Muhammad Asad: Europe's Gift to Islam

MURAD HOFMANN
Introduction
On 18 May, 2000, Austri:ut Orit'ntal Society in it!
in org:utized a symposium called "Leopold Weiss alias
Muhammad Asad (1900--1992) - a Dedicaud to bbun".1t was amnded by
a V:lTiety of people including :ut 89year old cousin from Asad's f:unily in
Gunther Windhager,:ut Austri:ut gOOuate student writing his docto""]
thesis on Asad gave a biographical introduction illustrated by photographs
obtained from Asad's stepson Heinrich Ahmad Schiemann, nOW 82 years old.
Professor Reinhard Schulze (Berne University) devoted his study to Asad's
approach to Islam, and Dr Murad Hofmann, Diary of a German Muslim
(1983) wries an introduction by A,ad, spoke about "The Reception of
Muhammad Thought in the Muslim World".
Against this background I propo,e to throw SOme light on the twO
extnm.. ends of the remMkable Asad phenomenon, (i) His debut as a prodigal ,
selfmade Orienulist writer before hi, conversion 10 Islam;:utd (ii) Ihe reactions
10 hi. view. by Muslim. in the as well "" in the Muslim world, before and
after hi. duth in Spain.
I
re<>deu Me fortunate 10 have ;\CCt$s 10 Muhantmad A,ad's urliest book
published under his orgininal nante: Leopold Weis.s,
Morgen/and' - Aus dnn Reise - Frmkfun: Societ:it.<-Druckerei
G.m.b.a 1924.
It was wrinen at the end of 1922 for the FrankfHT/eT lei/Hng,
which was then and continue, to be even now the mOst prestigeous German
journal. Weis.s wrote this hook at tho: tender age of 22. Together with the
painlress Elsa Schiemann, who would k his first wife, between March and
Ocrokr of that year he had v;s;ud hlest;ne, Transjordan r Amman, with only
6000 inhabitants), Syri a, Egypt (Cairo:md Alexandria), Turkey (Smyrna, just
lUnrom,,,,,",Or;'n,".
'"
burnt down, and Constantinople) as wdl as Malu. The book is iUustnttd by
59 black-and.white photographs which arc nOw of gre>.t historical importance.
The SouIUS of the photogr.ophs. n: not mentioned.
This smoll diary of just 159 pages o.m:ozes One in several w.Y'. Most
surprising, however, i$ the young aumor's talem as a wriler, in particular his
powerfully cvoa:otive, yet lyrical descriptions of countryside, moods, and
people; they are often startling bill nevu b:m:al. The colour of light, for
imunce, may "shelllike"; t",vellen may be silent, as if wrapped up in the
great landscape". Forms and movementS can be 01 an "imoxicating uniqueness"
and wind like. breath without subst:mO'". In Jerusalem, he found "little air
t o b",.tru,":and ". yuming for terror", Hue, like nowhere else, Weiss "heard
history ro:u- by' and walked on ground so soft that his "ftet look comfort from
walking-.
We ought to th.1 the German liter.ry genius, Rainer M:uia
Rilke (1875-1926), time was the peak. of his bme as a trendsetter.
Many a German soldier in the First World War had gone to battle with Rilke
poems in his pocket. Young uopold Weiss would naturally have been
impressed by Rilke's penetrating, spiritualistic lyricism. The ;unuing thing is
that young Weiss, oorn lO be. master, showed neither indebtedness to Rilke
nor Rilkian mannerism. His literary skills, SO dear in his origi nal English and
Gennan versions of Road 10 Mtc<:4, obviously were already mature in 1922.
A =ond surpise comes with the realizalion that Weiss, eVen then, was
enamoured of, and most romantically infatuated with, almoSt everything Arab.
He ponrays himself as .n uncritical, unconditi onal admirer of the Arab race
and culture. For him, the "Arab .re blessed" (44) and arcl!etypically graceful.
In his view, it was "a wonderful expression of the widely alen Anb being- thaI
it does nOt know of any separation between yesterday and tomorrow, thought
and action, objeaive reality and personal sentiment" (77). The Arabs, according
to him, identify with th. simple things happening Out of nowhere (and
arc therefore free of tragedy and remorse)" (86). They lead ". wonderfully
simple life that in direa line leads from hinh to de:u:h" (91) .
After talking lO leading figure of T r:>Jlsjordan Weiss, in his idealization of
the Arabs, indulged in prophetic lyrics: You afe timeless. You jumped out of
the .:ourse of world hiStory ... You are the contemporary ones unti l you will be
invested by Will, and then you will become hearers of the Future. Then your
power will he dense and pure .. ." (93). (Here, I muSt admit, Ri lke had looked
Over his shoulders).
There is nostalgia in the air when Weiss admires the Arabs "their
lives now with the niiveu; of animal." (127). Even whil e in Istanbul, he
regretfuUy sighs: "Oh, my Anh people"! (153). One more quote would suffice:
"During several months, I was so impressed by the uniqueness of the Arabs
I am now looking everywhere for the Strong centre of their ...
recogniung the t:tcrnally .xciting, the Slre;un of vitality, in mch a great mass,
in so stnnge a nation" (133). Against that :astonishing with all t hings
Arab - but surprisingly nOt Islamic! - the young Weiss, in the book's
' Introouel.ion', muses; "In <>roer to un<km:md their genius one would have to
enter tht'ir circle and live with their :associati<>n . Can do Lha' ")
i, one of those Westerners who, with extraordinary effort, tried to
turn into a real Arab. Like all the others, he bec.une a virr,,"} Arab for Lhe
simple re:ason that neither a civiliu.tion (Islamic), nor a nation (Turkey), nor
an inJividual (after about the "ge of .bout 16) Can fully :assimilate any other
culture to the point of er:asing the previous one. Cultural tf"1U1smigration "":as,
and is, a futile attempt . Yet Muhammad Asad, fu elled by his youthful
infatuation, .... :as p"rhaps closer than anybody 10 becoming a "real" Arab.
