Jemima Struggles against the Social and Cultural
Differences in her Life before her Conversion
to Islam and after it

The daughter of the late British billionaire Goldsmith :

“The search for my peace of mind led me to embrace

the Islamic religion”

Jemima grew up as a spoiled girl who enjoyed the comforts of life, for she was the daughter of the late British billionaire Goldsmith. This kind of upbringing which allowed her to go to upper-class social gatherings and mix with the sons and daughters of high aristocracy in Britain did not prevent her from seriously thinking about her life style and redressing the course of this life of amenity and luxury. Jemima used to live in a spiritual vacuum, which made her think about studying some religions, in spite of the fact that she was born of Jewish parents who strove for giving her a religious education in line with the teachings of Judaism.

When she was thinking about embracing Islam, she realized that there were cultural differences and an intellectual gap between the Islamic religion and the Western life style. Therefore, she had to take into consideration these social and cultural differences if she decided to go to Islam in search of moral and spiritual salvation. When she was utterly convinced of the fact that this religion was the one which would save her from her spiritual troubles and offer her moral happiness, she took matters firmly in hand and announced her conversion to Islam. She took this decision in spite of her parents’ opposition at first, but they yielded to her decision in the end, since the issue of religion is one of the personal matters about which nobody could be compelled or forced. This is how Jemima overcame the biggest obstacle she faced as a new Muslim girl ; then, she started to study Islamic teachings in-depth.

Jemima’s conversion to Islam took place three months prior to her marriage with the former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan. This marriage brought about another revolution in her life, for she was faced with new challenges after she had moved to Pakistan to live with her husband. There she lived with cultural and social differences which she had to adjust to.

Since the beginning of her conversion to Islam Jemima was determined to struggle against the challenges of social and cultural differences between her luxurious life far from religion and her life as a Muslim woman who should abide by the teachings of Islam. This is why Jemima confirms that it is the search for her peace of mind and moral happiness which led her to embracing Islam.

Jemima believes that, being armed with her faith in Islam, she can face all problems. At the same time, she admits that facing these social and cultural differences is not an easy matter since she had to make a big change in all aspects of her life ; moreover, she was not aware of the difficulty of facing these differences and challenges. Her marriage with Imran Khan was not easy, for she faced challenges of another kind. Similarly, she realized the extent of the gap as well as the social and cultural differences between the West and the East when she settled in Pakistan in order to live near her husband.

One of Jemima’s female friends said : “In spite of the family background of Jemima, when she married Imran Khan she was determined to struggle against the problems that such a unique marriage would create. Yet, she did not realize the size of the difficulties she would face in her marital life far away from her family and friends in Britain, or the fact that she would face problems of another kind as a result of the cultural differences between her and her husband.”

Jemima was in a special party in May 1995. She was a beautiful wealthy girl still at university ; her age then was less than twenty one while her husband’s was twice hers. So how would be the life of a spoiled daughter, who had been born of wealthy Jewish parents and who used to like having dinner only at San Lorenzo, after going to live in an Islamic country (Pakistan), whose culture was completely different from what she had been used to in her luxurious life with her parents ?

But against all expectations Jemima was able to adapt to her new life. Similarly, she was able to overcome all difficulties, for she loved her husband. That is why she struggled and made every effort in order to change her way of life. In spite of her family background, Jemima was determined to embrace Islam and learn Urdu in order to be easily accepted in her husband’s native country.

Furthermore, Jemima has confirmed to the world her determination to follow her new religion’s guidance by giving up drinking wine on special occasions as it is customarily done by the girls of high aristocracy in the West. Similarly, she voluntarily gave up going to night clubs. She also started to prefer wearing decent clothes, instead of wearing the latest Western fashion, as she used to do before her conversion to Islam. Similarly, Jemima was able, in a short time, to adapt to the way of life in her husband’s home country and to the Pakistani traditions by living in the same house with Imran’s family in Lahore in Pakistan, together with his sisters and their families, and this is something she was not used to in her country.

