Jemima : “My Embracing of Islam was a Decision of my Own,
 which came after an in-Depth Study
of the Holy Qur’an”

When Jemima Goldsmith, the British wealthy, spoiled girl, daughter of the late British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, married former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, she did not only change to a new life by marrying the most famous cricketer in the world and by getting connected to a sports figure with world-wide renown, but also got through the doors of a new life by embracing Islam only three months before her marriage.

We are going to present the most important stages of Jemima’s faith journey which led her to embrace Islam. Jemima herself delineates the journey of her moving from the fascinating London high society to the simple and severe society of Lahore, in order to settle with her husband in his home country among his family.

Jemima starts her account as follows : “When the British media knew about my conversion to Islam, they presented me as a naïve twenty one year old girl who had taken a rash and frivolous decision, without much thought about its effects and with no consideration of its consequences. By taking this decision she wanted to denounce her luxurious way of life, not heeding the life of misery, unhappiness and seclusion that she would lead after her conversion to Islam, her marriage with Imran Khan and her move to settle in Lahore.”

In spite of this wrong description with which the media presented her, she saw truths that these circles did not understand, for she was experiencing spiritual moments the British media had no knowledge of. Therefore, the twenty year old girl did not heed the media uproar triggered by the big change in her life.

Jemima went on to say : “I must acknowledge that this difficult choice was my own alone. Yet, I have to admit, too, that I enjoyed all its details, and that the truth is not the one described by the British media. Actually, it is the opposite, for my decision to embrace Islam came as a result of reflection, study and conviction. It was a decision of my own which nobody imposed on me. On the contrary, I willingly took this decision and I had recourse to Allah in quest of spiritual salvation. It was not a rash decision in that I waited a long time before taking it. After being convinced of Islam, I embraced it without hesitation. Moreover, I found that converting to Islam was quick and easy since a person has to pronounce the Shahada and then live according to it. The Shahada is “I swear that There is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger”. This is how a human being becomes a Muslim ; and along with the Shahada, he should abide by the Islamic teachings. The preparations for becoming a full Muslim do not require rapidity, for he can gradually understand Islamic teachings and put them to practice as soon as he has reached the truth that Allah is one and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

Jemima explained that when she decided to embrace Islam, she started to prepare for it in July 1994 while her actual conversion to Islam took place in February 1995, only three months before getting married in Paris in May 1995.

Jemima said : “During that period I studied in-depth the Holy Qur’an and the works of some Muslim intellectuals and scholars, such as Mohammed Asad and the Bosnian president Izzat Begovitch. This gave me enough time for reflection and revision before taking my final decision of embracing Islam. All this started by an intellectual curiosity which gradually changed into my realization of the universality of the truth of the Islamic religion.”

Jemima continued : “In a press declaration I issued one week after my conversion to Islam, I announced the news of my conversion, making sure to confirm that the decision of my conversion to Islam was a personal one which I reached by means of my personal conviction. But the importance of this confirmation was ignored by the British newspapers in their coverage of this subject. My conversion to Islam was not, as many people supposed, the result of a condition for effecting my marriage with Imran Khan. It was a decision that I took entirely of my own accord.”

Jemima remarked that, from the religious point of view, there was nothing that compelled her to embrace Islam in order to complete her marriage with Imran Khan, since the Holy Qur’an clearly shows that a Muslim is allowed to marry from among the People of the Book. In other words, it is permissible for a male Muslim to marry a Christian or Jewish woman. The pure Prophetic Tradition, which delineates the life of Allah’s Messenger (PBUH), shows that he married a Christian and a Jewish woman.

Jemima said : “I think that hostility to my marriage with Imran Khan and to my conversion to Islam came as a result of the British media’s misunderstanding of the alien’s culture or of the foreigner and his religion. Similarly, there is a big gap between the West’s attitude to Islam and the truth of Islam. But, in some cases too, there is a big distinction between the Islam, which directly relies on the Holy Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions, and the practices of some Islamic societies.”

She also said : “In 1994 I had the opportunity of visiting Pakistan three separate times and I observed the life of a Muslim family in reality there. I felt then that I was qualified to judge by myself the real functional role of women in Islam. I don’t like to appear here as a mere defender of Islam’s attitude towards women. I wish to mention that Islam is not a religion that enslaves or oppresses women, or elevates men to the level of small despots in their countries.

I was able to notice this for the first time when I met my sisters-in-law (i.e. Imran Khan’s sisters) ; they have a high level of education and good jobs. His eldest sister Rubina is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Sciences of London University. She is a high official in the UN in New York. His other sister is a learned person in Islam (‘alima), she has an MBA and is running a successful business. `Udhma is a surgeon who is highly qualified and works in Lahore’s Hospital, while Rani is a university graduate and a coordinator of voluntary charitable work. These women cannot be considered as chained women subjected by their husbands. On the contrary, these women have strong personalities and are independent while remaining, at the same time, deeply committed to their duties towards their families and religion. This is what I saw with my own eyes and witnessed theoretically and practically how Islam reinforces the main idea of the unity of the family without persecuting the female family members.”

Jemima said also that she was completely aware of the fact that sometimes women were exploited and persecuted in some Islamic societies, as it was the case in some parts of the world. Judging the freedom of women from some articles published in the British press makes it appear as if the Western woman’s happiness depended on her easy access to night clubs, on drinking alcohol and on being naked by wearing indecent clothes while the absence of such false freedom and this luxury in Islamic societies appeared as if the woman’s basic rights had been violated. Such false features did not offer true happiness to women. Then she commented, “In no way do I mean with what I have just said to denigrate the culture of the Western world where I was born and grew up. I just wanted to say the objective truth that is free from prejudice and caprice. Moreover, after my conversion to Islam, I was more than desirous to give up the transient happiness derived from alcohol and night clubs. As to clothes, I started to wear decent clothes (a blouse and pants) which are worn by most Pakistani women and which are more elegant and feminine than those found in my wardrobe before my conversion to Islam.”

Jemima concludes : “In the end, it seems useless to talk about the chances of the success of my marriage with Imran Khan. As Imran’s father said, marriage is an “adventure”, but when I see marriage in a society built on the life and unity of the family and where the rate of divorce is smaller in comparison with the rate found in European and American societies, I don’t think the chance of the success of my marriage with Imran Khan would be lower than if I had married a Western man. Finally, I may say that my marriage with Imran till now has been a sure adventure.”

Jemima continued : “I realized the difficult task thrust on me when I married Imran Khan, it relied upon my adapting to the new life and to a radically different culture. Yet, because of the love of my husband and the encouragement of his family, I was able to face all challenges. I felt that everybody wished me success ; meanwhile, I respect the feelings of those who were worrying about me undergoing a cultural shock that would lead to marital and psychological problems. However, thanks to Allah’s assistance, I have been able to adapt to my new life without psychological or marital problems. After embracing Islam, I understood the very meaning of true happiness.”