We know from 7k Road 10 Mtcca thai the process which ultimately led
Leopold Weis. to Islam w:as triggered by his politic:.! opposition to Zionism in
Palestim. MorgrnLmd Sttms to tdl that story much more
precis-ely. For him, Zionism had entered into an unholy alliance with Western
power. and thereby became a wound in the body of the Near East. Howevc-r
Weiss, otherwis-e quite far-sighted, expected Zionism to f.il because of the sick
immorality" of ilS Israel projeel. (33). He considered the very i<ka thar the
plight of the jewish pwple could be cured through" homeland, withom first
healing the malady of Judaism as such, as sick onc. The j ew., so thought
Weiss, had nOt loS! Palestine without reason. They had lost it for having
betrayed their moral commitment and their God. Withom reversing this
disastrous course, it was useless to build roofs in Palestine. Weiss, still declaring
himself to be a Jew (45), did not reject Judaism but political Zioni<m (SO) , and
did SO less On pol itic:.! than on ... >/ig'OUf This is the surprise no. 3.
i. mother major insighl to gained fro m Asad', first hook: his
virulent cul!UraI criticism of the Occident as 'p"nt,
(capitalist) and mindlessly consumerist. not indicate in any way th.1
WorM War One had just taken place. Bm he betrays same of the cultural
contempt typicol of the pre-w.r intellectuals and of their longing for what is
"natural", risky md existential .... hen complaini ng "how terribly risky ;s the
of risk". For him, the Europeans had become spiritually sluggish,
"clinging to things", ond losing tht'ir instinctS well as their "ropc-dancing"
vitality (5). Indeed, he contemptously uti litarianism against on
Orient that .bout to "regain from its own self .... har is grand and new" and
"allows individual. the freedom 10 live a life without borders" (74). With regard
to the young Soviet Union Weiss, like mmy others at the time, even dares to
speak with a positive nOte md mentions the possibility of the "liberation of Ihe
entire worlel" (77).
Thus, U.,roma.,tifd.ef Ml1rgrnlami reveals Leopold Wt'iss a a lover
(of Arabia), m antiZionist, and a moralist. Whar amncs one in all t!test
respects i. the .uthority .... ith which he speaks :1.5 a political pundit, making
bold fo recaslS. Being a gifted am. l .... r, he <ucCdfuHy poses as an accomplished
t;t[xrl on Ncar Eastern affairs in general. Obviously $Iill a beginner in Arabic
'"
MURAD HOfMNIH
;nspiU,' of hi. Hebrew backsround, W <'iss mentiolls only to one single occasion
where he used an interpreter,:as a h;><;k.up (92). In so posturing, Weiss showed
himself, so gifted Ihat one would h<$iUles to XClIS<' him of ;m?O<{uu. Oid he,
for insunce, nOt grasp correaly in 1922 that unity will only cOme Ion!;
after Arab frttdlim has been ;ochieved in the individual coulltries; and not
hefore" (114)? Chutzp:oh, or:m exlrwrdilUry of intuition?
There is one last amazing thing that we find, or rather do not find, in
Aoo's earliest hook: Idam is vinually .bsent. The only time when it i.
mentioned, A.ad dismisses it:as oong non-essemial for the Anb genius bec..use
that is -rooted in its blood" (91) - ,,"lement somewhat smacking of racist
Arabophilia. Thus, while holding many promi:.es, the book did not
Asad's CQrlversion t o !.sbm.
The editors of Fr"n/ifuTkT Ztilung immediately recognized the promise of
the greamess of the author. So it w:as only for them to onkr another
travdogue from him. Weiss accepted the :assignment, received the money, but
was unable to deliver (and was fired). Howevu, only IwO years mer the
app"arance of Unromant;scha MOTf!Tlland, in 1926 in Berlin,' he became a
Muslim.
II
Againn this background, In us now turn to the other end, :md
beyond, and consider Muhammad As.ad', eventful life in order to assess the
impact he has had on Islam in the 2(){h and 10 find Out how his
promise, SO &",at in 1922, would materialize.
In 1901, in Leipzig, Max Henning _ possibly a pseudonym for August
MaUer, an Orientalin professor at Konigsberg University - published his well
known and much appreci ated translation of the Qur'in into German. It i, to
be noted, however, tlul in his 'Introduction' he observed that "Islam h:lS
obviously played Out it.s political role", This was, of course, the accepted view
among the politicians and orientalists in Europe, and that tOO for
undemandable reasons, The entire Muslim world, except for a tiny part in the
interior of Arabia, had been subtected to colonization. Both de-Islamization and
ChristianiZ<ltion seemed to be making headway. The Islamic moorings of the
Muslim elites who had been educated in the West had been weakened. In shon,
the Occident, more vigorous and dynamic and functionally more impre$Sive in
&",at many and embodying r.lIionality and progress, w:lS seen to be
achieving its mission ,ivjJ;sarr;u world-wide.
