Muhammad Asad was born in 1900 as Leopold Weiss to Jewish parents in Lvov (then part of the Habsburg Empire, now in Ukraine). He moved to Berlin in 1920 to became a journalist and traveled to Palestine in 1922. It was there that he first came into contact with Arabs and Muslims, and began a long journey into Muslim lands, and minds, that eventually led to his embracing Islam in 1926. His bestselling autobiography ROAD TO MAKKAH (published 1954) recounts these years in vivid and captivating detail., including his adventures in Arabia and in working with King Ibn Saud and the Grand Sannusi of Libya, amongst others.
Later in his life, after retiring in Spain, he spent 17 years working on an English Translation of Holy Quran which was first published in 1980. Many consider this to be one of the finest English translation of the Quran - some argue this is because he himself was fluent in bedouin Arabic which is closest to the Arabic in the Quran. Others suggest that since he was himself a European and wrote in more understandable idiomatic English, his translation is most accessible to non-Arabic speakers.
As a lay-reader who over the years has read a number of English translations, including his, I do find Asad’s translation - The message of the Holy Quran - to be easier to read than those by Abdullah Yusuf Ali or Marmaduke Pickthall which are more formal and literal translations. Unlike the translations by Prof. Ahmad Ali and by Thomas cleary, which are also in contemporary idiom and very readable, the Mohammad Asad translation has the added virtue of also having commentary and explanations, and the new edition is wonderfully presented, printed in the highest quality, and with tasteful calligraphy. All in all, Mohammad Asad’s The Message of the Quran is the translation that I now recommend to friends, Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
By the early 1930s Asad had gotten rather disenchanted by King Ibn Saud and his religious advisors (see Road to Makkah) and had begun travelling Eastwards into other Muslim lands. This brought him to British India and there he met and became a good friend of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. Indeed, Iqbal encouraged him to write his book ISLAM AT THE CROSS ROADS (published 1934), whose cover has the following testimonial from Iqbal:
Later in his life, after retiring in Spain, he spent 17 years working on an English Translation of Holy Quran which was first published in 1980. Many consider this to be one of the finest English translation of the Quran - some argue this is because he himself was fluent in bedouin Arabic which is closest to the Arabic in the Quran. Others suggest that since he was himself a European and wrote in more understandable idiomatic English, his translation is most accessible to non-Arabic speakers.
As a lay-reader who over the years has read a number of English translations, including his, I do find Asad’s translation - The message of the Holy Quran - to be easier to read than those by Abdullah Yusuf Ali or Marmaduke Pickthall which are more formal and literal translations. Unlike the translations by Prof. Ahmad Ali and by Thomas cleary, which are also in contemporary idiom and very readable, the Mohammad Asad translation has the added virtue of also having commentary and explanations, and the new edition is wonderfully presented, printed in the highest quality, and with tasteful calligraphy. All in all, Mohammad Asad’s The Message of the Quran is the translation that I now recommend to friends, Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
By the early 1930s Asad had gotten rather disenchanted by King Ibn Saud and his religious advisors (see Road to Makkah) and had begun travelling Eastwards into other Muslim lands. This brought him to British India and there he met and became a good friend of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. Indeed, Iqbal encouraged him to write his book ISLAM AT THE CROSS ROADS (published 1934), whose cover has the following testimonial from Iqbal:
“I have no doubt that coming as it does from a highly cultured European convert to Islam, it will prove an eye-opener to our younger generation.” Muhammad Iqbal.
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