Mecca
The Road to Mecca
The Road to Mecca is the story of a man’s European discovery of Islam and his integration within the Muslim Community. 1 Leopold Weiss was born in Austria to a Jewish family in the 1900s; in 1926 he converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Asad.2 He converted from Judaism to Islam because he wanted to find happiness, peace, purpose for living, and a sense of belonging. The Road to Mecca is best understood as a spiritual autobiography and why Muhammad Asad chose the Islamic Way of life.
Muhammad Asad found his Islamic faith and community as one big spiritually family. He saw violence wasn’t the answer, and with the spirit of God anything could be solved. The life of an Islamic family was all about God and Muhammad Asad found that during his spiritual journey. For Example, on his journey with Zayd they cross paths with a Muslim family who greet them “peace be with you” and Asad answers “and with you be peace and the grace of God.” 3 In the West you would rarely see Christians cross paths and greet them by saying a prayer, you would normally just say hello and move on. But this is what Muhammad Asad wants us readers to see, that the Islamic faith is so much different than anything else in the world, the spirit of God is always with you and especially whenever you call upon him to help you.
The Koran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God. The Bible is the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Muhammad explains that the Koran is used by Muslims for intellectual reason as you can see by this quote. He states “What I saw in the pages of the Koran was not a ‘materialistic’ world view but, on the contrary, an intense God-consciousness that expressed itself in a rational acceptance of all God-created nature; harmonious side-by-side of intellect and sensual urge, spiritual need and social demand.” 4 The Bible was more for Christians who needed a
The Road to Mecca is the story of a man’s European discovery of Islam and his integration within the Muslim Community. 1 Leopold Weiss was born in Austria to a Jewish family in the 1900s; in 1926 he converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Asad.2 He converted from Judaism to Islam because he wanted to find happiness, peace, purpose for living, and a sense of belonging. The Road to Mecca is best understood as a spiritual autobiography and why Muhammad Asad chose the Islamic Way of life.
Muhammad Asad found his Islamic faith and community as one big spiritually family. He saw violence wasn’t the answer, and with the spirit of God anything could be solved. The life of an Islamic family was all about God and Muhammad Asad found that during his spiritual journey. For Example, on his journey with Zayd they cross paths with a Muslim family who greet them “peace be with you” and Asad answers “and with you be peace and the grace of God.” 3 In the West you would rarely see Christians cross paths and greet them by saying a prayer, you would normally just say hello and move on. But this is what Muhammad Asad wants us readers to see, that the Islamic faith is so much different than anything else in the world, the spirit of God is always with you and especially whenever you call upon him to help you.
The Koran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God. The Bible is the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Muhammad explains that the Koran is used by Muslims for intellectual reason as you can see by this quote. He states “What I saw in the pages of the Koran was not a ‘materialistic’ world view but, on the contrary, an intense God-consciousness that expressed itself in a rational acceptance of all God-created nature; harmonious side-by-side of intellect and sensual urge, spiritual need and social demand.” 4 The Bible was more for Christians who needed a
Cited: Asad, Muhammad. The Road to Mecca. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2000.