Book & Author
Professor Dr Annemarie Schimmel: A Scholar and a Bridge Builder
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
Chicago, IL
January 26, 2021, marked the 18 th death anniversary of Dr Annemarie Schimmel (1922-2003). She was one of the 20 th century’s most acclaimed scholars, who dedicated more than fifty years of her life, to explain Islam to the West and in the process shattered various myths and stereotypes that were promoted by the colonial era orientalists. She was a seeker of truth and wisdom.
She traveled all over the Muslim world and Pakistan to understand Muslims and Islam and the messages of mystical poetry of MawlanaJalaluddin Rumi, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shah Baz Qalander, SachalSarmast, Rahman Baba, Khushal Khan Khattak, Baba Farid, Allama Iqbal and other mystical poets.
Two factors distinguish Dr Annemarie Schimmel’s scholarship from her contemporary Orientalists. First, she had an apolitical approach to scholarly inquiry. Unlike other orientalists who projected a distorted image of Muslims and Islam because of their use of the political and colonial lens, DrSchimmel never incorporated politics into her scholarly ventures. Second, she believed in a holistic approach to scholarly inquiry. In contrast to her contemporary orientalists, DrSchimmel, in explaining Islam, took time to comprehend the culture, language and traditions of many Islamic societies, before arriving at the conclusion of a scholarly inquiry. Thus, she was successful in explaining Islam to the West in an unbiased manner. Towards the end of the end of the twentieth century, people from many different religious camps tried to declare themselves to be Sufis. But DrSchimmel observed, “… Sufism emerged out of Qur’an and the Islamic way of life.”
Annemarie Schimmel was born on April 7, 1922, in Erfurt, Germany. She graduated from high school at 15 and completed a doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Studies at 19. After completing her second doctorate, in comparative religion, DrSchimmel began teaching Persian and Arabic poetry at the University of Marburg in Germany. Later, she served as professor of religious studies at the University of Ankara, Turkey (1954-59). During her stay in Turkey her translation of Rumi’s poetry furthered her interest in Iqbal. On the insistence of her Turkish friends, she translated ‘Jawednama’ into Turkish. This led to her first visit to Pakistan in 1958, which opened a new door in her scholarship and inquiry that ultimately took her to Harvard University. During her tenure at Harvard (1967-1992) as professor emerita of Indo-Muslim Culture in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department, she authored volumes of articles and dozens of books covering a wide spectrum of topics and issues related to Islamic Studies, Sufism, Iqbal, and Rumi.
After retiring from Harvard in 1992, she went back to Bonn, and spent most of her time lecturing and writing. DrSchimmel was a sought-after speaker. She had a unique style of lecturing; she would clinch her purse with both hands, close her eyes, and deliver her lectures with precision during the allocated time. She used to say that she could lecture without a manuscript in German, English and Turkish, or with a manuscript (and open eyes) in French, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.
During the Salman Rushdie affair, Professor Schimmel insisted that Muslims were the victims of a very carefully devised piece of literature. And when the clash of civilizations debate was initiated to attack Islam and Muslims, she was the first to come forward to defend Islam. Her critics were upset at her for not understanding the geo-politics. But she declared, “I have never seen anything in the Koran or in the traditional writings that called for, or even allowed, terrorism or hostage-taking.” In this regard, Dr Christoph Bruemmer, German Ambassador to Pakistan, observed, “DrSchimmel is a living counter-argument against Samuel P. Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations.”
During her academic career she received numerous prizes and awards, and was given many honorary doctorates, including three from Pakistan Universities ( Sindh, Peshawar and Quaid -i-Azam). In 1995, she was the recipient of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. In awarding the prize, Roman Herzog, president of Germany, called Prof Schimmel "one of the few Western scholars who is able and ready to think herself totally into the mental world of this different culture." Shortly after being named for the prize, Schimmel said an author “who consciously insults the prophet'' was committing sacrilege and accused Rushdie of insulting many Muslims in a very bad way.