Today we know that Henning and his fellow observers had made a
misjudgement SO crass that it amuses us today. By hindsight tm, question is
'lD 19V, Aoad marn.d as. in Coiro and lonrudly ronftnnl hi, cODv .,ioD t o kbm th ....
m
whether they could the enormous success of the Islamic
Movcmenu in !slam throughout the world during the 20th ceotury)
Thi, raises another question: What triggered these movements towards
Islamic awakening and rejuvenation? OJuld their effect. have forl!St<:f\
therJ
In my Own view, Max Henning might have avoided his misjudgement if
he had betn awart of tbe Muslim intellectual, who wert ('VcntuaUy
instrumental in rnaping Islam', contemp<:>r.oryupsurge: JamiladDin
(d. 1897), MuJ.!:unmad 'Abduh (d. 1905) Muhammad Rashid Rid .. (d. 1935),
I:Jasan aJB;mna (d, 1949). MuJ.!ammad Iqbal (d, 1938). Sayyid Qu!b (d, 1966),
and Sayyid Abu 'J-A'li .J-MaudUdi (d. 1979). Muhammad A,;od t OO must be
reckoned as to this distinguished group of people and played a key
role both as a and as an :u:tivist who had an n<:eptional impact both
horizontally and ""rticolly.
Indeed, never Karl May (1842_1912), the most popular author of
advmtu", ,torie$ tvU writun in German, has anyone f=i""ted millions of
German readen with things Ar.lhic md Islamic >.S Muhammad As;r,d did with
his Dt-r Wtg narb M, kJu.' a book that beame a ben seller the vcry moment it
app"arnl, fir{ in English, >.S 7k Road ro M""ca in 1954:lI1d thm in German in
1955.' Perhaps no other book exceptlhe Qur'an itself lnllo a greater
of conversions to Islam.
We know today that the book i, a mixture of fact md fiction, which was
>.S legitimate for as it had bttn for Johann Wolfgang vOn Wthe (d. 1832)
when he called his autobiographic DichlHng "nd ("Truth and
Fictionj. What comes OUi of the book with compelling force is the truth of
the Islamic a/,<,imCt and the genuine description of the ,pirituallandscap" of
Isbm.
In The Road tl> M""ca still appcan >.S a friend of all things Arab, but
now Arab virtues and Arabic civilization are seen rooted in Islam. Even those
passages which look OVCT from Unromanl;"heo Morgenland and made il
a part of his The Road to M=a arc not simply tran,posed; they Iu."" bttn
pr .. cmcd as .... n through an Islamic prism.
Nor can One hold it against Asad Ihal his account of what prompted him
10 =pI Islam (= chaptet 9 "Dajjalj remains less than convincing: a subway
=ne in fkrlin, and Ihe finding by "chance" of the Qur'anic verse lO explain
in the phenomenon he observed. Well, did St. Augustine (in his Con/mions) or
Abu Hamid alGhaz.ili (in his aI.M"nqiJh min aIpaW) give an anSWer that
would fully satisfy everybody? Can :lIly convert fully aiu:! convincingly
his conversion?
'Fi", Gtll"llall edi,ion F,,,,,kfun: S. Fiu;h" V,rla, 1955. r.,.i,.d od. 19aZ. In <h. <am. Y'"
;, r ppeared in G;bralu" 0., 198Z.
"New York: S;",on &. Sdmlte<; london: M>lI Reinh.rd!. 195 .
III
AI the =e time, one rninght Venture to And's impact was not only
OOriwnl4l. He hs ldt his mark wrrically as well ;0 scientific depth, wilh a
IS"rie!l of Doob exh one of which is a effort, if nO! .. clotf d'ofJU.
l..e! u5 cast a gl:1.1lce at them.
(1) The first of these is /slam ;II tIN Crossroads (Llhore, Ashraf 193.), showed
And once more as a CU\IUr:U critic with a political vision, as a sociologist of
rdigion, and as .. politicil thinker with :malYli,aI capabilities bordering on the
prophetic. Its fim cM.pter, "The Road [0 Islam", shows Asw as "-
theologian "" weU. The content of this chapter in particubr =ml to h."" Mil
much :apprecined. This is evi<km from the fact that ;1 has
published separately under the tide: 1k Spirit of lsu.m,
In this hook Asad in particulu the current cnsis of e h.;";",,
chri,tology - even clerics deserting the notion of divine - the
emergence of Islam as a third force hctw"Cn Capitalism and Communism -
both sharing a g=t deal of commanality - and World War Two as "a war of
hitherto unknown dimensions and scientific terror I!)" which will "lead the
materialist self<onceit of the Western civilization in such a gruesome way ad
absurdum that its ptOple will begin once more ... to search after spiritual
truth" (81).
Is this not where we find ou",tivtS now?
Small in and limi.ed '0 160 pages, 1.L.m If' rht: CTOffl'OII.J. i. in fact
a mnnumental historic:r.l, inteUeau:'!, :md sociologic:.! critique of Christianity
and the Occident as a whole. It can be coruidered 10 be the first :'!most tot:'!
,..,jeaion of Europe ("born OUl of the spirit of the crusades"; 68) and Western
idtOlogy. This was bter f01l0WM up by wnttr. such as Sayyid Qutb and the
trend has now caught On in many quarte",. In this respect one may consider
Asa<! as a predecessor even of William Ophuls, Requiml fOT Modern PoIiticJ and
Michel HouHebeca, Tht World IfS
Equ:.!ly important is the f2Ct that Asad, in an entirely onhodox manner,
defends the Ssmn.oh from t he atI:ocks which were made by 19naz Goldziher
towards the end of the century and those that would be made by
Joseph Schacht al"Qund the middle nf the twentieth century onwards. At the
same time, :.!ready in 19}4, he envisages revivificati on of Islamic jurisprudence
(159) in order to OverCOme the "petrification of fl<fh" and the "narrow.
mindedness of the 'ulama class". More ,..,asonable than the bur atUmplS at
"Islamization of knowledge", Asad urges to studyexact sciences nn Western
lines, but not concede to their philo$Ophics" (92) . The ";m was nm to ,..,fonn
Islam. "Islam as a spiritual :md social institution CannOt be improved" (154) .
