Brief bio of Muhammad Asad http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/pics/WeissAsad/Asad1.jpg Click above for an interesting brief life-sketch of Muhammad Asad.
no! not a 'pole' as in qutb but a Pole as in Polish (from Poland)! i did realise after i'd written it that, this being a habitat of sufis, someone will mistakenly think i was talking of qutbs!!
:s1: I saw a magnificently presented new edition of Mohammad Asad's translation and Qur'anic commentary in the bookshop today, which in terms of quality of print, publishing and presentation and organisation is by far the most superiour of any translation I have yet seen BUT I did not buy it simply for the reason that I am not sure about who he was, his aqida and the accuracy of the translation/commentary. All I know is that he was a Pole from Austria called Leopold Weiss who converted from Judaism to Islam and was a close friend of Allama Iqbal too and that he lived in the Muslim world and studied Arabic at al-Azhar. Other than that I do not know much although a quick browse through his commentary did alert me to the fact that he, by his own admission, was influenced by Jamal al Din Afghani and Rashid Rida. Still, I am mellowing in my old(er!) age and still tempted to buy it but I would like information from more learned brothers first. (I have also asked this on our Ala Hazrat Yahoo! Group too) jazak Allah khayran! Asif
