Muhammad Asad
Diplomat, Politician
1900 – 1992
Who was Muhammad Asad?
Muhammad Asad was an Austro-Hungarian born journalist, traveler, writer, linguist, thinker, political theorist, diplomat and Islamic scholar. Asad was one of the most influential European Muslims of the 20th century.
By the age of thirteen, young Weiss had acquired a passing fluency in Hebrew and Aramaic, other than his mother tongue German . By his mid-twenties, he could read and write in English, French, Persian and Arabic. In Palestine, Weiss engaged in arguments with Zionist leaders like Chaim Weizmann, voicing his criticism of the Zionist Movement. After traveling across the Arab World as a journalist, he converted to Islam and chose for himself the Muslim name "Muhammad Asad"—Asad being the Arabic rendition of his root name Leo.
During his stay in Saudi Arabia, he spent time with Bedouins and enjoyed close company of Ibn Saud—the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. He also carried out a secret mission for Ibn Saud to trace the sources of funding for Ikhwan Revolt. Due to these activities, he was dubbed in a Haaretz articles as "Leopold of Arabia"—hinting similarity of his activities to those of Lawrence of Arabia.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Jul 2, 1900
Lviv - Also known as
- Leopold Weiss
- Parents
- Spouses
- Elsa Schiemann
- Munira Asad
(1927 - 1952) - Hamida Asad
( - 1992/02/23)
- Children
- Religion
- Islam
- Judaism
- Ethnicity
- Jewish people
- Nationality
- Pakistan
- Profession
- Education
- University of Vienna
- Lived in
- Lviv
- Died
- Feb 23, 1992
Granada
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Muhammad Asad." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/muhammad_asad>.
Discuss this Muhammad Asad biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In