The Muslim News - Obituary - Prof Annemarie Schimmel, the renowned German scholar of Islam

Issue 166, Friday 28 February 2003 - 26 Dhu al-Hijjah 1423

Obituary - Prof Annemarie Schimmel, the renowned German scholar of Islam

Prof Annemarie Schimmel, the renowned German scholar of Islam, died on January 25. She was 80. A specialist on Islamic mysticism, Schimmel published 80 books, had five degrees, twenty-six awards and lectured at various universities including Harvard (where she was Professor of Indo-Muslim Culture from 1970-1992), Bonn, London and Ankara. She was fluent in ten languages including Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Urdu and Dari.
Her life-long mission was “to awake understanding for Islam”, arguing that “Islam was among the most misunderstood religions”. The German scholar was seen as a bridge-builder with the Islamic world. Her works on Islamic mysticism are popular in the West.
Schimmel was born in Erfurt, a town in central Germany in 1922. By the age of fifteen she turned to the study of Arabic. At age nineteen she received a doctorate in Islamic Languages and Civilisation from the University of Berlin.
She became the Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Marburg when she was 23 and where she went on to earn a second doctorate in the History of Religions. In 1954, she became Professor of the History of Religion at the University of Ankara. There she spent five years teaching in Turkish and immersing herself in the culture and mystical tradition of the country.
An admirer of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Schimmel translated his Javidnama into German verse. In 1958, she made the first of many visits to Pakistan, a country that became central to her work. Pakistan honoured her with the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, its highest civil award, and a fine tree-lined avenue in Lahore is named after her. A scholarship for women was set up in her name in 1988. Based in Lahore, the scholarship is for postgraduate study in the UK.
But few people outside the cosseted walls of academia had heard of her until she spoke out against Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Millions of Muslims considered the book highly offensive to the religion of Islam in contrast to the bastions of Western liberalism, the media, the arts and the seats of learning which were adamant that freedom of expression was paramount, and that responsibility of expression was a secondary consideration. Professor Schimmel entered the debate insisting that Muslims were the victims of a carefully devised piece of literature. Prof Schimmel effectively took on the Establishment. Her position, based on years of expertise in Islamic literature and history, was authoritative and unwavering.
To acknowledge and appreciate her support for Islam and Muslims, ‘The Muslim News Awards for Excellence’ named one of the awards, Championing a Muslim cause, after her. The following is a message she sent in 2001, from Bonn:
“I very much appreciate your work and would like to send you my warmest regards and good wishes for the event and, even more, for all the useful work you are doing. It is so necessary in our time to emphasize the values of Islamic culture, for despite the constant talk of globalisation we sometimes have the impression that the misunderstandings between religions and civilisations grow stronger the easier communication becomes. What we need are people who defend the values of religion and of responsible actions and try to make their compatriots understand the true aspects of culture and, in this case, especially of Islam. Those who help create a true picture of the role of Islam in the civilisations of the world deserve every kind of support, and have to be applauded for their attempts to create a better understanding between individuals and between cultures. I am proud to be associated with the Awards for Excellence, which is given by the Muslim News to people who excel in this field, and I send you my very best wishes and warmest greetings.”
Her works include Gabriel’s Wing: A Study into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1963), Mystical Dimensions of Islam (1975), Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi (1978), Islam in the Indian Subcontinent (Leiden, 1980), Muhammad is His Messenger (1985), Islamic Names (1989; Edinburgh Univ), A Two-Coloured Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry (1992), and Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (1994), Look! This is Love: Poems of Rumi, Make a Shield From Wisdom, The Mystery of Numbers, As Through A Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam
The Muslim News Awards and Sir Cam, Cambridge, England

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