Muhammad Asad
Encyclopedia
Muhammad Asad (1900–1992), was an Austrian
Polish
Jew who converted to Islam
, and a 20th century journalist, traveler, writer, social critic, linguist, thinker, reformer, diplomat, political theorist, translator and scholar. Asad was one of the 20th century's most influential European Muslims.
In 1947, Asad was given Pakistani citizenship by the newly established Muslim state of Pakistan
and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan
, where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and, in 1952, was appointed Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations
in New York
.
Muhammad Asad is famously known for his two publications - "The Road to Mecca", a biographical account of his life up to the age of 32, his conversion to Islam from Judaism
and his journey to Mecca
and his magnum opus
, "The Message of the Qur'an
", a translation and commentary of the sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an
.
(present-day Lviv
, Ukraine
). Weiss was a descendant of a long line of Jewish rabbi
s; however, his father, Kiwa Weiss, broke from tradition and became a lawyer. Leopold received a religious education and was proficient in Hebrew
from an early age, as well as familiar with Aramaic
. He studied the Old Testament
, the text and commentaries of the Talmud
, the Mishna and Gemara
, also delving into the intricacies of Biblical exegesis
and the Targum
.
After abandoning university in Vienna, Weiss drifted aimlessly around 1920s Germany
, working briefly for the expressionist film director, Fritz Lang
(F.W. Murnau, according to The Road to Mecca). By his own account, after selling a jointly written film script, he splurged the windfall on a wild party at an expensive Berlin restaurant, in the spirit of the times. While working as a telephone operator for an American news agency in Berlin, Weiss obtained a coveted interview with Russian author Maxim Gorky
's wife, his first published piece of journalism, after simply ringing up her hotel room.
who later founded the Psychoanalytic Quarterly in New York) psychoanalyst Dorian Feigenbaum, the son of a successful banker in Lviv, Menachem Mendel Feigenbaum. He picked up work as a stringer for the Frankfurter Zeitung
, selling articles on a freelance basis. His pieces were noteworthy for their understanding of Arab fears and grievances against the Zionist project. He was eventually contracted as a full-time foreign correspondent for the paper.
Asad spoke of Islam thus:
, who had proposed the idea of an independent Muslim state in India, which later became Pakistan
. Iqbal persuaded Asad to stay on in British India and help the Muslims of India establish their separate Muslim state. Iqbal introduced Asad to Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan
, a philanthropist and agriculturalist, who, on the advice of Muhammad Iqbal, established the Dar-ul-Islam Trust Institutes in Pathankot
, India and Jauharabad
, Pakistan. Asad stayed on in British India and worked with both Muhammad Iqbal and Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan.
When the Second World War
broke out in 1939, Asad's parents were arrested and, subsequently, murdered by the Nazis
during the Holocaust. Asad himself was arrested in Lahore
in 1939, a day after the war broke out, by the British as an enemy alien. This was despite the fact that Asad had refused German nationality after the annexation of Austria in 1938 and had insisted on retaining his Austrian citizenship. Asad spent three years incarcerated in a prison, while his family consisting of his wife, Munira, and son, Talal, after being released from detention earlier, lived under the protection of Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan at the latter's vast 1000 acres (4 km²) estate in Jamalpur, 5 km west of Pathankot
. Asad was finally released and reunited with his family in Jamalpur when the Second World War ended in 1945.
Asad supported the idea of a separate Muslim state in India and after the independence of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, in recognition for his support for Pakistan, Asad was conferred full citizenship by Pakistan and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan, where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and made efforts to strengthen Pakistan's ties with the Muslim states of the Middle East. In 1952, Asad was appointed as Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations
in New York
- He was sacked by the Pakistani Government after members of the mission ploltted against Him.To avoid any critisism from any source ,the Pakistani Government reported that he had relinquished his position a Year later.He then left the political stage to write his autobiography (up to the age of 32), The Road to Mecca.
and lived there with his third wife, Pola Hamida Asad, an American national of Polish Catholic descent who had also converted to Islam, until his death on 20 February 1992 at the age of 92. He was buried in the Muslim cemetery of Granada
in the former Moorish province of Andalusia
, Spain.
from his second Saudi Arabian wife, Munira. Talal Asad is now an eminent anthropologist specializing in religious studies
and postcolonialism
.
