Muhammad Asad

This article is about the linguist, translator, and author. For other people, see Muhammad Asad (disambiguation).

Muhammad Asad
محمد أسد
Muhammad Asad addressing Radio Pakistan
Director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction[1]
In office
August 1947 – September 1948
Ministry of Foreign Affairs[clarification needed]
In office
September 1948 – 1951
Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations
In office
1952–1952
Personal
Born(1900-07-02)2 July 1900
Lemberg, Austria-Hungary
(present-day Lviv, Ukraine)
Died20 February 1992(1992-02-20) (aged 91)
Mijas, Andalucia, Spain[4]
ReligionIslam
NationalityAustrian[2]
Pakistani[3]
DenominationReformist
Main interest(s)Islamic studies, Islamic democracy, Muslim world, Quran
Notable idea(s)Islamic state[5]
Independent Reasoning[6]
Notable work(s)
Alma materUniversity of Vienna (dropped out in 1920)
OccupationLinguist[citation needed], Academic, Traveler, Political Theorist, Historian
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced

Muhammad Asad[a] (born Leopold Weiss; 2 July 1900 – 20 February 1992) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Pakistani Muslim polymath. He worked as a journalist, traveler, writer, political theorist, and diplomat.[6]

His translation of the Quran in English, "The Message of The Qur'an" is one of the most notable of his works. In Asad's words in "The Message of the Quran": "the work which I am now placing before the public is based on a lifetime of study and of many years spent in Arabia. It is an attempt – perhaps the first attempt – at a really idiomatic, explanatory rendition of the Qur'anic message into a European language."

By age 13, Weiss had acquired a passing fluency in Hebrew and Aramaic, on top of his native German and Polish languages.[17][18] By his mid-twenties, he could read and write in English, French, Persian and Arabic.[19][20] In Mandatory Palestine, Weiss engaged in arguments with Zionist leaders like Chaim Weizmann, voicing his reservations about some aspects of the Zionist Movement.[18] After traveling across the Arab World as a journalist, he converted to Sunni Islam in 1926 and adopted the name "Muhammad Asad"—Asad being the Arabic rendition of his root name Leo (Lion).[21]

During his stay in Saudi Arabia, he spent time with Bedouins and enjoyed the close company of the state's founder, Ibn Saud.[9][10] He also carried out a secret mission for Ibn Saud to trace the sources of funding for the Ikhwan Revolt. Due to these activities, he was dubbed in a Haaretz article as "Leopold of Arabia"—hinting similarity of his activities to those of Lawrence of Arabia.[18] On his visit to India, Asad became friends with the Muslim poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, who persuaded him to abandon his eastward travels and "help elucidate the intellectual premises of the future Islamic state".[22][23] He also spent five years in internment by the British government at the outbreak of World War II.[3] On 14 August 1947, Asad received Pakistani citizenship and later served in several bureaucratic and diplomatic positions including the Director of Department of Islamic Reconstruction, Deputy Secretary (Middle East Division) in the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, and Pakistan's envoy to the United Nations.[9][10][22]

In the West, Asad rose to prominence as a writer with his best-selling autobiography, The Road to Mecca.[23][24][25] Later, after seventeen years of scholarly research, he published his magnum opus: The Message of the Qur'an—an English translation and commentary of the Quran.[26] The book, along with the translations of Pickthall and Yusuf Ali, is regarded as one of the most influential translations of the modern era.[6][27][26] An ardent proponent of ijtihad and rationality in interpreting religious texts, he dedicated his works "to People who Think".[26][28]

In 2008, the entrance square to the UN Office in Vienna was named Muhammad Asad Platz in commemoration of his work as a "religious bridge-builder".[29] Asad has been described by his biographers as "Europe's gift to Islam" and "a Mediator between Islam and the West".[30][31]

  1. ^ Sajid, Osama (13 August 2013). "Allama Muhammad Asad: The first citizen of Pakistan". The Express Tribune. Karachi.
  2. ^ Gropp, Lewis (29 November 2014). "The remarkable story of a Jew on his road to Mecca". Your Middle East. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference islamicencyclopedia.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cug̲h̲tāʼī 2006, pp. i, 373.
  5. ^ a b Fatah 2008, p. 10.
  6. ^ a b c d Nawwab, Ismail Ibrahim (2002). "Berlin to Makkah : Muhammad Asad's Journey into Islam". Saudi Aramco World. Vol. 53, no. 1. pp. 6–32. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  7. ^ "Muhammad Asad (1900–1992)". Salaam. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012.
  8. ^ Musa, Ahmad Farouk; Koya, Abdar Rahman (9 December 2009). "Remembering Muhammad Asad, the West's gift to Islam". Malaysia Today.
  9. ^ a b c "From Leopold Weiss to Muhammad Asad". Renaissance. Vol. 12, no. 5. May 2002. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013.
  10. ^ a b c Kramer, Martin (11 January 2010). "The Road from Mecca: Muhammad Asad". Martin Kramer on the Middle East.
  11. ^ Asad, Talal. "Muhammad Asad Between Religion and Politics". Islam Interactive. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  12. ^ al-Shubaili, Abdul Rahman (23 July 2013). "مراد هوفمان على خطى محمد أسد.. ربحا محمدا ولم يخسرا المسيح". Asharq Al-Awsat (in Arabic). No. 12660. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  13. ^ Khan, Asad (12 July 2011). "Islam at the Cross Roads: 'Submitting One's Intellect'". Huffington Post.
  14. ^ Rasheed, Aisha Hussain (20 February 2010). "Tariq Ramadan's tribute to Muhammad Asad". Muslim Presence. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014.
  15. ^ "Maryam Jameelah". Islamic Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012.
  16. ^ Ahmed, Khaled (11 June 2011). "Maududi and Maryam Jameela". The Express Tribune. Karachi.
  17. ^ Harder 1998, p. 536.
  18. ^ a b c Ben-David, Amir (15 November 2001). "Leopold of Arabia". Haaretz.
  19. ^ The Road to Mecca, pp. 49, 54, 105.
  20. ^ Asad & Cug̲h̲tāʼī 2009, p. 123.
  21. ^ Darr, Amber (5 July 2011). "The unusual journey of Muhammad Asad". The Express Tribune. Karachi.
  22. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference allamaiqbal.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference criterion-quarterly.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ "A Road to Mecca". Al Jazeera. 18 December 2012.
  25. ^ Hofmann 2000, p. 237.
  26. ^ a b c Rahim, Hasan Zillur (16 September 1995). "Muhammad Asad : Visionary Islamic Scholar". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
  27. ^ Hofmann 2000, p. 242.
  28. ^ "A Tribute to Muhammad Asad". Islamic Rensaissance Front. 13 December 2009. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference austriantimes.at was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ Hoenger 2010.
  31. ^ Cug̲h̲tāʼī 2006.


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