Muhammad Asad: Europe's Gift to Islam

Author(s): MURAD HOFMANN

Source: Islamic Studies, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Summer 2000), pp. 233-247
Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23076102 .
Accessed: 01/09/2014 05:09
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad is collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Islamic Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Islamic

Studies

39:2

(2000)

pp. 233-247

Asad: Europe's

Muhammad

Gift to Islam
MURAD

HOFMANN

Introduction
in its
18 May, 2000, the Austrian Oriental Society Hammer-Purgstall
alias
in
Vienna
a
called
Weiss
"Leopold
organized
symposium
premises

a Life Dedicated to Islam". It was attended by

Muhammad
Asad (1900-1992)
On

a variety of people including an 89-year old cousin from Asad's family in

Vienna. Gnther Windhager, an Austrian graduate student writing his doctoral
thesis on Asad gave a biographical introduction illustrated by rare photographs

step-son Heinrich Ahmad Schiemann, now 82 years old.

devoted his study to Asad's
Professor Reinhard Schulze (Berne University)
Dr
Murad
whose
to
and
Islam,
Hofmann,
Diary of a German Muslim
approach
about
"The Reception
of
introduction
carries
an
by Asad, spoke
(1983)
obtained

from Asad's

Muhammad

Asad's

Thought

in the Muslim

World".

I propose to throw some light on the two

Against this background
the
remarkable
Asad phenomenon:
extreme ends of
(i) His debut as a prodigal,
self-made Orientalist writer before his conversion to Islam; and (ii) the reactions
to his views by Muslims in the West as well as in the Muslim world, before and
after his death in Spain.

German

readers

are

fortunate

to

have

access

name:

to

Muhammad

Asad's

earliest

book

Unromantisches

under
his orgininal
Weiss,
Leopold
published
Frankfurt: Societts-Druckerei
Aus dem
Tagebuch einer Reise
Morgenland}
1924.
G.m.b.H.

It was written at the end of 1922 for the publishers Frankfurter Zeitung,
was then and continues to be even now the most prestigeous German
journal. Weiss wrote this book at the tender age of 22. Together with the
which

who would be his first wife, between March and

paintress Elsa Schiemann,
October of that year he had visited Palestine, Transjordan
('Amman, with only
6000 inhabitants), Syria, Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria),
Turkey (Smyrna, just

'"Unromantic

Orient".

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MURAD HOFMANN

as well as Malta. The book is illustrated by

burnt down, and Constantinople)
which
are now of great historical importance.
59 black-and-white
photographs
The sources of the photographs are not mentioned.
diary of just 159 pages amazes one in several ways. Most
is the young author's talent as a writer, in particular his
however,
surprising,
of countryside,
and
moods,
evocative,
yet lyrical descriptions
powerfully
colour
of
often
but
never
banal.
The
are
light, for
they
startling
people;
This

small

may be "shell-like"; travellers may be "silent, as if wrapped up in the

great landscape". Forms and movements can be of an "intoxicating uniqueness"
and "wind like a breath without substance". In Jerusalem, he found "little air
to breathe" and "a yearning for terror". Here, like nowhere else, Weiss "heard
instance,

history roar by" and walked

on ground so soft that his "feet took comfort from

walking".
literary genius, Rainer Maria
at that time was at the peak of his fame as a trend-setter.
Rilke (1875-1926),
German
soldier
in the First World War had gone to battle with Rilke
a
Many
in
his
Weiss would
naturally have been
Young
Leopold
poems
pocket.
We

ought

to remember

that the German

impressed by Rilke's penetrating, spiritualistic lyricism. The amazing thing is

that young Weiss, born to be a master, showed neither indebtedness to Rilke
nor Rilkian mannerism. His literary skills, so clear in his original English and
German versions of The Road to Mecca, obviously were already mature in 1922.
surpise comes with the realization that Weiss, even then, was
of, and most romantically infatuated with, almost everything Arab.
admirer of the Arab race
portrays himself as an uncritical, unconditional
A second

enamoured
He

For him, the "Arabs are blessed" (44) and archetypically graceful.
In his view, it was "a wonderful expression of the widely alert Arab being" that
it "does not know of any separation between yesterday and tomorrow, thought
and culture.

and action, objective reality and personal sentiment" (77). The Arabs, according
to him, "always identify with the simple things happening out of nowhere (and
are therefore free of tragedy and remorse)" (86). They lead "a wonderfully
simple life that in a direct line leads from birth to death" (91).

of
After talking to leading figure of Transjordan
Weiss, in his idealization
the Arabs, indulged in prophetic lyrics: "You are timeless. You jumped out of
the course of world history... You are the contemporary ones until you will be
by Will, and then you will become bearers of the Future. Then your
will
be dense and pure..." (93). (Here, I must admit, Rilke had looked
power
over his shoulders).
invested

lives

There is nostalgia in the air when Weiss admires the Arabs because "their
flow with the navet of animals"
(127). Even while in Istanbul, he

regretfully sighs: "Oh, my Arab people"! (153). One more quote would suffice:
of the Arabs
"During several months, I was so impressed by the uniqueness
of
their lives...
that I am now looking everywhere
for the strong centre
recognizing

the eternally

exciting, the stream of vitality, in such a great mass,

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MUHAMMAD ASAD: EUROPE'S

GIFT TO ISLAM

235

in so strange a nation" (133). Against that astonishing affinity with all things
Arab but surprisingly not Islamic! the young Weiss, in the book's
muses: "In order to understand their genius one would have to
'Introduction',
enter their circle and live with their associations. Can one do that"?
who, with extraordinary effort, tried to
all the others, he became a virtual Arab for the
that neither a civilization
(Islamic), nor a nation (Turkey), nor

Asad

is one of those Westerners

turn into a real Arab.