After one year of marriage, she gave birth to the expected son of Imran Khan. Meanwhile, politics had become a major concern in the life of Khan, who had started to aspire for a political role in his own country. More often than not, Khan left his young wife alone for some days and went to Islamabad, the political capital which is about 200 miles away from Lahore, his place of residence. When at home, it is very rare that he is alone with his wife, for his house is open to the members of his movement, the Justice Party. As a wife and mother, Jemima was expected to cook for her guests. She started to feel homesick, a desire for seeing her relatives back home and pains in her belly, yet she did not complain ; on the contrary, she praised her new country.

Jemima said that she considered the extended family as the appropriate way of bringing up children, and that, as a mother, she was satisfied with living in Pakistan. On arriving in Pakistan, she started to read a book about the experience of women who had changed their culture. Similarly, she strove for combining what was good in the East with what was good in the West by designing collections of clothes.

Some press reports have shown that the nine years Jemima lived in Pakistan have had an impact on the events of her life. Jemima said that in a country where the majority of people were struggling for survival there was no room for foolishness or frivolity. In spite of Jemima’s frequent insistence on her love of her new country, rumours reiterated that she was not happy there and that even her return to Britain would cause her a cultural shock.

Jemima said : “I found life there difficult in the first period, but I started to adjust to it slowly, and it became easier than before. At first I felt that my female friends had started to look at me in a different way.”

Imran tried hard to encourage the efforts of his young wife to adapt to her new life. He said : “Coming to Pakistan was for Jemima a big change. Moreover, this change had put big pressures on our marriage. She found this difficult but she was a strong character who endured these pressures and faced them with defiance and obstinacy. The pressures put by life in Pakistan were more on her than on me, at least since this is my own country ; she has made a big sacrifice.”

At other times, Imran Khan seemed to expect many sacrifices on the part of his wife, without making any apologies to her as he gave priority to taking care of his own country. Imran Khan said : “Jemima knows that I have thought a lot about entering the world of politics. This was not a decision taken overnight, for I like to be with my family, but this does not mean to sit and watch Pakistan as a banana republic.”

Some of Jemima’s friends think that Imran and Jemima do not agree about how to bring up and educate their children. For the birth of Suleiman made them face a new problem within the framework of social and cultural differences between the East and the West in that Jemima wants to bring up and educate her son in Britain while Imran wants to bring him up in Pakistan.

One of Jemima’s female friends said : “Jemima thinks that the pressures she faced at the end of last year and at the beginning of this year spring from the fact that she is pregnant with a girl, which resulted in the disappointment of her husband because it is a girl and not a boy.”

She continued : “I noticed in Jemima a feeling that Muslim men prefer boys to girls, though this is in complete contradiction with the teachings of Islam. Jemima had this feeling because when she announced the news of the coming female baby to Imran, she noticed that he was not as happy and as excited as he had been when she gave birth to Suleiman. This disturbed her greatly and increased her psychological pressures during that period.”

Jemima told a female friend of hers that when Imran knew about the coming female baby, he treated her badly : he did not answer her needs as a woman and did not understand the pressures she was undergoing then. He had completely changed ; for he used to be cheerful before, then he became sullen. Moreover, he became worse as he grew older. Jemima felt that she had done her best to face the challenges of social and cultural differences between her husband and her, such as accepting to live with his family and welcoming his guests and friends, but he did not accept her guests and female friends.

One of her female friends said : “Imran stated that, as a Muslim woman, his wife Jemima was not allowed to mix with her female friends in the Western manner. He also felt that some of her female friends were not intelligent enough to converse with his wife. He added that his wife told him that she would mix with men in the fashion world so as to advertise her new collection of clothes which she displayed in her collection of donations for Imran Khan’s hospital for cancer diseases in Lahore. Everybody in Lahore loved Jemima because she had adapted to her new life. She had started to learn Urdu and regularly performed her prayers; she had also built a good relationship with Imran Khan’s family.

Jemima and her husband organized two charity events in Manchester and London last year, during which she auctioned some of her Pakistani clothes so as to provide financial support for Imran’s Hospital in Lahore.

One of Jemima’s friends said : “Jemima always feels that she can overcome the cultural differences between her husband and herself because they love each other. Jemima has become a loved figure in Lahore ; people there love her for her unpretentious behaviour and her respect for her husband.”