Religious Figure. She received international recognition for her devoted Christian faith. Born Qamar Zia in what was British India, she was one of seven children in a wealthy Muslim household. She attended a public school until age seventeen when she transferred to a Christian school. Being impressed by the faith of her teachers, she wanted to learn more about it. She began to read the Bible in secret, and after reading the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, she converted to Christianity. When India was partitioned in 1947, the new nation of Pakistan was formed, and she no longer resided in India but in the Muslim state of Pakistan. Her family had arranged for her to marry a Muslim man, but she refused, leaving her family in 1954. In her culture, a daughter would traditionally follow her parents' wishes. She relocated to Karachi and started working in an orphanage. On June 30, 1955, she traveled by train to Saihwal, where she began to work in the hospital and study at Gujranwala Theological Seminary and United Bible Training Centre by September 1956. She stayed with the first Anglican bishop of Karachi, Chandu Ray, and celebrated her first Christmas. She worked as a nurse in the nearby hospital. After being baptized, she decided to use a Christian name, changing her name to Esther John. Her family found her and once again wanted her to marry the Muslim man, but she refused. Her parents learned of her Christian faith. After graduation in April of 1959, she began to live with a white missionary couple at the American Presbyterian Church in Chichawatni near Sachiwal. For the next year, she taught women how to read and write while confessing her Christian faith. She even worked alongside them in the cotton fields. On February 2, 1960, she was found dead with a head wound in her bed, having been murdered. Sources state that she was murdered because of her Christian faith by a Muslim radical. Her body was buried in a local Christian graveyard. Later, a memorial chapel was built in front of the nurses' home on the grounds of the hospital there. No one was arrested for her murder. Above the west door at Westminister Abbey in London is her 1998 statue by sculptor Neil Simmons, which is one of ten on exhibit at the Gallery of 20th Century Martyrs. She represents South Asian Christians.