hope that the present and future generations… will remember with some feeling akin to gratitude that it was the sterling qualities of the Anglo-Saxon race who first delivered them from the thraldom of the

10 oppressors, who taught them that they too, had the right to be treated like human beings, who opened out to them the path which leads to moral progress and elevation of thought and who conferred upon them the material blessings which follow in the train of true Western civilization. (pp. 196-7).

This was the real aim of British imperialism and here one of its chief architects has given us the correct answer to the question as to why, since our alleged independence, foreign influences have become more firmly entrenched in our midst than ever before. The fact is that despite all propaganda to the contrary, our national freedom is only nominal. During the long period our country was subjected to foreign domination, our masters took great care that everything would be done to cut our people off from their past. In this way they successfully created, especially among the socially and economically elite, a whole class of puppets and quislings. When so-called political freedom was at last granted, our leadership automatically fell into the hands of this same westernized clique. It is crucial in the interests of these foreign imperialisms that this type of leadership continue. Since the majority of our people detest them and all they stand for, and it is therefore impossible to implement Westernization by democratic means, the most highhanded dictatorial methods must be imposed and all those who dare resist, mercilessly persecuted. Even those Great Powers, like England, France and America which never stop boasting about all the democracy and political freedom their citizens enjoy, would deny these blessings to the Muslim world, for they know full well that Islam still remains their most formidable 11 rival in international affairs and once they allowed democracy to take its natural course, every Muslim country would become an Islamic state! If this happened, their stranglehold over Asia and Africa would be broken once and for all. That is their great fear which explains the motivations behind all their organized conspiracies to crush Islamic movements throughout the world.

Closely allied with this political slavery, we cannot ignore the economic slavery which these circumstances have forced upon us. Under the slogan of “economic development”, the imperialisms of the Great Powers are most anxious to induce us to accept their “foreign aid,” which, with its high rates of interest, impoverishes the borrowing country until it is reduced to the status of a beggar.

It is no exaggeration to assert that Western big business enterprise is their chief medium of cultural invasion. “Economic development” of “underdeveloped” (and now “developing”) Muslim countries consequently brings in its wake the construction of hideous palatial buildings of ultra-modern architecture that give our cities an uglier face every day; luxury hotels with night clubs and cabarets; the most depraved Hollywood films on crime and illicit sex combined with our home-made imitations for our cinema; a flood of pornographic literature and pictures and indecent fashions of dress growing so popular as to be regarded as the height of social refinement. Food-adulteration—a deadly sin in the eyes of our Shariah—flourishes openly and those in the racket get rich quick at the cost of the health of all our people; 12 consumption of alcoholic beverages and narcotics soars while meantime our radio keeps the masses drugged all their waking hours with filthy, vulgar songs. Foreign-dominated business and industry insist that women leave the home and compete with men for jobs in offices and factories; thus our women are transformed from chaste wives, mothers, sisters and daughters into ticket collectors on buses and trains, bank-clerks, telephone-operators, sales-ladies, air-hostesses, waitresses in restaurants, room attendants in hotels, fashion-models and singers and dancers over radio, television, the films and state-organized “cultural” shows. Consequently Purdah, the home and the family are destroyed with illicit sex and children mature into vicious “teddies” and juvenile delinquents. All of this is no coincidence but a very deliberate policy on the part of those who want to control and dominate over us. Our enemies are trying to degrade us morally and spiritually and enfeeble us in body and mind. It is in their interests that we become as degenerate as they are and our country thoroughly corrupt from top to bottom.

In order that we may effectively combat this menace, we must understand why cultural slavery is not only inseparable from political slavery but that we cannot ever achieve genuine political freedom without cultural independence. It is impossible for Islam to flourish under hostile, alien rule. The first step we must take to achieve our cultural freedom is to lend our full support to all movements working for the revival of Islam and strive our utmost to persuade our 13 leadership to adopt an unadulterated Shariah as the law of our land. The Islamic movement must then assume control over all the mass-media and drastically reshape our entire educational system. Arabic must be adopted as our national language and as the chief medium of instruction in our schools and colleges. At the same time we must strenuously resist any proposal to accept the Roman alphabet for Urdu, Bengali or for the other languages spoken in our country, and continue the use of English only so long as its practical necessity remains. We must absolutely refuse the right of any foreign power to maintain military bases on our soil and in the field of economic development, we must try to rely upon our own resources and those of other friendly Muslim countries, avoiding “foreign aid” like the plague! In our international commercial dealings, particularly with the “Great Powers,” we must insist upon conducting honest business as free and equal partners. Foreign Christian missions, Zionism, Communism and the Freemasons must be outlawed and anybody found guilty of overt support to these subversive activities should be punished with immediate loss of citizenship and permanent exile.

As the leadership in Europe and America has always been cognisant of Islam as a potent rival in world affairs, generations of their orientalists have studied Islam in relation to their needs and aims. Since materialist philosophies originating from Western Europe now pose the greatest threat to the survival of the Islamic way of life in every Muslim country, is it not equally essential for some of our ulema to become Occidentalists and study European lite14 rature, history, religions and philosophies in order to produce superior works of scholarship from the Islamic viewpoint? Thus we must combat imperialism in all its varied faces so that the power of our faith and the culture it creates can grow and prosper as our salvation in this life and in the world to come.