Even though Asad was realistic about the intensity of the Wesum
p,..,judice against Islam, in this book he is on the whole remarbbly optimistic
about the future of his neW rdigion. (Not much later this was to change
............... ,o.s,o.o. EUROPE'S TO ISlNoI
239
somewru.t in view of his interpretation of the developments in Turkey, s...udi
Arabia, and Pakirum).
(2) The second hook of w:os a u'lns\ation, along with commentary, On
pam of Imim a1-Bukhari'$ ijaditb collection,' named Sahib alB .. kb4ri into
English under the title Tb.. EArly Yea;, of is/am, first published in lahore in
1938,' In this work we meet, for the fiot time, <IS <I tr.oditional Muslim
',ilim, mtering a field normally reserved for t he traditionally trained ' .. !Ami'.
The book contains the historical p:ossages nonmlly found in Vol. I, Book 1
("How Revel ation Began', and Vol. V, Book 57 ("The Merits of the Prophet's
Companio.uj and Book 59 (al-Magbizi: Military Campaigns). However, As.ad
committed the lost 29 =:tions of Book 57 to a ru:w book called "How Islam
Began".
This was a part of his attempt to re-order a1-Bukhiri's material according
either to mbject mailer (i.e. personalities) or chronology or both, m approach
that ran him into some objections. After all, a1-Bukhiri's $aMh, had been read
and re-read and even rommilled to memory by so mmy Muslim. since its
collect ion in the third century A H. the nimh CffItuary c.[, If - as I believe-
Asad'$ re-;tr ... ngemem "':OS not intended to rtpla.ce the tr.oditional ordering of
the $al?ih, it was a Iq;itimate md intuesling allempl to allow a historical md
Ihus coherent reading of Ihis materi al. Nevertheless, One can understand the
uneasiness on the part of those who have been accustomed to a certain
arrangement over the rourse of centuries.
Equally important were Asad's detailed and extensive notes - an ickal way
to nuke the tll?4dilh come alive. It is the very Ihoroughness md lucidity of this
rommentary which One later finds again in Tb.. Mffltlgt of 1M Q..r'''n.
Typical, for instance, is Asad's treatment of ronnicting r"Pon< on 'Urn .. ibn
a1Kha!!ab', conversion to Islam (168). He reconciles these reports by suggesting
Ihat 'Umar'. ronversion "was probably oOt the result of Olle single
With exteosive notes on of the SsmTltlh, Asad followed up his
view - first expressed in },ftl", til tk Crossroads - tim nOI Fiqb bUilhe Que""
and the Ssm"..}, be refocusM as Ihe centre-pieces of Idam. With his work
00 the by giving the entire corpus of ijadi/h a fresh credibility and
respectability, Asad counted tlu dmgerous Irend to turn Islam into merely
$Orne form of a vague and :unorphons Deism. It Wali a major effort inckffl. Ever
since, indiscriminate asuults 011 the S .. """h, as mounted earlier by Goldzilur
alld later by Schacht, look inept.
World War Two, however, prevented the publication of further parts of
this work. Wilh the Germm occup:llion of Austria in 1938 Asad had
"utom:llically become" German citiun. His resultiog internment by the Brit ish
'Tb. nondatd Arobic.EDPi>Jt V<rSiDn is ,b. ,,,,,,d .. i(1D in aim volumo. by
Mubsin Khan. C1ticog<>: K ... i l'ubIica,;on \916 .
A,of .. l'ubIicotio",: Ia"" 'eprin,ed in Gibnlu" Dar a1.Andal .... 1911.
""
in India (1939- 1945) made {unher work on t he projt impossible, and during
the partition of India in 1947, Asad lost all tM materiol that ru, had prepared
with the industry ,..,d dexterity for which h. i. well known.
(3) Aud'. Tht Principles of Slale If!1d Cowrnmml ill Islam (1961): again "-
<moil book of 107 pages only, has become an essenti al foundat ion for most
further effom to rejuvenate Isl:un;c jurisprudeoct and to <kvdop a much
Islamic theory of State. Originolly, rese.orch On this book was prompted
by the 10 develop an Islamic constitution for the new Isl:unic R'1'uhlic of
Pakistan: t o bas.. a not On <:OCc Or nationality but solely On the
-ideology- of the Qur'w and the Sun...m. The book t herdore refle<:ts some of
the intoxicating awartness that the Muslim world might have, nOw again, "a
frte choict of destiny".
As"':! was aware that Islamic hiSlory could not provi<k model. that could
be copied directly. The Confe<kration of Madinah w:loS sa up under very
peculiar it w:os .Iso unique in 50 far :loS it W:loS being ruled over
by a Mes"'nger of God. Isbmic hi stary h:os since bun ch:oncterized putty
much by despotism. The i<k:.s of Nizim .JMulk (d. 485/ 1092) and al-Mawardi
(d. 450/1058) could nOt serve as t he blue-primsof an blamic community in the
industrial age. .
Asad therefore keenly felt the need to make a clear distinction the
relativdy 5m.JI sa of divine norms governing State and governmmt , found in
the Qur'in and the Su"n,J, which ;>!one d=rve t he name of the ';"riah. As
fo r fUfh, i.e. the enormous bOOy of rules <krived from the Qur'an and the
Surmah, it was essenti;>!ly man-made notwithstanding the fact that its ultimate
sources were rooted in Revelation.
At the .arne t ime, this di,"{inction was considered revolmionary though
today it has became pretty commonplace. Thanks to it, Asad was able to
conSlruCl an Islamic theory of Slate nOt from a but fr..., from the
burden of Muslim history which is occ:loSion;>!ly characterized by abuse of
power, disrespect for law, arbit rary and unjustified !:lxation, lack of adequate
administrative control , and consi<krable negligence in the instituti onalisation
of In cont=t, Asad concluded that a subject t o the people's
consent is a most esll"nti;>! prerequisite of an Islamic state", that ."the leadership
of the Slate muSl he of an elective nature" (36), and that "the legislative powen
of the Slate must he vested in an :l.SlI"mbly chosen by the community for that
purpose" (45) . On the whok Asad Mrived al the conclusion that "a presi<kntial
system of government, somewhat akin to that pr.>eticcd in t he United States,
would correspond more dosely to the requirement of an Islamic polity" (61) .