Like

simple reason
an individual
(after about the age of about 16) can fully assimilate any other
culture to the point of erasing the previous one. Cultural transmigration was,
and is, a futile attempt. Yet Muhammad
Asad, fuelled by his youthful
closer
than
else
to becoming a "real" Arab.
infatuation, was perhaps
anybody
to Mecca that the process which
Weiss to Islam was triggered by his political opposition

We know
Leopold
Palestine.

from The Road

Unromantisches

precisely. For him, Zionism

powers and thereby became

ultimately led
to Zionism in

seems to tell that story much more

Morgenland
had entered into an unholy alliance with Western
a wound in the body of the Near East. However

Weiss, otherwise quite far-sighted, expected Zionism to fail because of the "sick
of its Israel project (33). He considered the very idea that the
immorality"
of
the
Jewish
people could be cured through a homeland, without first
plight
of
the
Judaism as such, as a sick one. The Jews, so thought
malady
healing
They had lost it for having
Without
their
God.
reversing this
betrayed
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 Zionism (56), and

Weiss,

not lost Palestine

had

their moral

did so less on political

There
virulent

without

commitment

reason.

and

than on religious grounds.

This is the surprise no. 3.

major insight to be gained from Asad's first book: his

as spent, decadent, exploitative
criticism of the Occident
and mindlessly consumerist. Weiss does not indicate in any way that
is another

cultural

(capitalist)
World War

had just taken place. But he betrays some of the cultural

contempt typical of the pre-war intellectuals and of their longing for what is
"how terribly risky is the
"natural", risky and existential when complaining
had become spiritually sluggish,
absence of risk". For him, the Europeans
One

to things", and losing their instincts as well as their "rope-dancing"

contrasts liberal utilitarianism against an
vitality (5). Indeed, he contemptously
Orient that is about to "regain from its own self what is grand and new" and
"clinging

"allows individuals the freedom to live a life without borders" (74). With regard
to the young Soviet Union Weiss, like many others at the time, even dares to
speak with a positive note and mentions the possibility of the "liberation of the
entire world" (77).
Morgenland reveals Leopold Weiss as a poet, a lover
and a moralist. What amazes one in all these
an
anti-Zionist,
(of Arabia),
with
which he speaks as a political pundit, making
is
the
authority
respects
a
bold forecasts. Being
gifted amateur, he succesfully poses as an accomplished
still a beginner in Arabic
expert on Near Eastern affairs in general. Obviously
Thus,

Unromantisches

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MURAD HOFMANN

inspite of his Hebrew background, Weiss mentions only to one single occasion
where he used an interpreter, as a back-up (92). In so posturing, Weiss showed
himself, so gifted that one would hesitates to accuse him of imposture. Did he,
for instance, not grasp correctly in 1922 that "Arab unity will only come long
countries;
freedom has been achieved in the individual
before" (124)? Chutzpah, or an extraordinary degree of intuition?
after Arab

and

not

is one last amazing thing that we find, or rather do not find, in

Asad's
earliest book: Islam is virtually absent. The only time when it is
mentioned, Asad dismisses it as being non-essential for the Arab genius because
that is "rooted in its blood" (91) a statement somewhat smacking of racist
Thus, while holding many promises, the book did not foreshadow
Arabophilia.
There

Asad's

conversion

to Islam.

The editors of Frankfurter Zeitung immediately recognized the promise of

the greatness of the author. So it was only logical for them to order another
travelogue from him. Weiss accepted the assignment, received the money, but
was

unable

appearance
Muslim.

to deliver (and was fired). However,

only two years after the
1926
in Berlin,2 he became a
in
of Unromantisches
Morgenland,

II

Against
beyond,
impact

this illustrious
and consider
he has had

promise,

let us now turn to the other end, and

background,
Asad's eventful life in order to assess the
Muhammad

on Islam

in the 20th century

materialize.

and to find out how

his

so great in 1922, would

for August
In 1901, in Leipzig, Max Henning possibly a pseudonym

at
an
Orientalist
Mller,
professor
Knigsberg University
published his well
translation
of
the
into
German. It is to
and
much
known
Qur'n
appreciated

he observed that "Islam has

however, that in his 'Introduction'
This
of course, the accepted view
out
its
role".
was,
obviously played
political
and
orientalists
in
and that too
the
for
Europe,
among
politicians
reasons: The entire Muslim world, except for a tiny part in the
understandable
Both de-Islamization
and
interior of Arabia, had been subjected to colonization.
be noted,

seemed to be making headway. The Islamic moorings of the

elites who had been educated in the West had been weakened. In short,
the Occident, more vigorous and dynamic and functionally more impressive in
Christianization

Muslim

great many respects and embodying rationality

achieving its mission civilisatrice world-wide.
Today
misjudgement

2In 1927,

we

know that Henning

so crass that it amuses

Asad

married

Elsa

in Cairo

and

and progress,

his fellow

us today.

and formally

observers

By hindsight

confirmed

was seen to be
had

made

the question

his conversion

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

to Islam

a
is

there.

