Saudi Gazette

Despite efforts to tarnish the true message of Islam and what it stands for, brilliant and amazing people from all walks of life and from all over the world have been entering the fold of Islam over the years and will continue to do so in increasing numbers. Islamophobic rants and acts of hatred make headlines but we rarely hear the heartwarming and insightful stories of those who have embraced Islam and chose it as their faith and way of life. Why haven’t we heard these names before and why haven’t their biographies been celebrated? Why are young Muslims not taught about such people?

Bogdan Kopanski was born in Poland in 1948 into a Christian family. He named himself Ataullah Bogdan Kopanski after converting to Islam. His journey to Islam is very interesting.

From a young age, Kopanski was fascinated by the victorious struggle of the Algerian Muslim fighters against French colonialism, gaining independence for their country. He attended a military college but when he actively opposed the Polish communist regime, he was expelled from the college and became a political prisoner for the first time in 1968.

After he was released, he continued his studies at the University of Silesia in Poland. During his studies, he visited Turkey on a student exchange program. He was working on his Master’s degree dissertation. He tells this story, “There (in Turkey), I was hit by the most beautiful voice of mankind, the adhan, the call to prayer. My hair stood up. An unknown powerful force led me to an old masjid in Istanbul. There, old smiling Turkish, bearded men taught me ablution. I confessed to tears the shahadah and I prayed my first salah, Maghrib. For the first time in my life, my mind was relaxed and I felt the pleasure of Allah’s love in my heart. I was a Muslim.”

Kopanski graduated with a Master’s degree in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and he later attained a PhD in humanities. He researched the history of Muslims and Islam in Eurasia. He continued his academic career at universities and Islamic research institutes in the United States, Syria, India, Pakistan, Bosnia, and South Africa. He has authored several books and is currently a professor of history at the Islamic International University of Malaysia.

Another European, German Herbert Hobohm, born in 1926, embraced Islam in 1941 and became Mohammed Aman Hobohm. He was among a handful of German Muslims who stayed in Germany and lived through World War II. It was a difficult time for German Muslims. Many had died, while others had fled the country for good. No Muslim immigrants remained in the country. The Friday prayers took place in a small house and there was rarely more than 10 to 15 people. Each brought a piece of coal to heat the cold prayer room.

Mohammad Aman Hobohm was a German diplomat, missionary, and social worker. An intellectual, he has been serving German diplomatic missions in various parts of the world. He worked as the cultural attaché in the German embassy in Riyadh, and died in 2014.

Hobohm said, “I have lived under different systems of life and have had the opportunity of studying various ideologies, but have come to the conclusion that none is perfect as Islam. None of the systems has got a complete code of a noble life. Only Islam has it and that is why good men embrace it. Islam is not theoretical, it is practical. It means complete submission to the will of God.”

An interesting woman who embraced Islam despite the false rumors she heard against Islam wrote several books defending Islam. She was bornMargret Marcus in New York in 1934, to parents of German Jewish descent. She grew up in a non-practicing Jewish family.

In school she was attracted to Arab culture and history, and counter to the support for Israel among people around her, she generally sympathized with the plight of Arabs and Palestinians. She had a keen liking to Arabic music, and later in her life she would listen for hours to the recitation of the famous Egyptian, Abdul Basit Abdul Samad.

As a student at New York University she explored Reform Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, Ethical Culture, and the Bahá’í Faith, but found them unsatisfactory. In the summer of 1953, she suffered a nervous breakdown. While recovering, she studied Islam and read the English translation of the Holy Qur’an.

Marcus found similarities between Judaism and Islam. In her opinion, both Judaism and Islam share the same uncompromising monotheism, the importance of strict obedience to Divine Law as proof of our submission to and love of the Creator, the rejection of the priesthood, celibacy and monasticism, and the striking similarity of the Hebrew and Arabic language.

She spent her leisure time reading all the books about Islam that she could get her hands on at the New York Public Library. She was inspired by Muhammad Asad’s book, The Road to Mecca, which recounted his spiritual journey from Judaism to Islam. At NYU she took a course on Judaism’s influence on Islam which was taught by Rabbi and scholar Abraham Katsch, which ironically strengthened her attraction to Islam.

Marcus became involved with various Islamic organizations, and began corresponding with Muslim leaders outside America, sending questions about Islam and eagerly reading their responses. She was in touch with the Islamic philosopher, jurist, journalist, and imam, Maulana Abul Ala Maududi.

Although for several years she knew in her heart that she wanted to become Muslim, she converted to Islam in 1961 and adopted the name Maryam Jameelah. After accepting Mawlana Maududi’s invitation, she moved to Pakistan. In 1963 she married Muhammad Yusuf Khan and began her active role of defending conservative Islam in her writings and speeches. She was an exceptional writer and wrote many books on Islam; her books were translated into several languages.

Maryam Jameelah had said, “As the years passed, the realization gradually dawned upon me that it was not the Arabs who made Islam great but rather Islam had made the Arabs great.”

Maryam Jameelah died in her Lahore home in 2012.