We still run into fdlow Muslims who continue to claim that democracy
is essenti;>!ly incompatible with Islam. It is then that we realize how ground-
breaking Asad was in this field SOme 40 yean ago. But we aim roo into 'ulamti'
'Uni .... ni.y of c.Jilornia P .... 1'161; reprint<d in Gibraltar: Dar a1Ao.wu. 1910.
MUH...-.oO A$A(I: EUROPE'S G<FT TO OSI.AM
IiI: Shaykh Yusuf .:l-Qandaw' am! Fathi Osman who maintain that such
know of Islam nor of Ikmocracy, indicating that A.ad',
views are shared by a number of innuemi.:l Islamic scholars.
(4) ",is Low of Oun and OtMr Usa:p (1987)' seems to be the latest book of
Am. In fact, however, it consists in pan. of some of his oldest writings. It is
" collection of of the that first published in 1946 :md 1947 in
hi, journ.:l", Arafor - A Monthly Critique of Muslim Thought -
which appeared for just a few ye>.[1 from Lahon:, In the meantime, Asad had
discovered. his imellectual affinity to Ibn 1:1= of Cordova who, himl'tif,
had batded against s:mctified the = rrul J.w of Islam
against .:llthat goes beyond Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Asad's struggle to delineate the houndaries hetwem shan-',.}, and fiqh
app"rs in :m intensed form in this hook. A,;od drives home the point that the
"rd" ohari'ah muSt be idmtified (:md possibly codified). Backed up by Ibn
Hanbal, Ibn T"ymiyyah ""d Ibn 1:1=, he takes the uncompromising stand
that nothing merely b:osed on ijm'" or qiy.is - qu.lifies to be re<:koned as "-
divine norm. On the basis of the Qur'an:md the Sunrwh -:md the Qur'an and
the Sunn,.}, alone - a new ijrikid was needed in order to develop" modern
("lb, n:sponsive to con\empory This mO<krn ("lh should be much
'impler than the highly compln tradition.:l one. Asad hastened to add tru.t, of
oou=, no relulu of the new ,jribid could be admitted as forming part. of the
shari'ab either; otherwil't modern fuqah.i' would repeat the mistake of their
ancestors: \0 petrify their jurisprudence.
Thi, Low of Oun is of panicu]at inttrest to Pakistani Muslims, especialy
its chapter "What do we mean by Pakistan"? of which a sub-section is entitled
"Evasion and Self.Deception", It includes seven moving radio addresseS' given
by Ai-ad to his Pakistani fellow citizens, He looked beyond offici;1l decl;u-;;(ions
of lslamism when he stated: "Neither the mere bet of having a Muslim
majarity, nor the men: holding of governmental key positions by Muslims, nor
even the functioning of the laws of the ,h.ri'4h an justify us ;n
describing any Muslim state as :m "Islamic State" (109). He made it clear th.t
neither the intorduction of ukit, nor outlawing rib.i, nor prescribing IJijab or
administering hudiid punishmenu ;n and by tMmIws ""ill do the trick of
turning a ooumry imo an Islamic one. For that, SO Asad fdt, there is only one
way: to bring about community that really lives :lCCording to the tenrts of
Islam" :md presently "t here is not a single community of thi, kind in sight"
(14).
It i, in observations such as these that we enCOumer for the fint time
Muhammad Asad the Muslim idealist who had begun to express bitter feelings
about the ground re.:lilies of the world of Islam.
.. r: D .. >I-And.>Ju.., pp. 195.
(5) After working On it for decades, reached its peak with hi,
tr.mslation imo Shakespearean English and commemary of the Qur'an, which
appeared in 1980 under the tide 1k Mmage of the Qur:.in.' It was the ben, next
only to Abdullah Yu,uf Ali', artd Marmaduke Picktlu.ll's trartslation, which are
the mOSt remarkabl e among the Contemporary efforts to convey the message
of the Qur'an in English." Asad's is perhaps the ooly trartslatioo which has
been further translated m trlW iOlo seven! language, omeh as Turkish artd
Swedish. His work is particularly appreciated for the lucidity and pTCcision of
its corrunenl,uy, based on hi, command of bedouin A!"11bi.;. Readers
appreciate perhaps mon that Asa<! treats them as grown-ups. He expo= the
root of the translation problem, other options (and the reasons given for
choosing them), and then explaio, which reason(s) he preferred in his particular
translation.
On two ground., the style of As:od's tr.msJ.tion is debatable: On the One
hand it does nOt reflea t he terse, comp;>et, even laconic style of the Qur'an
which Marmaduke Pickthall caught so much betur in hi, translation of 19)0.
The difference Ihe two resulu from As:od', attempt to COme as
as possible to nuartces of meaning. Wherever, as in most cases, fully equival ent
nOuns :md verbs an not available in both languages, Asad resorts to Ihe use of
qualifying adjectives and adverbs, absent in the Qur'anic text, Or even to the
duplicuion of noun-renderings, for innance, shirah in 5: '48 as and way
of As a resuit, Asad's trllOslation of a few Arabic words rometimes coven
twO whole lines.
The basma/"h j. good cas<: in point. Picl<lhall transla,,,,, it as: "In ,he
name of Allah, the (kn;ficiant, the Merciful"; As:od as: "In the name of God,
the MOSI Gracious, the Dispmsn of Gract - (Emphasis added). Not only is the
choice of "Dispenser" unfortunate, the very idea of putting (or, in
other pl:>ce$, ,,{-Hakim, 41 'Azi:, a{Qadir, etc.) into superbtive form sm:>eks of
Christian vocabulary and the simplicity of the Qur',,"i, lartguage.
