[SPECIAL INVITATION] Book Launch of The Unpublished Letters of Muhammad Asad (from Judaism to ISLAM @ "Europe's Gift to Islam") and the author of "The Message of the Quran" and Road to Mecca" by Tun Dr. Mahathir, the Former Prime Minister of Malaysia
(SPECIAL INVITATION) Book Launch Unveils the Untold Story of Muhammad Asad — “Europe’s Gift to Islam”
The Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), Islamic Book Trust (IBT), and HARTA Space will host the official launch of The Unpublished Letters of Muhammad Asad, a rare and intimate collection of writings from one of the 20th century’s most influential Muslim thinkers.
Born Leopold Weiss in 1900 into a Jewish family in Lviv (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), Muhammad Asad embraced Islam in 1926 after a profound intellectual and spiritual journey through the Middle East. Renowned for his groundbreaking works The Message of the Qur’an and The Road to Mecca, Asad’s writings bridged the worlds of East and West, redefining modern Islamic thought.
The book’s letters reveal Asad’s personal and intellectual life — from his imprisonment in Ahmadnagar Internment Camp during World War II, to his years in Pakistan and later work at the United Nations. They uncover his interactions with the Saudi royal family, his collaborations with leading Islamic scholars such as Maulana Abu’l-A’la al-Mawdudi, and his commitment to translating the Qur’an in a way accessible to modern readers.
EVENT DETAILS
Programme Highlights
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Opening & Welcoming Speeches by YBhg Dato’ Seri Meer Habib & YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad
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Panel Discussion on the legacy of Muhammad Asad
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Museum & Art Gallery Tour and Book Exhibition by IBT & IRF
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Artwork Exhibition by Hafizan Halim
About Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad’s journey to Islam began with his travels through the Middle East, where he engaged deeply with Islamic teachings and culture. His decision to embrace Islam stemmed from his conviction that the Qur’an offered both moral clarity and a complete way of life. In The Road to Mecca, Asad recounts his meeting with King Ibn Saud, his role in advising the early Saudi state, and his later work in shaping Pakistan’s foreign policy. His translation, The Message of the Qur’an, remains one of the most respected English renderings of the sacred text.
1. Life and Soul Searching
Muhammad Asad (1900–1992) — born Leopold Weiss in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine) — was a Jewish-born journalist, thinker, and diplomat who became one of the most influential Muslim intellectuals of the 20th century. Trained in philosophy and art history, he initially worked as a roving correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung, reporting from the Middle East in the 1920s.
During his travels, Weiss developed a deep fascination with Islam. What began as a journalist’s curiosity turned into a spiritual journey: through close observation of Muslim societies, candid conversations with scholars and Bedouin tribesmen, and a profound engagement with the Qur’an in its original Arabic, he found in Islam a faith that was intellectually satisfying, spiritually elevating, and entirely in harmony with reason. In 1926, he embraced Islam in Berlin, adopting the name Muhammad Asad.
Asad spent years in Arabia, forging a close relationship with King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud and key members of the Saudi royal family, experiences vividly captured in his autobiography The Road to Mecca. His scholarly masterpiece, The Message of the Qur’an, remains one of the most respected modern English translations and commentaries, blending linguistic precision with contextual interpretation.
He later migrated to the Indian subcontinent, contributing to the intellectual foundations of the future state of Pakistan, and served as its ambassador to the United Nations. Known as a bridge between Islamic tradition and the modern world, Asad advocated a return to the Qur’an’s timeless principles, applied with wisdom to contemporary challenges.
2. Muhammad Asad and Critical Thinking
While travelling in the Arabian Peninsula in the 1920s, Leopold Weiss witnessed a way of life guided not by shifting fashions but by timeless moral principles. One day in the desert, a simple Bedouin question shook him:
“You have everything in Europe — machines, comfort, wealth — but why are you unhappy?”
This question, coupled with his own observations of Western spiritual emptiness, led Weiss to study the Qur’an deeply in its original Arabic. He was struck by its clarity, logical structure, and the balance it offered between faith and reason. Islam, he realised, was not an exotic culture but a universal truth. In 1926, in Berlin, he publicly declared the shahada — and Leopold Weiss became Muhammad Asad.
3. The Essence of The Message of the Qur’an
In The Message of the Qur’an, Muhammad Asad transcends literal translation, seeking to convey the Qur’an’s timeless call: to recognize and worship Allah alone as the sole Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign of the universe. He emphasizes that the Qur’an is not merely a historical document, but a living guidance urging humanity toward tawhid (the Oneness of God) and a life of conscious submission to Him.
This aligns with the Qur’an’s foundational declaration:
“O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous. He who made for you the earth a bed and the sky a canopy, and sent down from the sky rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you — so do not set up rivals to Allah while you know.”(Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:21–22)
Asad’s work consistently reflects the Qur’an’s call to reflection and recognition of Allah’s signs:
“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.”(Surah Al ‘Imran, 3:190)
And he underscores that this revelation is made accessible for guidance:
“And We have certainly made the Qur’an easy to remember, so is there any who will remember?”(Surah Al-Qamar, 54:17)
In essence, The Message of the Qur’an is an intellectual and spiritual invitation to return to the pure worship of Allah, to reject all forms of shirk (associating partners with Him), and to live by the Divine guidance that brings justice, mercy, and meaning to the human journey.
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