Muhammad Asad Visionary Islamic Scholar By Hasan Zillur Rahim
Muhammad Asad, writer, adventurer, diplomat, Muslim thinker par
excellence, translator of the Qur’an, and author of one of the
most remarkable spiritual autobiographies ever, The Road to
Mecca, isn’t as well recognized, even among Muslims, as he ought
to be. It’s a pity. Three years after his death in Spain in
1992, Asad remains virtually unknown in the West and an enigma
to the average Muslim. Those who have followed his career
through his books and writings, however, know that no one has
contributed more in our times to the understanding of Islam and
awakening of Muslims, or worked harder to build a bridge between
the East and the West, than Muhammad Asad. Asad was born Leopold
Weiss on July 2, 1900 in Lwow, Galicia, now in Poland, and then
part of the Austrian empire. In 1926, he converted to Islam and
became Muhammad Asad. The story of the years before his
conversion reflects the spiritual odyssey of a man in search of
a home, a man struck by w