Abdullah Yusuf Ali committs the mistake.
Many translatOr! of the Qur'm Cart be f.ulted today for the use of a high
classical which rounds both let alone the fact that it is biblical.
Shakespeare simply is not comemporary.! am nOt pleading for an
version (l la Irving) or a pede5lrian, "cool", colloquial styl e. The language of Ihe
Qur' in alro in traoslation must rdl""t Ihat it is Allah Who is speaking. At
same lime, readers must not be put off by a level of thai ,ounds $0
stilted :md artificial thai it loses credibility. diffe .. nce can be ,light, hut
.. mains relevam, as when;n 17: 40 we eilher re"d you uu .... ing a
drudful wying-! (A,ad) or "Verily, ye .peak art awful word" (pickthall).
t Gibr,.h.o" 0 .. oI_Arublu., 1910, m pp. (\ar&' [OfIJl").
"They ineNd. Muhomm Ah. Shu ' Ali. !t . .,.d!t. Ikwky. T.B. "'ing. Muh.mnud
T.q,.ud-Oin .... HilolilMul .. mm.d Muh,;" Kh...,. R""hid K . ... b. M.M. Kh,,;b, n,d ,h. Swdi
v .. Uon, pr;",ed;" M..r",ah, 1xo..J on Yuouf Ali. '0 n.om< If..,.
'"
Yet, as we will Stt b"low, a few Olhn, mort substantial
have made ag:.inst Asm's lrlulSblion. In fact, no other translation is as
controversial :and is as heatMly deba!M :os hi"
Many h:lVt written mort books than Aud. Few, howevu, have left a
comp:rntble impact. On the basi, of his writings alone, Asad was ind=:l
Austria', (and grelltest gift to [slam in (he 20th century, Ren.!
Guinon, Marmaduu Pickthall, Frithjof ScllUon and Martin Lings
notwithstanding.
rv
However, Asad was not only an imdltctual who was guilkd by u>sOn and was
skepticol of Sufi,m. He .J.o was "political activist and :m inquisitive Near East
corre:;poruient of FT""IejUTteT Zeilunc (1922-26); advisor to King 'Abd a1'Aziz
(in with tbe British influence peddler Harry S1. John Phi lby);
freedom fighter against the Italian occup:nion of Libya; an co-
founder of Pakistan :md its :unbassador t o tM VnitN Nations in York.
In the Christian world, the Sc,nedictine Order still gots by the ideal of or,.
u 1,./1Qrd (pray and work), today phrased as conlffllpldlion tl combat by Frtre
Pierre of Taiu. nus ideal corresponds to the Islamic one of ,uimin "'/ed.mil,
a Muslim striving for both in piety and action. The Prophtl: of Isl:un
(pe= be on him) was such a personality - :as a husband, a fathu, a military
commander, a statesm.:m, a judge, and a mystic. SalTh :II-Din alAyyiibi, Ibn
T aymiyyab, 'Abd .1Qadir alJ aU'iri were such personalities. Muhammad Asad
in his own w.y w:as kindred. spirit to tltes<: great "",n.
I had SOme idea of this combination of trai" ;n Asad but was surprised.,
neverthdm, when M drove up to my hotel in Lisbon, through thick city
tr.ffic, he at the wheel, .t 85 ye.n of age!
v
Given this background, one might assume th.t Muh:unmad As.ad was
appreci .tN everywhere in the Muslim world for his high-Ievtl comribut ion to
its renaissance; but this is not yet the c=. Yes, in the West, p,uticularly in the
United. States and Western Europe, Asad is much admired,:md not only :unong
Ihe .... latively recent reverts to Islam but also among the Muslim migrants from
abroad. In the East, except WMre his friendship with Muhammad Iqbal is
recalled. _ :as among some in Pak.inan, India, :md Malaysi. - this is
nOt so. In fact, in the Arab world it is perhaps nOt considered. a l:Kk of
ffluciltion not to know anything .boUl Muh:unmad Asat!. That, in my view,
i. for three m.jor reasons: (\) Some Arab Muslims tend to be somewhat
skeptical if a non_native speaker of Arabic tries his hand .t the translation of
'"
1M foundational of Islam. might :ask: could aiZunakh,hari, ,imply
because w>5 a Persian, have ;0 regard to hi, comm:rnd of
Arabic. Our brethren-In-faith should, of course, have m:ode 0lII exception also
in the Usc of Asad, given that his command of A .... hic put mmy .. nat;""
'peaker to ,h;a.mc. (1) As .. revert from the Mou . .t.; faith at limes Aw .... n iroo
ruin prejudi. At leas' $Orne Muslim, .uccumbd to the ,u,picion that he
might have chosen Idam in ortkr to undumi"" and p"rvert it. Thi. misgiving
became intense wMn in 1952, .fter 22 year! of marriage, A!w divorced hi,
A .... b wife, Munirah bint alf:lusayn a1Shammari, the mother of hi, son Tala1,
and took :mother wife Pol. Hamid., .n Am..ricm womm of Polish
It was of little aV1lil that in the past other Jewish convertS had proved to
be exceptionally good Muslim., like the former rabbi 'Abd Allih b_ Salam
whom (peace be. on him), ""cording to a tradition narr:au':! by
b. jab.J, h:od <'Yen promised a pl= in 11 Alas, the S>.me
tr:oditioni$t .Jso reponed .bout a Jew in Yemen wbo had accepted Islam only
to dt'len iL" Each of Ibn Isbiq and Ibn Kathir in their Sirah gives a vivid
account of a whole number of Jewish hypocrites, induding S3'd b. Hunayf,
who h:od only feigned their Islam. " Abu Hur:ayrah tr:ansm;tted the Prophet's
complaint that he h:od not ""en b,""n able to win over 10 rabbi, tn I,lam," At
any rate, a numbe.r of Muslims not only feared, and still fe<lr, that - as
prnlicted" - they will split up into more than 70 but that the Jews and
fonner Jews will playa role in tbal disaster.