, a translation and commentary on the Muslim holy book based on his own knowledge of classical Arabic
and on the authoritative classical commentaries. Considered one of the leading translations of the Qur'an, it has been criticised by some traditionalists for its Mutazilite leanings. He also wrote a translation and commentary on the Sahih Bukhari
, one of the most authoritative collection of Hadith
. In addition, he wrote This Law of Ours
where he sums up his views on Islamic law and rejects decisively the notion of taqlid
, or strict judicial precedent which has been accepted as doctrine by many Muslim sects, while being rejected by others such as the Salafis. He also makes a plea for rationalism and plurality in Islamic law, which he sees as the true legacy of the salaf
or earliest generations of Muslims. In his book Islam at the Crossroads, he outlines his view that the Muslim world must make a choice between living by its own values and morality or accepting those of the West, in which case, they would always lag behind the West, which had had more time to adjust to those values and mores, and would end up compromising their own religion and culture. There are some playfully cryptic references to him in the recent bestseller The Orientalist by Tom Reiss (Random House 2005), and some slightly more sinister ones in the English translations of W.G. Sebald.
Journal:
For more information go to:
http://www.icarusfilms.com/new2009/mecc.html
Online articles
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
Jew who converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and a 20th century journalist, traveler, writer, social critic, linguist, thinker, reformer, diplomat, political theorist, translator and scholar. Asad was one of the 20th century's most influential European Muslims.
In 1947, Asad was given Pakistani citizenship by the newly established Muslim state of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan
Government of Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are...
, where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and, in 1952, was appointed Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Muhammad Asad is famously known for his two publications - "The Road to Mecca", a biographical account of his life up to the age of 32, his conversion to Islam from Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and his journey to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and his magnum opus
Magnum opus
Magnum opus , from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, or composer.-Related terms:Sometimes the term magnum opus is used to refer to simply "a great work" rather than "the...
, "The Message of the Qur'an
The Message of The Qur'an
The Message of the Qur'an is a translation and interpretation of the Qur'an by Muhammad Asad, a Polish Jew who converted to Islam...
", a translation and commentary of the sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
.
Early years
Muhammad Asad was born "Leopold Weiss" on 2 July 1900 to a Jewish family in Lemberg , which until 1918 was part of Austria and afterwards until 1939 was part of the Second Polish RepublicSecond Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
(present-day Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). Weiss was a descendant of a long line of Jewish rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s; however, his father, Kiwa Weiss, broke from tradition and became a lawyer. Leopold received a religious education and was proficient in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
from an early age, as well as familiar with Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
. He studied the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, the text and commentaries of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, the Mishna and Gemara
Gemara
The Gemara is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Rabbi Judah the Prince The Gemara (also transliterated Gemora or, less commonly, Gemorra; from Aramaic גמרא gamar; literally, "[to] study" or "learning by...
, also delving into the intricacies of Biblical exegesis
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
and the Targum
Targum
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
.
After abandoning university in Vienna, Weiss drifted aimlessly around 1920s Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, working briefly for the expressionist film director, Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
(F.W. Murnau, according to The Road to Mecca). By his own account, after selling a jointly written film script, he splurged the windfall on a wild party at an expensive Berlin restaurant, in the spirit of the times. While working as a telephone operator for an American news agency in Berlin, Weiss obtained a coveted interview with Russian author Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
's wife, his first published piece of journalism, after simply ringing up her hotel room.
Weiss in Arabia
Weiss later moved to the British Mandate of Palestine, staying in Jerusalem at the house of an uncle (a disciple of Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
who later founded the Psychoanalytic Quarterly in New York) psychoanalyst Dorian Feigenbaum, the son of a successful banker in Lviv, Menachem Mendel Feigenbaum. He picked up work as a stringer for the Frankfurter Zeitung
Frankfurter Zeitung
The Frankfurter Zeitung was a German language newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. It emerged from a market letter that was published in Frankfurt...
, selling articles on a freelance basis. His pieces were noteworthy for their understanding of Arab fears and grievances against the Zionist project. He was eventually contracted as a full-time foreign correspondent for the paper.
Conversion to Islam
Weiss's assignments led him to an ever-deepening engagement with and understanding of Islam, which, after much thought and deliberation, led to his religious conversion in 1926 in Berlin and adopting the Muslim name, Muhammad Asad.Asad spoke of Islam thus:
"Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other; nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking; and the result is a structure of absolute balance and solid composure."His travels and sojourns through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and the southern Soviet Republics, were viewed with great suspicion by the Colonial Powers. One English diplomat in Saudi Arabia described him in a report as a "Bolshevik" and he took a close interest in the many liberation movements that were active at this time with the aim of freeing Muslim lands from colonial rule.
Asad in British India & Pakistan
Asad left Arabia and came to British India in 1932 where he met South Asia's premier Muslim poet, philosopher and thinker, Muhammad IqbalMuhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal , commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal , was a poet and philosopher born in Sialkot, then in the Punjab Province of British India, now in Pakistan...
, who had proposed the idea of an independent Muslim state in India, which later became Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Iqbal persuaded Asad to stay on in British India and help the Muslims of India establish their separate Muslim state. Iqbal introduced Asad to Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan
Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan
Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan , founder of the Dar ul Islam Movement and the Dar ul Islam Trust in South Asia and the Dar ul Islam Trust Institutes in Pathankot, India and Jauharabad, Pakistan, was a civil engineer, civil servant, landowner, agriculturalist and philanthropist...