MUHAMMAD ASAD: EUROPE'S

whether
Movements

GIFT TO ISLAM

237

have foreseen the enormous

success of the Islamic
they could
in revitalizing Islam throughout the world during the 20th century?

This raises another question: What triggered these movements towards an

and rejuvenation?
Could their effects have been foreseen
awakening

Islamic
then?

In my own view, Max Henning might have avoided his misjudgement

if
been aware
of the Muslim
intellectuals
who
were eventually
instrumental in shaping Islam's contemporary upsurge: Jamal ad-Din al-Afghn
he

had

Rashid Rida (d. 1935),

'Abduh
(d. 1897), Muhammad
(d. 1905) Muhammad
Hasan al-Bann (d. 1949), Muhammad
Iqbal (d. 1938), Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966),
and Sayyid Abu -A'l al-Maudd
Asad too must be
(d. 1979). Muhammad

as belonging to this distinguished group of people and played a key

role both as a thinker and as an activist who had an exceptional impact both
and vertically.
horizontally
reckoned

the most popular author of

Indeed, never since Karl May (1842-1912),
adventure stories ever written in German, has anyone fascinated millions of
Asad did with
German readers with things Arabic and Islamic as Muhammad
Weg nach Mekka,3 a book that became a best seller the very moment it
appeared, first in English, as The Road to Mecca in 1954 and then in German in
his Der

no other book

1955.4 Perhaps
of conversions

to Islam.

except the Qur'n

itself led to a greater number

We know today that the book is a mixture of fact and fiction, which was
as legitimate for Asad as it had been for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (d. 1832)
and
und Wahrheit ("Truth
when he called his autobiographie
Dichtung

What comes out of the book with compelling force is the truth of
Fiction").
the Islamic experience and the genuine description of the spiritual landscape of
Islam.
In The Road

still appears as a friend of all things Arab, but

civilization are seen rooted in Islam. Even those

to Mecca Asad

now Arab virtues and Arabic

passages which Asad took over from Unromantisches Morgenland and made it
a part of his The Road to Mecca are not simply transposed;
they have been
an
Islamic
as
seen
through
prism.
presented
Nor can one hold it against Asad that his account of what prompted him
remains less than convincing: a subway
to accept Islam (see chapter 9 "Dajjal")
verse to explain
scene in Berlin, and the finding by "chance" of the Qur'nic
his
observed.
did
St.
in the phenomenon
he
Well,
Confessions) or
Augustine (in
(in his al-Munqidh min al-Dalt)
give an answer that
convert
and
Can
fully
convincingly analyse
fully satisfy everybody?
any
his conversion?
Ab

Hamid

al-Ghazl

would

'First
it reappeared
4New

German

edition

in Gibraltar:
York:

Simon

Frankfurt:
Dar
&

S. Fischer

al-Andalus,

Schuster;

Verlag

1955,

revised

ed.

1982.

1982.

London:

Max

Reinhardt,

1954.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

In the same

year

MURAD HOFMANN

III

At the same time, one minght venture to say that Asad's impact was not only
He has left his mark vertically as well in scientific depth, with a
series of books each one of which is a pioneering effort, if not a chef d'ovre.

horizontal.

Let

us

cast

a glance

at them.

The first of these is Islam at the Crossroads (Lahore: Ashraf 1934), showed
(1)
Asad once more as a cultural critic with a political vision, as a sociologist
of
with
and
as
a
thinker
on
the
religion,
political
analytical capabilities bordering
Its first chapter, "The Open
Road to Islam", shows Asad as a
theologian as well. The content of this chapter in particular seems to have been
much appreciated.
This is evident from the fact that it has been frequently
prophetic.

published

separately

under the title: The Spirit of Islam.

In this book Asad foresaw in particular the current crisis of Christian

the
even clerics
deserting the notion of divine incarnation
christology

third
force
between
and
Communism
Capitalism
emergence of Islam as a

and World War Two as "a war of

both sharing a great deal of commanality
hitherto

unknown

dimensions

materialist

self-conceit

absurdum

that its people

and scientific terror [!]" which will "lead the

civilization
in such a gruesome way ad

of the Western
will

once

begin

more

... to search

after spiritual

truth" (81).
Is this not where we find ourselves

now?

Small in format and limited to 160 pages, Islam at the Crossroads is in fact
historical, intellectual, and sociological
critique of Christianity
and the Occident as a whole. It can be considered to be the first almost total

a monumental

of Europe ("born out of the spirit of the crusades"; 68) and Western
ideology. This was later followed up by writers such as Sayyid Qutb and the
trend has now caught on in many quarters. In this respect one may consider
rejection

as a predecessor even of William Ophuls, Requiem for Modern Politics and

The World as Supermarket.
Michel Houllebeca,

Asad

Equally important is the fact that Asad, in an entirely orthodox manner,

defends the Sunnah from the attacks which were made by lgnaz Goldziher
towards the end of the nineteenth century and those that would be made by
Joseph Schacht around the middle of the twentieth century onwards. At the
same time, already in 1934, he envisages a revivification of Islamic jurisprudence
the "petrification
of fiqh" and the "narrow
(159) in order to overcome

class". More reasonable than the later attempts at

Asad urges to "study exact sciences on Western
of knowledge",
their
but
not
concede
to
lines,
(92). The aim was not to reform
philosophies"
Islam. "Islam as a spiritual and social institution cannot be improved"
(154).
mindedness

of the 'ulama

"Islamization

Even

though

Asad

was

intensity of the Western

he is on the whole remarkably optimistic

realistic

prejudice against Islam, in this book

about the future of his new religion.

about

the

(Not

much

later this was

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

to change

MUHAMMAD ASAD:

EUROPE'S

GIFT TO ISLAM

239

in view of his interpretation

somewhat

and Pakistan).