(3) Such misgivings b=.me more concme when A.;><i in hi. translation of the
Qur'iJl depaned from j" orthodox interp",t.t;on on several question, in a
rather Kriou,
(a) In some C:lSe<, he deponed from orthodoxy in the tex' of t he tr:anslnion
For inst.nu, A.ad eliminated the word ji"'" in his translation in favour
of notions like good or bad impulses (derived from psychology "nd even
psychiatry so f .. hionable during his youth). This approach would have be..n
mOre acceptable if i, had been de.Jt with in footnotes only, ThaI would hove
been easy, given th:u A.ad in Appendix III had explained in deuil what jinn
(and might mean in a specific context, 'piritu.J. forces, angelic forces,
$.ltanic forces, oocuh powers, invisible or hilhn-to unseen beings {994 I.J Thus
" M"h.mmad a,n 'Ab<! AUih aJ.T.h.y";, MHM,;, .J .. ..uldbih, tr. M, ... 1.1I1> ".z1u1 ".rim
M.lik Si"juddin &. Son., 1979), I, $91, W,-,I> no. 153_
'IAbu Diwiid Su!.yn.>n ibn A,h'"h .I-Sajini.ni, II W [),iwu,J, or. Ahmod H ... n
(L.bot<, Sb, Muh.amnud AoI.raf Publiilim, 1914), J: llL3, l,.Ji<h no. HIl.
"Allred GuilLoun><, n.: Lifo '" M.J..","'" (Ozlord Uni",,,,,-y Pr ... , 1955),241>; Ibn
""hir, n. Lifo '" "" P>oph<' M";"",m.zd CR dins' 1991), H1_
"AbU 'Abd AI1ih Muh.am"",d ib<l hmi'il a/BuU.i,i, aI K;"b aJ_M""iq;!"
8ib byi.n aJ Y..bUd aJN.bi I;lin, Q.dim. iIl-Modi ... h, (rhe ... ords of ,he P"'pb .. (p<..:e be on
him) in 'hi' ads " follow", "If ,.., Je"'. o.' ouL:/ bel .... in m., ,h. J ..... (, ..... hok)
"'ouid bel;'ve in m<". Ed)
" AbU D;..ud, 1m, Wi,h no. 4579.
'"
in Sural anMi, 114; I> as "invisibl e force,", in 41: 21> and 55:
33 as "inv;,ible beings", and in 72: 1 and 46: 29 as bein&S. In the
Appendix and ;0 hi. footnote< 10 bOlh 46: 2') and 72: 1 A,ad goes '0 br as to
imply that linn here might ufer 10 hum"ns, i.e. ,t .. ngees.
(b) A. explained in Appendix IV (9%-998), As.ad Saw in I'm,' and mi'r"; a
mynical experi ence of purely spiritual nature, not. physic.l OCCurrenCe: a re;l,l
vision (and therefore an objtive reality ;lI1d not just. dream) performcJ by
Muh:unm:u\', lOU] without hi. body. Thi. ;nterprt'Ution of the miraculous
is nOt only supported by 'A';,hah'. view and me of subsumi aJ
to the COntfllry. A,ad mainly a'l;ue5 that the entire occurrence
happened in the non-material world_ Given the popular embdli.hmenu of isr,;'
and mi'r .. j, As:w's trmslation was most attachd in tbis
Hh fond of pointing Out tb.t 'A'isb.b was stili a cbild md not
yet m.rried to the Prophet (pe= be on him) wben the Night Journey
took place in 621, In reply, Asad sbowed himself rudy to accept tbe
formulations of tbe tradition.l interpretation by with his own, But
this compromise was not ;occepuble to his detracton,
(c) On the As.ad was accused of dealing with the Qur'an but too
r.uionalistically, like a crypto.Mu'tnit" .n instance in point is his interpreution
of JI"SUS in the crib, the saving of Ibrihim from firt', and his <knial
of the historicity of Luqman, and Ohii ' IQarnayn. His critics .. w Asad
interpreting tOO many things as mudy allegorical.
In faa, Asad in Luqmin a sage" and "mythological
figure",' in a "mysurious sage" md .n "allegori""l fi gure, symbolizing
mystic.l insight acc=ible to man"," .nd fYen in Dh,:,. :m
unhistorical personality whose "sole purport is p ..... bolic disoourC on faith
and ethics"."
As far as these thr .... figures are concerned, one might he best off saying:
."", Alltihu ,,'{am"! But with Ibrahim (21: &9; 29: 24) Asad finds himself on
thinner icc when he deduCI"S th.t he w.s not only nOt saved from thc fire, hut
W<lS thrown into il . It is [ruc that the Qur'in does not nplicitly Slate
that Ibrihim was in the firt'. But to say th.t the phrase "God .aved him from
tk fiTt " (29: 24) "points, rather, to th fact of his nor having been thrown into
it"" seems to place limits nn Allah's ways and power of inurvemion.
The .ame i. true of Asad' s approach to Jesus' speaking in the crih
(19: 30-33). For him, th..se venl"S "seem 10 be in the naturt' of a trope,
projecting the shape of things to Come ... using the past tens.: to describe
something that was to btwme real in future". Alternatively, Asad suggests
'''5<. 3 L 12. n. 11.
"5<. 11, 65. n. 73.
"5<. 18, 83. D. II.