, a philanthropist and agriculturalist, who, on the advice of Muhammad Iqbal, established the Dar-ul-Islam Trust Institutes in Pathankot
Pathankot
Pathankot became 22nd district on 28th July 2011 and a municipal corporation in the Indian state of Punjab. It was a part of the Nurpur princely state ruled by the Rajputs prior to 1849 AD. It is a meeting point of the three northern states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir...
, India and Jauharabad
Jauharabad
Jauharabad is a planned town situated in Khushab District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It has a population of approximately 40,000 and it is the district headquarters of Khushab District....
, Pakistan. Asad stayed on in British India and worked with both Muhammad Iqbal and Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan.
When the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out in 1939, Asad's parents were arrested and, subsequently, murdered by the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during the Holocaust. Asad himself was arrested in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in 1939, a day after the war broke out, by the British as an enemy alien. This was despite the fact that Asad had refused German nationality after the annexation of Austria in 1938 and had insisted on retaining his Austrian citizenship. Asad spent three years incarcerated in a prison, while his family consisting of his wife, Munira, and son, Talal, after being released from detention earlier, lived under the protection of Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan at the latter's vast 1000 acres (4 km²) estate in Jamalpur, 5 km west of Pathankot
Pathankot
Pathankot became 22nd district on 28th July 2011 and a municipal corporation in the Indian state of Punjab. It was a part of the Nurpur princely state ruled by the Rajputs prior to 1849 AD. It is a meeting point of the three northern states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir...
. Asad was finally released and reunited with his family in Jamalpur when the Second World War ended in 1945.
Asad supported the idea of a separate Muslim state in India and after the independence of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, in recognition for his support for Pakistan, Asad was conferred full citizenship by Pakistan and appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction by the Government of Pakistan, where he made recommendations on the drafting of Pakistan's first Constitution. In 1949, Asad joined Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Middle East Division and made efforts to strengthen Pakistan's ties with the Muslim states of the Middle East. In 1952, Asad was appointed as Pakistan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
- He was sacked by the Pakistani Government after members of the mission ploltted against Him.To avoid any critisism from any source ,the Pakistani Government reported that he had relinquished his position a Year later.He then left the political stage to write his autobiography (up to the age of 32), The Road to Mecca.
Later years
Towards the end of his life, Asad moved to SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and lived there with his third wife, Pola Hamida Asad, an American national of Polish Catholic descent who had also converted to Islam, until his death on 20 February 1992 at the age of 92. He was buried in the Muslim cemetery of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
in the former Moorish province of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Spain.
Children
Asad had two sons, Heinrich, from his first German wife, Elsa Schiemann, and Talal AsadTalal Asad
Talal Asad is an anthropologist at the City University of New York.Asad has made important theoretical contributions to post-colonialism, Christianity, Islam, and ritual studies and has recently called for, and initiated, an anthropology of secularism...
from his second Saudi Arabian wife, Munira. Talal Asad is now an eminent anthropologist specializing in religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
and postcolonialism
Postcolonialism
Post-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...
.
Publications
Asad wrote several books. His autobiography, The Road to Mecca is an account of his Middle Eastern travels and his conversion, as well as his thoughts on the growing Zionist movement. He also wrote The Message of The Qur'anThe Message of The Qur'an
The Message of the Qur'an is a translation and interpretation of the Qur'an by Muhammad Asad, a Polish Jew who converted to Islam...
, a translation and commentary on the Muslim holy book based on his own knowledge of classical Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and on the authoritative classical commentaries. Considered one of the leading translations of the Qur'an, it has been criticised by some traditionalists for its Mutazilite leanings. He also wrote a translation and commentary on the Sahih Bukhari
Sahih Bukhari
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...
, one of the most authoritative collection of Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
. In addition, he wrote This Law of Ours
This Law of Ours
This Law of Ours is a book written by Muhammad Asad, first published by the Asiatic Press of Dacca in June 1980, and later reprinted and expanded by Dar al-Andalus, Gibraltar in 1987 as This Law of Ours and Other Essays...
where he sums up his views on Islamic law and rejects decisively the notion of taqlid
Taqlid
Taqlid or taklid is an Arabic term in Islamic legal terminology connoting "imitation", that is; following the decisions of a religious authority without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of...
