Just Think!

The Unpublished Letters of Muhammad Asad
Book Launch

https://irfront.org/post/book-launch-of-the-unpublished-l
etters-of-muhammad-asad-14575

It has been more than ten years since I wrote about Muhammad Asad (nee Leopold Weiss), the highly respected Islamic thinker who had carved his name deeply into the history of countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He is credited with the English translation of the Quran and penned many critical thoughts on the day-to-day practice of Islam. Sadly, his twilight years, which he wanted to spend in Morocco and later Spain, were not ceremonious, as people were unhappy with his stance of questioning the status quo. 

My dear friend of 50 years, FM, announced in a common WhatsApp group that he would be launching a book on the unpublished letters of Muhammad Asad and the official launch was to be done by none other than Malaysia's famous centenarian whose as astute mind belies his age by half a century, Tun Dr Mahathir, the two-time and longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia, and extended the invitation to me. I accepted. 

Now, some would be asking, "What a good Hindu boy by birth will do in a place where the discussion would be everything Islam?" Precisely, the answer is in the question. 

Imagine us as an army of ants perched on a dry leaf which had dropped onto a fast-moving drain, straddling from side to side, oblivious to what lies ahead. The smartest ants amongst the army would try to take heed of the situation and, with their nimble neural tissues, mastermind something to save their comrades. We, humans, are in the same predicament. Left on Earth with no instructions and no GPS to follow, we are all on our own to make sense of things around us. 

If it is the all-encompassing, universal divine consciousness that binds us all, and we are all struggling to understand, more heads are better than one. Any knowledge is good to know. 

The session started with the moderators welcoming the special guests, Tun Dr Mahathir, Dr Farouk Musa (FM) and Dr Azhar Ibrahim. Datuk Seri Meer Habib played host to the event in his premises, Harta, specifically curated to promote local art and intellectual discourses. 

Asad was a man of letters. He did a lot of thinking, and his letters have found their way to many national archives. Through the initiative of the Islamic Renaissance Front, many of these private correspondences were sourced and published. Asad's line of thinking is made aware to everyone.

Sitting through the discussion and Q&A sessions, as an outsider, I learnt a few things. DA, who accompanied me, coming from the heart of the Hindi belt of India, had his own understanding of Muslims revised. 

FM, in confession mode, gave an overview of the difference between an Islamist and a rationalist. Islamism came about as the Ottoman Empire was losing its influence and territory, becoming the sick man of Europe. The nostalgia to recreate the glory of the good old days prompted them to build Islamist movements with unbridled teachings of the Quran as their guide. The rationalists, however, are cognisant that things found in the Quran and hadith need to be thought out rationally to keep with the demands of the present era. Asad was a proponent of this. The religion is more than just following instructions and joining in the rituals. We see this in present-day Malaysia, where less emphasis is placed on personal development.

An interesting question by a listener was the issue of sustenance of life as a religious thinker. He later confessed that, as a teenager, he had told his father that he wanted to be a thinker. Without batting an eyelid, his father gave him a smack across his face and told him, "Don't think, just study your sciences and go to university!" That was the end of the discussion. The panel suggests that Azad probably lived on small royalties from book sales, his stint with the Saudi royalty and other honorariums.

The guest of honour took centre stage when he answered a question on riba (exploitative gains from trades). Tun reiterated that rather than worrying about the nitty-gritty details of conforming to religious practices, one should look at the elephant in the room. Amazingly, this 100-year-old man can string his thoughts so succinctly and enunciate them in crystal clear language, commanding the listening ear of every attendee.

Unlike converts who have the luxury of getting proper training in Islam, Tun Mahathir complained that Malays do not get the appropriate guidance on the religion. Hence, during his tenure as Prime Minister, when the pressure to Islamise mounted upon him, he decided to go back to the Holy Book to understand the stance on many issues. Since he was not well versed in Arabic, he read its English translation. What he found shocked him. He realised that Muslims did not even do the basic things taught in the Quran, like killing a fellow human being.

He chided the act of killing fellow Muslims. It is illogical that some Muslims coerce or get manipulated into attacking their fellow Muslim brothers. The basic teaching of Islam is to acquire knowledge. This, they had failed miserably, and had allowed themselves to be dominated by their enemies. The technologies that they had acquired and improved have been learnt by others and have been further improved upon, while the Muslims stay dependent on the rest of the world. This reminded me of India's case. Many of ancient India's early discoveries and scientific knowledge had been forgotten, only to be found and researched by the colonisers. The colonisers, in turn, used the same expertise to subdue the Indians.

The audience was also informed that Asad did indeed spend a short sojourn, maybe about a month, here in Malaysia, doing his research. In one of his letters, he mentioned that Malaysia was one of the countries where he felt most welcome.

It was an evening well spent.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

He tried to build a bridge but failed!

A Road to Mecca -The Journey of Muhammad Asad (2008)

At the outset, I thought it would be another West-bashing Muslim documentary. It started with the introduction of another attack by the Israelites on the Palestinians in 2006, and how pork was fed to the refugees with the ulterior intention of starving the Muslim refugees.

The credits started with the caption - for people who think. So I thought, since I think a lot, it was only wise for me to watch.

In essence, the story tracks the life and times of a Jew who became a Muslim and changed his name from Leopold Weiss to Muhammad Asad. (Asad and Leopold both mean Lion). He is credited with the formation of Pakistan, the English translation of the Koran, the author of the book 'Road to Mecca and was a critical modern thinker who dared to question the age-old practice of doing things based on what a small group of intellectuals decided.

The documentary starts from Asad's birthplace, Lviv, present-day Ukraine, in the Eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Being exposed to the Jewish scriptures at an early age, in early adulthood, he became confused and did not have a solid footing in life. He headed east in search of 'the truth'. This is the time of fascination of Europe with psychology and the human mind. He worked as a journalist, and his work took him to Palestine. He lived amongst the Bedouins and eventually became a Muslim.

Muhammad Asad (1900 - 1992)

Swiftly, he climbed the ladder of spiritualism and became an advisor to the Saudi royalty. He was invited to establish Pakistan and was given Honorary citizenship of Pakistan.
In Pakistan, while filming, it was Independence Day. The Asadians (followers of Asad's thinking) were discussing the state of their country. One chap who had migrated to the USA lamented that the people of Pakistan had disappointed Asad in his vision of an independent Muslim state. An elderly dweller refuted, claiming that his country had actually prospered, being one of the only 19 countries in the world with nuclear capabilities and having improved crop production by 5 folds since 1947. Like clockwork, there was a massive power outage in the whole town just then!

Asad was appointed Pakistan's ambassador to the UN but resigned after being played out by his fellow countrymen. He then migrated to the US. He became prolific with his critical thinking books about religion, including his autobiography (A Road to Mecca) and his magnum opus, the English translation of the Koran.

Feeling homesick, he wanted to be nearer home, but he chose Morocco to continue working. Meeting hostility and book burning to his modern progressive way of thinking, he just had to move again, feeling drained physically and financially, this time to Spain. He died at the age of 92.