On the meaning of Muhammad Asad’s scientific and intellectual legacy in understanding urgent problems of modern development.
German diplomat and public person Murad Winfried Hoffmann called Muhammad Asad a “Europe’s gift for Islam”, although it would be more accurate to name him “a Ukraine’s present”, as one of the most respective islamic figure of the XX century was born in our land. He is a world-known writer, traveller, journalist and even politician and diplomat. He represented Pakistan still newly-created at that time in the UN acting as the latter.
The research and practice conference “Muhammad Asad’s Scientific and Intellectual Legacy”, held on May 16 in Kyiv was meant to introduce Ukrainians to the personality of their outstanding countryman and bring back the memory of him to his Homeland.
This outstanding Muslim thinker was born on July 2, 1900 in the family of Orthodox Jews in Lviv, which was the part of Austro-Hungary at that time and was named Lemberg. Leopold Weiss (Asad’s real name). He showed interest in Eastern culture and traditions as early as in his youth. His visit to Jerusalem in 1922 resulted in a book “Unromantic East”; he also visited Palestine, Syria, Egypt and other Islamic countries the very same year.
Being charmed by the Arabic culture, Weiss developed a tremendous compassion to Muslims and problems they face. It took several years before he himself converted to Islam, and got world-famous under his new name - Muhammad Asad.
Public attention was drawn to the Muslims’ problems due to Asad’s work “Road to Makkah”. The book, published in 1954, became a bestseller at once, encouraging many of the English- and German-speaking intellectuals to convert to Islam, too. Back at that time Asad understood the role the Middle Eastern countries will play in the world politics. He wrote about the humiliating position of Muslim countries when parts of large colonial empires and importance of giving them an opportunity for harmonious development.
Raised in the family of Jews with his rabbi grandfather, Asad judged the Jews’ attempts to build their own country on the land of Palestine pressing the local population. He openly stood against Zionism.
Asad made a thorough analysis whether he can become a full member of Ummah (the Muslim community) in one of his works. “One have to enter their circle and live among them in order to understand their genius. Is anybody capable to act like that?” - he wrote. The writer went extremely hard to become a real Arab and reached his goal after all.
It’s quite interesting that many of his analysis of Arab society can be applied to the Ukrainian society as well. For example, “It is a very pleasant thing to recall the period when Muslim Civilisation was great and powerful in times when even the most dense among Muslims understand the depth of abyss this civilisation dropped to. this pleasure is rather doubtful, though, as such dreams are noncommittal and on the other hand they cultivate the dreamer’s positive self-esteem, drawing him to the illusion that he is somehow accessory to his ancestors’ glory”.
Muhammad Asad underlined, however, that for every nation the pride of the antecedent is worthwhile if it pushes them for new achievements.
Our contemporaries regardless of their nation and religion can find inspiration for solving many of the interethnic and interfaith conflicts in Asad’s literary heritage. The Dialogue between the West and the East was the keynote of his written works. Asad’s treatise was not in vain, especially for Austria where he is considered Austrian and they even have a square named after him.
Mr. Wolf Ditrich Haim, Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Austrian Republic in Ukraine, noted that “developing religious understanding is the main reason why we study his legacy today. Many scientists in Vienna University chose his life and creativity as the subject of their studies, their thesis and their professorial works. He made a huge input in developing human rights and freedoms”.
Besides that, Mr. Ambassador underlined that indigenous Muslim population is an extremely important similarity of Ukraine and Austria. “I believe it’s noteworthy because most of European countries Muslims are represented by immigrants in the fourth or fifth generation at best”.
Those words are timely taking into account that Europe’s Muslim population reached the level of 20 million and still continues its growth.
«France has the largest Muslim population in Europe today 5 to 7 million, which makes 10% population in general” - the Head of the “Institute for World History of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine” Andrey Kudryachenko said.
Besides, he added, there are vast Muslim communities in Germany (3 million), Great Britain (2 million), Italy (3 million) and other countries. The number of Muslims in Europpe increases not only because of the migrants, but also because many Europeans, mostly intellectuals, choose Islam.
Considering this one can see that Muhammad Asad’s ideas about the Muslims’ increasing role in the world developments really proved to be fatidical. However, the problems Muslims face remained the same. This is based first of all on the prejudice that the Qur’an propagandizes violence. Asad tried to persuade the society, rather conservative and at oppositional to Muslims at that time, that Islam is no threat for the Christian world and the Qur’an promotes tolerance to other faiths.
Perhaps that was the reason why he decided to translate the Qur’an to English, depicting the interpretation into the vivid and artistic form of the language of Shakespeare. Although the coreligionist and opponents repeatedly accused him of the Holy Book’s over free interpretation later on.
Muhammad Asad stood against any extremism, and tried to show the difference between so-called “official state islamism” and the way it should be. After Pakistan got separated from India, Asad addressed to the Pakistani citizens in his radio message: “Neither the fact of having a Muslim majority nor keeping the Government key posts for Muslims - not even enforcing some of the Shariah rulings doesn’t allow to say that the state is Islamic”. How would the leaders of Syria, Libya and Iran respond to that now, I wonder?
Asad knew what he was saying given that he had a chance to study almost every sect in the Eastern politics of that time. He was both the Counsellor of Abdul-Aziz, the King of Saudi Arabia, and the fighter for Libya's freedom from Italian occupation, stood against French rule in Algeria, and worked at ground zero of Independent Pakistan. He was also one of the developers of the Pakistani Constitution.
Much is written and said about Muhammad Asad, but much to our regret not in Ukrainian language.
However, the Conference participants presented a small digest “Muhammad Asad: By The Way Ahead of His Time” containing the Ukrainian interpretation of his most critical works. It was published with the aid of the Muslim All-Ukrainian Association of Social Organisations “Alraid” and the All-Ukrainian Public Organisation “Ukrainian Center for Islamic Studies”
Men of science and culture published a special resolution which refeffing the Lviv authorities to help them find the house where Muhammad Asad was born and place a memorial plate on it in order to memorize this outstanding person.
The time has come to create a Muhammad Asad related exposition at Lviv Religion History Museum - the document says. Presentation of a Georg Misch movie “Road to Makkah” is another step forward popularising Muhammad Asad personality and his reverting from the wilderness.
Still Muhammad Asad remains in the memory of millions of Muslims around the world and his son Talal takes part in studying his father’s heritage.
Muhammad’s following words can be a message for modern Ukrainians: “We can’t go on living carelessly in vain as we used to even if we wanted to — as if the mode of life efficient in the past must stay like that forever”.
by Valeria ROSENBLIT
Source: day.kiev.ua