Arabia,

of the developments

in Turkey,

Saudi

The

second book of Asad was a translation, along with commentary,

on
of
Imm
al-Bukhr's
Hadth
named
Sahib
al-Bukhr
into
collection,5
parts
English under the title The Early Years of Islam, first published in Lahore in
1938.6 In this work we meet, for the first time, Asad as a traditional Muslim
'lim, entering a field normally reserved for the traditionally trained 'ulama'.
(2)

The book contains the historical passages normally found in Vol. I, Book 1
("How Revelation Began"), and Vol. V, Book 57 ("The Merits of the Prophet's
and Book 59 (al-Maghdzi: Military Campaigns).
Asad
However,
Companions")
committed the last 29 sections of Book 57 to a new book called "How Islam
Began".
This was a part of his attempt to re-order al-Bukhr's material according
either to subject matter (i.e. personalities) or chronology or both, an approach
that ran him into some objections. After all, al-Bukhr's Sahh, had been read
and re-read and even committed to memory by so many Muslims since its
collection in the third century A.H. the ninth centuary C.E. If as I believe
Asad's re-arrangement was not intended to replace the traditional ordering of

the Sahh, it was a legitimate and interesting attempt to allow a historical and
thus coherent reading of this material. Nevertheless,
one can understand the
uneasiness
on the part of those who have been accustomed
to a certain
over

arrangement

the

course

of centuries.

an ideal
Equally important were Asad's detailed and extensive notes
way
to make the ahdth come alive. It is the very thoroughness and lucidity of this
which one later finds again in Asad's The Message of the Qur'an.
commentary

is Asad's treatment of conflicting reports on 'Umar ibn

Typical, for instance,
al-Khattb's conversion to Islam (168). He reconciles these reports by suggesting
that 'Umar's conversion "was probably not the result of one single experience".

With his extensive notes on parts of the Sunnah, Asad followed up his
view first expressed in Islam at the Crossroads that not Fiqh but the Qur'an
and the Sunnah must be refocused as the centre-pieces of Islam. With his work
on the Sahh,

by giving the entire corpus of Hadth a fresh credibility and

Asad
counted the dangerous trend to turn Islam into merely
respectability,
some form of a vague and amorphons Deism. It was a major effort indeed. Ever
assaults on the Sunnah,
since, indiscriminate
and later by Schacht, look somewhat inept.
War Two, however,
With the German

World
this

work.

automatically

5The
Muhsin

become

a German

6Arafat

prevented

version
Arabic-English
Kazi
Publications,
Chicago:

Publications;

earlier by Goldziher

the publication
of further parts of
of
Austria
in
1938 Asad
had
occupation
citizen. His resulting internment by the British

standard

Khan,

as mounted

later reprinted

is the translation

in nine

volumes

1976.
in Gibraltar:

Dar

al-Andalus,

1981.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

by Muhammad

MURAD HOFMANN

made further work on the project impossible, and during

in India (1939-1945)
the partition of India in 1947, Asad lost all the material that he had prepared
with the industry and dexterity for which he is well known.
in Islam (1961)/ again a
The Principles of State and Government
of 107 pages only, has become an essential foundation for most
and to develop
a much
further efforts to rejuvenate Islamic jurisprudence
(3) Asad's
small book

theory of state. Originally, research on this book was prompted

by the need to develop an Islamic constitution for the new Islamic Republic of
but solely on the
Pakistan:
to base a society not on race or nationality
needed

Islamic

"ideology" of the Qur'n and the Sunnah. The book therefore reflects some of
the intoxicating awareness that the Muslim world might have, now again, "a
free choice of destiny".
Asad

history could not provide models that could

was set up under very
Confederation
of Madnah
it was also unique in so far as it was being ruled over

was aware that Islamic

The

be copied directly.
peculiar circumstances;
by a Messenger of God.

Islamic history has ever since been characterized pretty

much by despotism. The ideas of Nizam al-Mulk (d. 485/1092) and al-Mwardl
(d. 450/1058) could not serve as the blue-prints of an Islamic community in the
industrial age.
Asad therefore keenly felt the need to make a clear distinction between the
relatively small set of divine norms governing State and government, found in

the Qur'n and the Sunnah which alone deserve the name of the shar'ah. As
and the
for fiqh, i.e. the enormous
body of rules derived from the Qur'n
the
fact
that
its
ultimate
man-made
it
was
Sunnah,
notwithstanding
essentially
were

sources

rooted

in

Revelation.

time, this distinction was considered revolutionary

Thanks to it, Asad was
it has became pretty commonplace.