"Xc 21: n. &t.
'"
th.t Jesus' declarations in 19: 30-33 might have be<en spoken at .. much later
time, after he had rc;u;hed maturity, so th .. ! the were "an anticipatory
d<"<Cripl;on ... ".>0 Hue again, a m;r;ocie is rul..d out On mcrdy ntionalistic
grounds.
(d) Many '"I"",,,' took issue with A.a<!', catq:oricol rejN:tion of the doctrine
of n.i,ikh and mtfnJHkh, hi, Iknial of the possibility of the abrot;ation of earlier
Qur':inic ve=, by later one" admilting nclh only betwn subsequent
scriptures. For him 2: 106, n, 39 and 87: (, f. only <kat wilh the prwiou. divine
messages, repbcing one "",,,.ge by another" (If.: 101). This, for him,
corresponds 10 an obvious lin .... ethical progression and maturation from the
Old Testament (and its addressees, the Jews) via the Evangel (and iu :oddre"U'l,
the Christians) to the [;lSI r,""dation, tbe Qur'in. In f:oct, il SUm. odd 10 him
to assume Allah might ch:rnge Hi. mind in the of a few yur. since
"t here is nothing th.t could altu His words" (18: 27)."
the opposile lradition.! view as erroneou,:rnd unsupported
by the S"""ah, also pointing OUI th.t there i. no unanimity .bout whi(h w:rst,
had supposedly been abrogated. He even ,uspecud tht some '"{,,ma', faced
with what they might have perceived 10 "inconsistencies" in the Quean, had
all too eagerly resorted 10 abrogation instead of taking the t rouble of $ttking
reconci liation at a higher level of imerpretation.
(e) And'. reinteTJ>remion of the role .nd righu of Mu.l im .... omen .... ere
categorized by many as tOO apologetic. " In particul.r, he was criticized for
imerpreution of H: 31 where he concluded from ilia rna za"",,, minb.i thtlhe
obligalion of Muslim .... omen to cover their h.ir depended on the prevailing
civilizational mo ...... According t o And, thi. w:rSC allowed "lime-bound chang"
neces.:>.ry for man' , moral and social growth", taking into account that whn
;s considered decent or iodecent "might legitimately ch:rnge Over time"."
admits tht m0'l't .... Omen in A ... bi" during Ihe time of rev"blion,
.... ore" khimar (hcad<overj as mentioned in 24: 31. But for him t he rationale
of thi, ver<e is {he injunction 10 cOver" woman, bosom, wit(lher by /ehim.t.
Or in some other way. In other .... ord., Allah did nnt order Muslim wnmen to
wear a head<over, emuri ng that their head was covered. The gist of 24: 31
(OnuSIS of the oomm3nd 10 hide from view the primary :rnd :;:econdary female
s<:xual organs, not" woman's h .. ;r.' Asad docs mention that a women's public
exposure traditionally is restricted 10 her bce, h.nds .nd feet, but he f:uls to
indicate that thi$ is based on a ""did,.
-------
"'s.. 30, nn. 2) ... d U.
"s... 2: IO!> n. 8T .nd I T: 6 n. 4.
"s... IOf tlompk A.R. Kid .... , nidl: in T/,. MHtli'" W .... U &<J, R ...... , Vol. 7. No. f.
Sumoxf IW. p. 70 . nd No. 3. p. 15.
''sc. U : 31. n. 37.
''s... H : 31, R. 38.
.. u ................ s,o.o. G,n TO ,a,w
Asad', interpretation of 33: 59 iibes with his views On 24: 31. In the
injunction fnr women to draw upon thems.:!v ... some of their outer gannents
(min j4tabibihinna) he ag:oin se..s a time-bound formulation, the issue not
the meanS (the garment) but the re<uit (a deant dres' ), i.e . morol guideline
10 observed against the ever..:h:utging background of time and "",i.1
environment"."
Many people se..m to A.ad mainly as the man who denied thai
Muslim women wer .. obli gated to keep their head covered in the pre<ence of
mole strangm. Indeed, in the heated political deb.te on the qUe<tion of hijtib,
an issu .. 00 which he is mainly cited :1.5 :ut authority by IholS': opposed to hijih,
hi" il in Turkey, Or Germany. On Ihis particular issue Asad', work On
the Qur'an has had a divisive effeu on Muslims. Typicolly, after I had
favou rably memioneJ As..J during a lecture in Washington D.C. in April 2000,
the immediate response of a sho.ykh attending my lecture was: "Don't you know
what Asad wrote .bout Sural alNur"?'"
VI
It was of Asad's views on such cont .. mious points Ihat the fim edilion
of As:><l', tnndation, which had bun 'ponso=:! by SOme Arabs. could nOt See
Ihe light of the day. In Asad's rel.tions with them became
stnined. Even though SOme of them such as Shaykh blti Yamani
maimained their friendship wilh As..J, n .. verthd .. ss, lhe strain that had
devdoped presumably endured.
Be th.t as it may, Asad'$ prestige continUe< to grow :lffiOng the present..day
Muslim. in Europe and the United StateS. There are some indi=ions
which give ri,e to the view that the world-wide revitalizat ion;md rejuvenation
of Islam in the 21st Cffltury might come from the West : il might come from
Los Angeles, Oxford or London rather than from Cairo or Fe< Or Islamabad,
If this assumption is corrC<."t, the hour may come soon when appreciation of
Muhammad Asad's thought will become a truly glob.l phenomenon.
.. iii ..
''So. H, 5'1. o . 75.
"'Th, '<>lOn for m<ollOning 'hi> ,",,,;, io the pr=n' <oolel" i. 'ho' i, h ... 1.'1' Rum!,..
01 u.iuRe<ion. "" hijdb ...d ,,1 .. rd i ....... Ed