From Leopold Weiss to Muhammad Asad: The Formative Years

Born in 1900 into a rabbinical family, Leopold Weiss (later Muhammad Asad) abandoned Judaism for art history and philosophy at the University of Vienna. Seeking fulfilment, he travelled to Jerusalem with his uncle Dorian, where he challenged Chaim Weizmann in 1922 over Zionist settlement. He viewed Zionism as an artificial European imposition on the Arabs, whom he saw as defending themselves against catastrophe. As a Frankfurter Zeitung reporter, he met leading Muslim intellectuals such as Shaikh Mustafa al-Marāghi. Despite initial hesitation, spiritual experiences convinced him of the Qur’ān’s divine origin; he converted to Islam, adopting the name Muhammad Asad – ‘Muhammad’ for the Prophet and ‘Asad’ for ‘Leo.’