At the same
today
construct

an

Islamic

theory

of

State

not

from

scratch,

but

free

though
able to

from

the

characterized
by abuse of
history which is occasionally
lack
of adequate
and
for
taxation,
law,
unjustified
arbitrary
power, disrespect
in
the
institutionalisation
and
considerable
administrative
control,
negligence
burden

of Muslim

of shr. In contrast, Asad concluded that a "government subject to the people's

consent is a most essential prerequisite of an Islamic state", that "the leadership
of the state must be of an elective nature" (36), and that "the legislative powers
of the state must be vested in an assembly chosen by the community for that
(45). On the whole, Asad arrived at the conclusion that "a presidential
system of government, somewhat akin to that practiced in the United States,
would correspond more closely to the requirement of an Islamic polity" (61).
purpose"

We still run into fellow Muslims who continue to claim that democracy
with Islam. It is then that we realize how ground
is essentially incompatible
was
in
this
field
some 40 years ago. But we also run into 'ulama'
Asad
breaking

7University

of California

Press

1961;

reprinted

in Gibraltar:

Dar

al-Andalus

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

1980.

MUHAMMAD ASAD: EUROPE'S

GIFT TO ISLAM

241

and Fathi Osman

who maintain that such
Shaykh Ysuf al-Qaradw
neither
know
of
Islam
nor
of
democracy, indicating that Asad's
people
enough
views are shared by a number of influential Islamic scholars.
like

This Law of Ours and Other Essays (1987)8 seems to be the latest book of
(4)
Asad. In fact, however, it consists in part of some of his oldest writings. It is
a collection of some of the essays that were first published in 1946 and 1947 in
his "one-man journal", Arafat A Monthly Critique of Muslim Thought
which appeared for just a few years from Lahore. In the meantime, Asad had
discovered his intellectual affinity to Ibn Hazm of Cordova
who, like himself,
had battled against sanctified conventions and defended the eternal law of Islam
against all that goes beyond Qur'n and the Sunnah.

between sharVah and fiqh

struggle to delineate the boundaries
in
drives
home the point that the
in
an
intensed
form
this
book.
Asad
appears
"real" sharVah must be identified (and possibly codified). Backed up by Ibn
Asad's

Ibn Taymiyyah
and Ibn Hazm, he takes the uncompromising
stand
Hanbal,

to
be
reckoned
as a
that nothing merely based on ijma or qiys
qualifies

and the Qur'n and

divine norm. On the basis of the Qur'n and the Sunnah
the Sunnah alone a new ijtihd was needed in order to develop a modern
to contempory
issues. This modern fiqh should be much
fiqh, responsive

simpler than the highly complex traditional one. Asad hastened to add that, of
course, no results of the new ijtihd could be admitted as forming part of the
sharVah either; otherwise modern fuqah' would repeat the mistake of their
ancestors: to petrify their jurisprudence.
This Law of Ours is of particulat interest to Pakistani Muslims, especialy
its chapter "What do we mean by Pakistan"? of which a sub-section is entitled
It includes seven moving radio addresses given
"Evasion
and Self-Deception".
by Asad to his Pakistani fellow citizens. He looked beyond official declarations

when he stated: "Neither the mere fact of having a Muslim

nor
the mere holding of governmental key positions by Muslims, nor
majority,
even the functioning of the personal laws of the sharVah can justify us in
describing any Muslim state as an "Islamic State" (109). He made it clear that
of Islamism

of zakt, nor outlawing riha, nor prescribing hijah or

in and by themselves will do the trick of
hudd punishments
administering
one.
For that, so Asad felt, there is only one
into
an
Islamic
a
country
turning
that
to
about
"a
community
really lives according to the tenets of
bring
way:
neither the intorduction

Islam"

and presently

"there is not a single community

of this kind in sight"

(14).
It is in observations
Muhammad

Asad

about the ground

8Gibraltar:

Dar

such as these that we encounter

for the first time

idealist who had begun to express bitter feelings

realities of the world of Islam.
the Muslim

al-Andalus,

pp.

195.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MURAD HOFMANN

(5) After working on it for decades, Asad's oeuvre reached its peak with his
translation into Shakespearean
English and commentary of the Qur'n, which
The Message of the Qur'n.9 It was the best, next
in
1980
under
the
title
appeared
only to Abdullah

the

most

Yusuf Ali's and Marmaduke

remarkable

the

among

Pickthall's
efforts

contemporary

translations

to

which are

the

convey

message

in English.10 Asad's is perhaps the only translation which has

of the Qur'n
and
been further translated en toto into several languages such as Turkish
Swedish. His work is particularly appreciated for the lucidity and precision of

based on his stupendous command of bedouin Arabic. Readers

appreciate perhaps most that Asad treats them as grown-ups. He exposes the
root of the translation problem, relates other options (and the reasons given for

its commentary,

them), and then explains

choosing

which reason(s)

he preferred in his particular

translation.

On two grounds, the style of Asad's translation is debatable: On the one

it does not reflect the terse, compact, even laconic style of the Qur'n
which Marmaduke
Pickthall caught so much better in his translation of 1930.
hand

difference between the two results from Asad's attempt to come as close
as possible to nuances of meaning. Wherever, as in most cases, fully equivalent
nouns and verbs are not available in both languages, Asad resorts to the use of

The

text, or even to the

adjectives and adverbs, absent in the Qur'nic
for instance, shir'ah in 5: 48 as "law and way
of noun-renderings,
duplication
of life". As a result, Asad's translation of a few Arabic words sometimes covers
qualifying

two whole

lines.
basmalah

The

is

case

good

in

point.

