The Revival of Islamic Civilization
A Study of Maryam Jameelah's Views
Abstract
Abstract Views: 530
Maryam Jameelah was an American convert to Islam. Born to a non-observant Jewish family in New York, she travelled to Pakistan on the invitation of Abul A‟la Maududi where she spent more than fifty years and never returned to America. Her various writings on the comparative study of Western and Islamic culture, civilization, and history encouraged her readers to consider her as a fervent critic of Western civilization and as a staunch supporter of Muslim cause in the modern world. However, scant consideration has been given to the fact that while pointing out the reasons for the downfall of Islamic civilization, she also criticizes Muslim scholarship. Therefore, it is worthy to explore how a person trained in the Western thought understands the problems of Muslim civilization and what she suggests as countermeasures to take in this regard. By analyzing her published writings as well as the unpublished works found in her personal library, the current paper highlights her view of Islamic civilization and attempts to present the major problems faced by Muslims in the modern age according to her. Afterwards, it describes her understanding of these problems and shows that she proposes a thorough study of tradition, internal coherence, adoption of modern sciences, democracy and advancement in education for the revival of Islamic civilization without providing any model for the practical implementations of these suggestions
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