, or strict judicial precedent which has been accepted as doctrine by many Muslim sects, while being rejected by others such as the Salafis. He also makes a plea for rationalism and plurality in Islamic law, which he sees as the true legacy of the salaf
Salaf
A Salaf is an early Muslim of the first three generations of proponents of the religion.-First generation:* See: List of SahabaThe Salaf are the first generation of Muslims, which included Muhammad's companions and followers at the time....
or earliest generations of Muslims. In his book Islam at the Crossroads, he outlines his view that the Muslim world must make a choice between living by its own values and morality or accepting those of the West, in which case, they would always lag behind the West, which had had more time to adjust to those values and mores, and would end up compromising their own religion and culture. There are some playfully cryptic references to him in the recent bestseller The Orientalist by Tom Reiss (Random House 2005), and some slightly more sinister ones in the English translations of W.G. Sebald.
List of publications
Books:- 1. Jerusalem in 1923: The Impressions of a Young European (1923)
- 2. The Spirit of Islam (1934)
- 3. The Concept of Religion in the West and in Islam (1934)
- 4. The Spirit of the West (1934)
- 5. Sahih Al-Bukhari: The Early Years of Islam (1935–1938)
- 6. Towards a Resurrection of Thought (1937)
- 7. What Arafat? (1946)
- 8. The Outline of a Problem (September 1946)
- 9. Is Religion a Thing of the Past? (October 1946)
- 10. This Law of Ours (November 1946, December 1946, January 1947)
- 11. Construction or Destruction? (February 1947)
- 12. That Business of Imitation (April 1947)
- 13. What do we mean by Pakistan? (May 1947)
- 14. Notes and Comments (May 1947)
- 15. Towards an Islamic Constitution (July 1947)
- 16. Notes and Comments (July 1947)
- 17. Calling All Muslims (September 1947)
- 18. Islamic Reconstruction (March 1948)
- 19. Islamic Constitution Making (March 1948)
- 20. The Road to Mecca (1954)
- 21. The Encounter of Islam and the West (1959)
- 22. Islam and the Spirit of our Times (1960)
- 23. The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1961)
- 24. Islam and Politics (1963)
- 25. Jerusalem: The Open City (1970s)
- 26. The Meaning and Significance of the Hijrah (1979)
- 27. The Message of the Qur’an (1980)
- 28. The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1980)
- 29. Sahih al-Bukhāri (1981)
- 30. A Vision to Jerusalem (1982)
- 31. Jerusalem: A City for all People (1982)
- 32. A Tribe That Kept Its Name (1985)
Journal:
- Arafat: A Monthly Critique of Muslim Thought (1946–47)
Documentary
A documentary titled A Road to Mecca: The Journey of Muhammad Asad, directed by by Georg Misch, about the life of Muhammad Asad, was filmed in Austria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, USA, Morocco and Spain. The documentary, released in 2008, was selected by the following film festivals, picking up a few awards:- 2009 Jerusalem Film Festival
- 2009 Dubai Film Festival
- 2008 FIDADOC Film Festival, Morocco (Jury Award)
- 2008 Diagonale Festival of Austrian Films (Best Cinematography Award)
- 2008 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival
- 2008 Vancouver International Film Festival
For more information go to:
http://www.icarusfilms.com/new2009/mecc.html
Sources
Books- Asad, Muhammad. The Road to Mecca, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954
- Azam, K.M., Hayat-e-Sadeed: Bani-e-Dar ul Islam Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan (A Righteous Life: Founder of Dar ul Islam Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan), Lahore: Nashriyat, 2010 (583 pp., Urdu) [ISBN 978-969-8983-58-1]
- Chughtai, Muhammad Ikram, Muhammad Asad: Europe's Gift to Islam, Volume 1, Lahore: The Truth Society, 2006 (1240 pp.)
- Windhager, Günther. Leopold Weiss alias Muhammad Asad: Von Galizien nach Arabien 1900-1927, Vienna, Austria: Böhlau Verlag, 2002 (230 pp., German)
Online articles
- Nawwab, Ismail Ibrahim. Muhammad Asad. www.TheTrueCall.com http://www.thetruecall.com/home/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=194
External links
- A Road to Mecca (Al Jazeera Documentary)
- Muhammad Asad's book This Law of Ours (Grandestrategy.com)
- Online Quran Project includes the Qur'anQur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
translation of Muhammad Asad (both the original English and the Spanish translation). - The English translation by Muhammad Asad (with commentary) at the Online Quran Project
- The Spanish translation by Muhammad Asad at the Online Quran Project
- M. Asad's Contributions to Pakistan
- Brief Biography
- Compared Translations of the meaning of the Quran
- The Message of the Qur'an: Complete with commentary (HTML)
- Translation with commentary
- Translation without commentary
- Ben-David, Amir. Leopold of Arabia. Haaretz.com. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=95213http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=95201
- Martin Kramer. The Road from Mecca: Muhammad Asad
- Film by Georg Misch: A ROAD TO MECCA - The Journey of Muhammad Asad
- Short commentary on The Road To Mecca
- Muhammad Asad: A Jewish Lawrence of Arabia