Pickthall

translates

it

as:

"In

the

of Allah, the Benificiant, the Merciful"; Asad as: "In the name of God,
the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace" (Emphasis
added). Not only is the
idea
of
choice of "Dispenser"
unfortunate, the very
putting al-Rahmn
(or, in
other places, al-Hakim, al-'Azz, al-Qadr, etc.) into superlative form smacks of
and violates the simplicity of the Qur'nic
Christian
language.
vocabulary
name

Abdullah

Yusuf Ali committs

the same mistake.

Many translators of the Qur'n can be faulted today for the use of a high
classical language which sounds both dated, let alone the fact that it is biblical.
I am not pleading for an "American"
Shakespeare simply is not contemporary.

version ( la Irving) or a pedestrian, "cool", colloquial

style. The language of the
that
it
is
Allah
must
reflect
Who is speaking. At the
in
translation
also
Qur'n
same time, readers must not be put off by a level of speech that sounds so
stilted and artificial that it loses credibility. The difference can be slight, but
remains relevant, as when in 17: 40 we either read "Verily, you are uttering a
dreadful saying"\ (Asad) or "Verily, ye speak an awful word" (Pickthall).

'Gibraltar:
10They
Taqi-ud-Din
version,

Dar
include

al-Andalus,

1980,

Muhammad

'Ali,

printed

based

pp.

Sher

Muhsin

al-Hilali/Muhammad
in Madinah,

999

Khan,

on Yusuf

format).
and A. Bewley,
T.B.
Irving, Muhammad
M.M.
and the Saudi
Rashid
Kassab,
Khatib,

(large
A.

'Ali,

Ali, to name

a few.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MUHAMMAD ASAD:

EUROPE'S

GIFT TO ISLAM

Yet, as we will see below,

have been made against Asad's
and is as heatedly
controversial
have

Many

written
On

comparable
impact.
Austria's
(and Europe's)
Marmaduke
Gunon,

more

243

quite a few other, more substantial objections

translation. In fact, no other translation is as
debated as his.
books

the basis
greatest
Pickthall,

than Asad. Few, however, have left a

of his writings alone, Asad was indeed
gift to Islam in the 20th century, Ren
Frithjof

Schuon

and

Martin

Lings

notwithstanding.
IV

Asad was not only an intellectual who was guided by reason and was
of
Sufism. He also was a political activist and an inquisitive Near East
skeptical
advisor to King 'Abd al-'AzIz
of Frankfurter Zeitung (1922-26);
correspondent
However,

with the British influence peddler Harry St. John Philby);

(in competition
of Libya; an intellectual
co
freedom fighter against the Italian occupation
founder of Pakistan and its ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

world, the Benedictine Order still goes by the ideal of ora

and
work), today phrased as contemplation et combat by Frere
(pray
Pierre of Taiz. This ideal corresponds to the Islamic one of al-insn al-kmil,
a Muslim striving for perfection both in piety and action. The Prophet of Islam
as a husband, a father, a
military
(peace be on him) was such a personality
a statesman, a judge, and a mystic. Salh al-Din al-Ayyb, Ibn
commander,
In the Christian

et labora

Asad
Taymiyyah, 'Abd al-Qdir al-Jaz'iri were such personalities. Muhammad
to
men.
was
a
kindred
these
in his own way
great
spirit
of traits in Asad but was surprised,
I had some idea of this combination
nevertheless, when he drove up to my hotel in Lisbon, through thick city
traffic, he at the wheel, at 85 years of age!
V

Given

this

background,

Asad
was
that Muhammad
one might assume
in the Muslim world for his high-level contribution to

appreciated everywhere
its renaissance; but this is not yet the case. Yes, in the West, particularly in the
United States and Western Europe, Asad is much admired, and not only among
the relatively recent reverts to Islam but also among the Muslim migrants from

In the East, except where his friendship with Muhammad

Iqbal is

and
this
as among some in Pakistan, India,
recalled
Malaysia
perhaps is
a lack of
not so. In fact, in the Arab world it is perhaps not considered
Asad. That, in my view,
education not to know anything about Muhammad
tend to be somewhat
is for three major reasons: (1) Some Arab Muslims
abroad.

skeptical

if a non-native

speaker

of Arabic

tries his hand at the translation

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of

MURAD HOFMANN

the foundational

texts of Islam. One might ask: could al-Zamakhshari,

simply
a Persian, have been faulted in regard to his command
of
Arabic. Our brethren-in-faith should, of course, have made an exception also
in the case of Asad, given that his command
of Arabic put many a native
because

he was

speaker to shame. (2) As a revert from the Mosaic faith at times Asad ran into
a certain prejudice. At least some Muslims succumbed to the suspicion that he

might have chosen Islam in order to undermine and pervert it. This misgiving
became intense when in 1952, after 22 years of marriage, Asad divorced his
Arab wife, Munirah bint al-Husayn al-Shammari, the mother of his son Talal,
and took another wife Pola

an American

Hamida,

woman

of Polish

descent.