DrSchimmel lived in Germany but her intellectual world was centered in Pakistan, her second home. Welfare of Pakistan was very dear to her. In November 1997, Professor Schimmel in a letter to the editor, advised Pakistanis: “For the last 50 years, I have been telling my people (the Germans) that Islam is a tolerant religion because the Holy Qur'an states ‘There is no compulsion in religion’ (Surat al Baqara, verse 256), and that the Islamic world, including Pakistan, has never known anything comparable to the medieval witch-hunt…I hope that Allama Iqbal's emphasis on creative love, as expressed in his beautiful poem 'Masjid-iQurtuba', will again inspire my Muslim friends in Pakistan so that Iqbal's thought becomes alive again among the Pakistani society.”(Letter to the editor, The News, November 16, 1997).
DrSchimmel’s scholarship served as a bridge between the East and the West, cultures and religions. She was an avid scholar of the poetry and philosophy of Allama Iqbal and MaulanaJalaluddin Rumi. Her scholarship and devotion are magnificent. She had a deep understanding of poems, the mystical puns, the music and the inner and hidden meanings of Rumi and Iqbal’s work. Her unique background enabled her to translate Rumi and Iqbal with high fidelity. Rendering a couplet from Rumi’s Devan-e-Shams-e-Tabrizi, she very eloquently writes, “Alif, the first letter of the alphabet, is a straight line, and stands also for 1/Besides, it is the cipher (zero) for the slender stature of the beloved/The lover has value only together with the beloved.”
She considered Iqbal as one of the greatest poets of the East. Her interest in Rumi and Iqbal dates back to her student days at the University of Berlin. To quote her “my long lasting love of Iqbal has let me to publish a number of works which are more or less relevant for a study of his contribution to Muslim thought…. In many articles I have tried to show Iqbal in context of Islamic modernism or deal with his imagery.” She further observes, “I owe my introduction to Rumi to Iqbal, who seemed so complete to sway our generation. Prompted by a desire to study Iqbal. I had to devote years to Rumi, for was he not acclaimed by Iqbal as a unique Master and matchless guide?” (Afzal Iqbal, Author The life and thought of Rumi, 1955). She wrote her first article on Iqbal in 1954, and from that point onwards she wrote on Iqbal in various languages and on different aspects of his message and philosophy. But her book Gabriel’s Wing – A Study into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (E.J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 1963 & 1989) is considered a superb example of her scholarship and insight in Iqbal studies.
DrSchimmel was a multilingual scholar who educated Germans, Europeans, and the world at large, through her writings and lectures in English, German, French, Latin, Arabic, Persian, Danish, Norwegian, Italian, Czech, Turkish, Urdu, Pashtu, Sindhi, and Punjabi. She authored more than 80 books, on a wide array of topics, which included, Gabriel's Wing: A Study Into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1963), Islamic Calligraphy (1970), Mystical Dimensions of Islam (1975), The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddinn Rumi (1978), A Dance of Sparks: Imagery of Fire in Ghalib's Poetry (1979), Islam in the Indian Subcontinent (1980), As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam (1982), And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety (1985), A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry (1992), Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (1994), My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam (1997), I Am Wind, You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi (1997), and The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art, and Culture (2004).
On January 26, 2003, DrSchimmel passed away due to complications following surgery. She had no immediate family and was survived by a son of a cousin and his family in the United States, as well as a large number of friends and colleagues, students, and millions of admirers all over the globe.
DrSchimmel left behind an intellectual legacy, in the form of her writings and lectures that will continue to provide a bridge of understating between the East and the West. She once observed that her lifelong intellectual goal was "to awake understanding for Islam," arguing that "Islam was among the most misunderstood religions." Indeed, Dr Annemarie Schimmel did achieve her goal with honors. She was a great humanitarian who built cross-cultural and -religious bridges to bring people together. To pay tribute to her impressive scholarship and to keep her legacy alive, universities in the East and the West should establish Dr Annemarie Schimmel chairs in the faculties of eastern and Islamic studies.
Indisputably, DrSchimmel’s illuminating scholarship has opened up new avenues of understanding for all seekers of the truth and wisdom. Today, the world needs people like DrSchimmel who can build intellectual bridges to promote global peace, harmony, and coexistence.
(Dr Ahmed S. Khan - dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org - is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, 2017-2022. Professor Khan has 35 years of experience in Higher Education as professor of Electrical Engineering. He is the author of many academic papers, technical and non-technical books, and a series of books on Science, Technology & Society (STS); his most recent books are Mashriq-o-Mugrib Ki MumtazShaksiaat ( Prominent Personalities of the East and the West), and Nanotechnology: Ethical and Social Implications.)
