A Vintage View

A peripatetic journey from Jewish roots to Islamic mysticism

Global quest leads American woman to embrace Sufism

Posted 12/19/24

For some Americans, the word "Islam" can conjure up images of violence and conflict. But not for Maryam Kabeer, a Jewish-born American whose decades-long spiritual quest led her to find peace in Sufi Islam. She is one of the most spiritual people I ever met. 

The first time I spoke with Kabeer, she was at a fundraising event for a scholarship nonprofit in Chestnut Hill. It was in the 1990s, and she was selling stunning, colorful garments and rugs from Pakistan as a contribution to the fundraiser. I noted her hijab and floor-length dress, which stood out to me at the time as being …

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A Vintage View

A peripatetic journey from Jewish roots to Islamic mysticism

Global quest leads American woman to embrace Sufism

Posted

For some Americans, the word "Islam" can conjure up images of violence and conflict. But not for Maryam Kabeer, a Jewish-born American whose decades-long spiritual quest led her to find peace in Sufi Islam. She is one of the most spiritual people I ever met. 

The first time I spoke with Kabeer, she was at a fundraising event for a scholarship nonprofit in Chestnut Hill. It was in the 1990s, and she was selling stunning, colorful garments and rugs from Pakistan as a contribution to the fundraiser. I noted her hijab and floor-length dress, which stood out to me at the time as being unusual, and that sparked a fascinating conversation. The following week, she invited me to an event at a mosque in Overbrook Park, where I had another illuminating conversation with her and several other American converts to Islam.

That's how I learned about Sufism, which is often described as Islamic mysticism – and helps Muslims attain nearness to Allah through contemplative practices and inner transformation. Like the relationship between Unitarianism or Quakerism to evangelical Christianity, Sufism represents one of the most contemplative expressions of Islamic tradition.

Kabeer’s journey to embracing that religion is a story I’ll never forget. 

Born in 1946 to a liberal Jewish family in Hollywood, California, Kabeer felt a spiritual void despite her loving but secular upbringing. At age 12, she received a painted scroll of an ancient man bearing the words, "Seek, and the truth shall make you free" – a message that would shape her life's direction as she grew up in the tumultuous political climate of the 1960s.

By 16, she had enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, then a hotbed of social and political activism. There she immersed herself in diverse spiritual teachings, studying the Koran alongside the scriptures of Advaita Vedanta, a form of Hindu philosophy, and the poetry of 13th-century philosopher Jelaluddin Rumi. After two years, she left Berkeley to begin what would become a global spiritual quest to find what she called her "truth."

That search led her to study with Sufi masters across four continents – from Israel to Sri Lanka, Senegal to Gambia, as well as in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Nearly three decades later, in January 2009, she documented her transformative journey in her book, "Journey through Ten Thousand Veils: The Alchemy of Transformation on the Sufi Path."

"It's the interior illumination of Islamic practices, bringing out the best in it," Kabeer told me. "That is the love, the mercy, the kindness, wisdom, light. This was the destiny that was marked for me, that was decreed for me."

Kabeer's spiritual exploration was not limited to Islam. She'd lived in both Christian and Buddhist monasteries, and insisted that she'd "seen the light of God in all of them."

In our conversations, she told me all about her journey and the changes she'd witnessed. Throughout it all, she said, she never lost her sense of God. 

"Where I grew up near Santa Barbara and experienced so much joy is now all gone from mudslides and wildfires. It faded away before our eyes – but I don't believe in that darkness because God has shown me the light," she said. 

"The Koran tells us that everything will perish but the face of the Lord full of honor and bounty and glory. It will live forever," she continued. "There is no reality but the reality of God. Our illusory self is dissolving in that reality. God gave us things to penetrate the veils. We are being tested. Our secret weapon is prayer."

For more information about Maryam Kabeer's journey, her book "Journey through Ten Thousand Veils: The Alchemy of Transformation on the Sufi Path" is available through major booksellers. She is also featured on wisemuslimwomen.org.

Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com