It was of little avail that in the past other Jewish converts had proved to
be exceptionally
good Muslims, like the former rabbi 'Abd Allah b. Salm
whom Muhammad
(peace be on him), according to a tradition narrated by
b. Jabal, had even promised
a place in Paradise.11 Alas, the same
Mu'dh
also reported about a Jew in Yemen who had accepted Islam only
to desert it.12 Each of Ibn Ishq and Ibn Kathir in their Sir ah gives a vivid
account of a whole number of Jewish hypocrites, including Sa'd b. Hunayf,
traditionist

had only feigned their Islam." Abu Hurayrah transmitted the Prophet's
complaint that he had not even been able to win over 10 rabbis to Islam.14 At
not only feared, and still fear, that as
any rate, a number of Muslims

predicted15
they will split up into more than 70 sects but that the Jews and
who

former Jews will play a role in that disaster.

(3)

became more concrete when Asad in his translation

Such misgivings

Qur'n

from

departed

rather

its

orthodox

on

interpretation

several

of the
in

questions

manner:

serious

cases, he departed from orthodoxy in the text of the translation

(a)
itself. For instance, Asad eliminated the word jinn in his translation in favour
and even
of notions like good or bad impulses (derived from psychology
In some

psychiatry so fashionable during his youth). This approach would have been
more acceptable if it had been dealt with in footnotes only. That would have

III had explained in detail what jinn

been easy, given that Asad in Appendix
in
context:
a specific
(and Shaytn) might mean
spiritual forces, angelic forces,
satanic forces, occult powers, invisible or hitherto unseen beings (994 f.) Thus

"Muhammad
(Lahore:

Malik

nAb

ibn

'Abd

Dwd

ibn

Ashraf

al-Tabrayzi,
1979),

Mishkt

4: 594, hadith

Ash'ath

Publishers,

al-Masabib,
no.

Ityn al-Yahd
him) in this hadith
believe
^Ab

al-Nab
reads

in me".
Dwd,

tr. Mawlana

Fazlul

Karim

tr. Ahmad

Hasan

153.

Siman Abi Dwd,

al-Sajistni,
1984), 3: 1213, hadith no. 4341.

The Life of Muhammad

(Oxford
The Life of the Prophet Muhammad
1998),
(Reading:
14Ab 'Abd Allah Muhammad
ibn Ism'il al-Bukhrl,

Bb

would

Sons,

Sulaymn

Sh. Muhammad
(Lahore:
"Alfred
Guillaume,
Kathir,

Allah

&

Sirajuddin

University
231.
Sahih

Press,

al Bukhri,

Hna

1955),
Kitb

al-Madinah.
(The words of the Prophet
Qadima
in me, the Jews
as follows:
"If ten Jews would
believe

Ed.)
Sunan,

3: 1290,

hadith

no.

4579.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

246;

Ibn

al-Manqib,
be on
(peace
[as a whole]

MUHAMMAD ASAD: EUROPE'S

GIFT TO ISLAM

245

114: 6 Asad

renders jinn as "invisible forces", in 41: 26 and 55:

1 and 46: 29 as "unseen beings". In the
beings",
and in his footnotes to both 46: 29 and 72: 1 Asad goes so far as to

in Srat an-Ns

and in 72:

33 as "invisible

Appendix
imply that jinn

here might refer to humans,

i.e. strangers.

in Appendix
IV (996-998),
Asad saw in isra and mrj a
(b)
mystical experience of purely spiritual nature, not a physical occurrence: a real
vision (and therefore an objective reality and not just a dream) performed by
As explained

Muhammad's

soul without his body. This interpretation of the miraculous

view and the absence of substantial
events is not only supported by 'A'ishah's
ahdth to the contrary. Asad mainly argues that the entire occurrence
of isr'
happened in the non-material world. Given the popular embellishments

and mi'rj, Asad's translation was most vehemently attacked in this context.
His opponents were fond of pointing out that 'A'ishah was still a child and not

yet married to the Prophet (peace be on him) when the Night Journey and
Ascension took place in 621. In reply, Asad showed himself ready to accept the
formulations of the traditional interpretation side by side with his own. But
was not acceptable

this compromise

to his detractors.

a but too
the whole, Asad was accused of dealing with the Qur'n
in
is
his
an
instance
like
a
interpretation
point
rationalistically,
crypto-Mu'tazill:
of Jesus speaking in the crib, the saving of Ibrahim from the fire, and his denial
(c)

On

of the historicity of Luqmn, Khidr, and Dh -Qarnayn.

interpreting too many things as merely allegorical.

His critics saw Asad

a "legendary
fact, Asad saw in Luqmn
sage" and "mythological
and
an
in
Khidr
a
"allegorical figure, symbolizing
"mysterious sage"
figure",16
an
to man",17 and even in Dh -Qarnayn
insight accessible
mystical
In

unhistorical
and ethics".18

personality

whose

"sole purport

is a parabolic

discourse

on faith

As far as these three figures are concerned, one might be best off saying:
"wa Allhu a'lam"\ But with Ibrahim (21: 69; 29: 24) Asad finds himself on
thinner ice when he deduces that he was not only not saved from the fire, but
does not explicitly state
was never thrown into it. It is true that the Qur'n
was in the fire. But to say that the phrase "God saved him from
the fire" (29: 24) "points, rather, to the fact of his not having been thrown into
it"19 seems to place limits on Allah's ways and power of intervention.

that Ibrhim

The

same

is true

of Asad's

to Jesus' speaking
approach
"seem to be in the nature

in the

crib

of a trope,
(19: 30-33).
to describe
...
the
tense
to
come
the
of
using
past
things
shape
projecting
Asad
suggests
something that was to become real in the future". Alternatively,
For

him,

12, .

12.

,6See

31:

17See

18: 65, . 73.

l8See

18: 83, . 81.

these

verses

19See 21: 69, . 64.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MURAD HOFMANN

that Jesus' declarations in 19: 30-33 might have been spoken at a much later
time, after he had reached maturity, so that these verses were "an anticipatory
...".20 Here again, a miracle is ruled out on merely rationalistic
description
grounds.
(d) Many 'ulama' took issue with Asad's categorical rejection of the doctrine
of nsikh and manskh, his denial of the possibility of the abrogation of earlier
verses by later ones, admitting naskh only between
subsequent
Qur'nic
scriptures. For him 2: 106, 13: 39 and 87: 6 f. only deal with the previous divine

"one message
(16: 101). This, for him,
by another"
replacing
to
an
obvious
linear
ethical
progression and maturation from the
corresponds
Old Testament (and its addressees, the Jews) via the Evangel (and its addressees,
In fact, it seems odd to him
the Christians) to the last revelation, the Qur'n.
messages,

might change His mind in the course of a few years since

"there is nothing that could alter His words" (18: 27).21

to assume that Allah

the opposite traditional view as erroneous and unsupported

also pointing out that there is no unanimity about which verses
been abrogated. He even suspected that some 'ulama', faced
in the Qur'n, had
with what they might have perceived to be "inconsistencies"
all too eagerly resorted to abrogation instead of taking the trouble of seeking
Asad dismisses

by the Sunnah,
had supposedly

reconciliation

at a higher level of interpretation.

re-interpretation of the role and rights of Muslim women were

categorized by many as too apologetic.22 In particular, he was criticized for his
interpretation of 24: 31 where he concluded from ill m zahara minhd that the
obligation of Muslim women to cover their hair depended on the prevailing
(e)

Asad's

civilizational

for

necessary

is considered

mores. According
moral

man's

to Asad, this verse allowed

and

decent or indecent

social

growth",

"might legitimately

"time-bound

into

taking

account

changes
that

what

change over time".23

in Arabia, during the time of revelation,

a khimr (head-cover) as mentioned in 24: 31. But for him the rationale
of this verse is the injunction to cover a woman's bosom, whether by khimr
Asad

admits that most women

wore

or in some other way. In other words, Allah did not order Muslim women to
wear a head-cover, ensuring that their head was covered. The gist of 24: 31
consists of the command to hide from view the primary and secondary female
sexual organs, not a woman's hair.24 Asad does mention that a women's public
exposure traditionally is restricted to her face, hands
indicate that this is based on a hadth.

20See

19: 30, nn.

21See

2: 106 n. 87 and

"See

for example

Summer

23 and

23See

24:

24See

24:

31, n. 38.

24.

87: 6 n. 4.

A.R.

p. 70, and
31, n. 37.

1987,

and feet, but he fails to

Vol.

Kidwa''s
9, No.

article

in The Muslim

3, Spring

1989,

World

Book

Review,

p. 15.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.

7, No.

4,

MUHAMMAD ASAD: EUROPE'S

GIFT TO ISLAM

247

Asad's

interpretation of 33: 59 jibes with his views on 24: 31. In the

for
women to draw upon themselves some of their outer garments
injunction
he again sees a time-bound formulation, the issue being not
{min jalblbihinna)

the means
to

(the garment) but the result (a decent dress), i.e. "a moral guideline
observed
of time and social
against the ever-changing
background

be

environment".25

Many people seem to remember Asad mainly as the man who denied that
Muslim women were obligated to keep their head covered in the presence of
male strangers. Indeed, in the heated political debate on the question of hijdb,
an issue on which he is mainly cited as an authority by those opposed to hijb,
be it in Turkey, France or Germany. On this particular issue Asad's work on
has had a divisive effect on Muslims.
after I had
Qur'n
Typically,

the

favourably mentioned Asad during a lecture in Washington D.C. in April 2000,

the immediate response of a shaykh attending my lecture was: "Don't you know
what

wrote

Asad

about

Srat

al-Nr"}lb

VI

views on such contentious points that the first edition

had been sponsored by some Arabs, could not see
which
translation,
Asad's
relations with them became
the light of the day. In consequence,
strained. Even though some of them such as Shaykh Ahmad Zaki Yamnl
the strain that had
their friendship with Asad, nevertheless,
maintained
endured.
developed presumably
It was because

of Asad's

of Asad's

Be that as it may, Asad's

especially in Europe

Muslims

prestige continues to grow among the present-day

and the United States. There are some indications

which give rise to the view that the world-wide revitalization and rejuvenation
of Islam in the 21st century might come from the West: it might come from
Los Angeles, Oxford or London rather than from Cairo or Fes or Islamabad.

If this assumption is correct, the hour may come soon when appreciation
Muhammad
Asad's thought will become a truly global phenomenon.

m
W

"See

33:

26The
of injunctions

of

59, . 75.

reason

for mentioning

on hijb

and

related

this surah
issues.

in the present

context

is that it has a large number

Ed.

This content downloaded from 111.68.96.57 on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 05:09:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions