The Road to Mecca

Rating:
Summary: The road to understanding
Review: As a practicing western muslim, I often approach the popular literature regarding Islam with trepidation, and the fear of what I am about to find in print. The beauty of this book is the connection that I felt with the author, who in spite of his passage many decades ago, echoed the very sentiments I felt during my own Hajj, and my own spiritual journey through life. His beautifully woven eloquence, thought, and understanding create a unique tapestry of visions in this wordsmith's hands. The book is in my opinion valid, touching, and opens a portal to the Hajj for those who are interested in the trip. As the author emphasizes, the Hajj is a microcosm in the journey of life, and reflective of his larger journey toward Islam, as a submission to the religion which he embraced. The book is a study in metaphysics, cultural anthropology, and is simultaneously a fascinating autobiographical reflection by a convert to Islam. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely Worth Reading!
Review: Books about Islam and Arabia abound. Not surprisingly, most have a Western bias if for no other reason than they view events through Western eyes. Professor Edward Said once advised that to gain an understanding of Islam and Arabia one should read more than Bernard Lewis. He suggested two books: Classical Arab Islam (by Tarif Khalidi) and The Road to Mecca. Perusing the latter, one understands his point.

Muhammad Asad was a Polish-Austrian Jew born to an orthodox rabbi in Lwow (then a part of Austro-Hungary) in the summer of 1900 whose spiritual journey led him eventually to leave Judaism and embrace Islam. Though published in 1957, Asad is recounting events from the 1920s and early 1930s. The central thread is a haj to Mecca in 1932 via camel from the northern reaches of Saudi Arabia. He uses flashbacks to give the history of his travels and conversion.

His conversion started in adolescence. "Under the influence of an agnostic environment, I drifted...into a matter-of-fact rejection of all institutional religion." (61) Seeking adventure he joined the Austrian army toward the end of 1914. He was only 14, but tall. This made it easier to convincingly lie about his age. His father tracked him down, though, so his enlistment didn't last more than a few weeks. Four years later he was drafted into the army, "but by then was searching for other avenues to self-fulfillment." His draft enlistment was only a little longer than his previous one for soon Austria-Hungary was out of the war.

After attending a university for a time, he gave up his studies to pursue journalism. It wasn't the profession that drew him, per se, but rather wanderlust leavened with spiritual restlessness. This led him to the Middle East in 1922 where his growing rejection of Western materialistic egocentrism found root in Islamic values that revolve around the brotherhood of man and individual self-discipline.

Throughout his journey of conversion, as he drifted farther and farther from his familial and cultural roots, he was befriended by an interesting variety of Arabs. This included religious leaders and even the royal Saud family. He took an Arab wife (who bore him a son), lost her to illness, and later married a German woman (and another son) who shared his spiritual longing. His journeys, which have the flavor of Bedouin wanderings, took him throughout the Arab world, through circuits of Afghanistan and Iran that could be a geographic primer for contemporary military operations there, and even a foray into Libya in 1932 to gain intelligence for Crown Prince Saud concerning local resistance to Italian occupation.

The book is well written with a sophisticated style. Asad was in love with Arabia and Islam, and it shows in his descriptions of the land, his awakening, and all things Arab in a glowing, propagandistic prose.

He starts the book with a description of the West's cultural bias towards Islam, the beginnings of which he attributes to our Greco-Roman heritage. "Ever since Greek and Roman times, European thinkers and historians have been prone to contemplate the history of the world from the standpoint and in terms of European history and Western cultural experiences alone. Non-Western civilizations enter the picture only in so far as their existence, or particular movements within them, have or had a direct influence on the destinies of Western man; and thus, in Western eyes, the history of the world and its various cultures amounts in the last resort to little more than an expanded history of the West." (5) These insensitivities are also "rooted in impressions that were born during the Crusades." (7) "When, in his famous speech at Clermont, in November, 1095, Pope Urban II exhorted the Christians to make war upon the 'wicked race' that held the Holy Land, he enunciated - probably without knowing it himself - the charter of Western civilization." (9). Probably, indeed.

This book is part religion, part philosophy, and part cultural exploration. He contrasts Christianity, with its gradual withering of a strong spiritual hold on Western civilization, with Islam and its pervasiveness with Arabian spirituality and life. He recognizes that Arab culture is not as robust as it was centuries ago (e.g., 317), but he offers little explanation. (Ironically, he says, "It was not Muslims that had made Islam great; it was Islam that had made the Muslims great." (207)) He also describes the stubbornness of Arabs along with their history of a willingness to resist political repression regardless of the odds. He made particular mention of the people of Baghdad: "...a great strength was apparent in these men: the strength of hatred - hatred of the foreign power that denied them their freedom. The people of Baghdad had always been obsessed by longing for freedom as by a demon." (222-223) I'm not sure what that says about Saddam Hussein's hold on them, but it may be apropos of our post-Saddam occupation of Iraq.

Beyond being an interesting read, the relevance of this book is the insight it provides into Arab sensibilities today. It shows a history of resistance to outside influences and an underlying sense of outrage at dar al-Harb for its lack of spiritual perfection.

Asad was a man before his time. His views - this book - provide the underpinnings of today's ideology of Islamism. "Never before, I reflected, have the worlds of Islam and the West come so close to one another as today. This closeness is a struggle, visible and invisible. Under the impact of Western cultural influences, the souls of many Muslim men and women are slowly shriveling." (371) He professed a balance with the West, but the seeds of conflict are clear.

Professor Said was correct. This book is definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely Worth Reading!
Review: Books about Islam and Arabia abound. Not surprisingly, most have a Western bias if for no other reason than they view events through Western eyes. Professor Edward Said once advised that to gain an understanding of Islam and Arabia one should read more than Bernard Lewis. He suggested two books: Classical Arab Islam (by Tarif Khalidi) and The Road to Mecca. Perusing the latter, one understands his point.

Muhammad Asad was a Polish-Austrian Jew born to an orthodox rabbi in Lwow (then a part of Austro-Hungary) in the summer of 1900 whose spiritual journey led him eventually to leave Judaism and embrace Islam. Though published in 1957, Asad is recounting events from the 1920s and early 1930s. The central thread is a haj to Mecca in 1932 via camel from the northern reaches of Saudi Arabia. He uses flashbacks to give the history of his travels and conversion.

His conversion started in adolescence. "Under the influence of an agnostic environment, I drifted...into a matter-of-fact rejection of all institutional religion." (61) Seeking adventure he joined the Austrian army toward the end of 1914. He was only 14, but tall. This made it easier to convincingly lie about his age. His father tracked him down, though, so his enlistment didn't last more than a few weeks. Four years later he was drafted into the army, "but by then was searching for other avenues to self-fulfillment." His draft enlistment was only a little longer than his previous one for soon Austria-Hungary was out of the war.

After attending a university for a time, he gave up his studies to pursue journalism. It wasn't the profession that drew him, per se, but rather wanderlust leavened with spiritual restlessness. This led him to the Middle East in 1922 where his growing rejection of Western materialistic egocentrism found root in Islamic values that revolve around the brotherhood of man and individual self-discipline.

Throughout his journey of conversion, as he drifted farther and farther from his familial and cultural roots, he was befriended by an interesting variety of Arabs. This included religious leaders and even the royal Saud family. He took an Arab wife (who bore him a son), lost her to illness, and later married a German woman (and another son) who shared his spiritual longing. His journeys, which have the flavor of Bedouin wanderings, took him throughout the Arab world, through circuits of Afghanistan and Iran that could be a geographic primer for contemporary military operations there, and even a foray into Libya in 1932 to gain intelligence for Crown Prince Saud concerning local resistance to Italian occupation.

The book is well written with a sophisticated style. Asad was in love with Arabia and Islam, and it shows in his descriptions of the land, his awakening, and all things Arab in a glowing, propagandistic prose.

He starts the book with a description of the West's cultural bias towards Islam, the beginnings of which he attributes to our Greco-Roman heritage. "Ever since Greek and Roman times, European thinkers and historians have been prone to contemplate the history of the world from the standpoint and in terms of European history and Western cultural experiences alone. Non-Western civilizations enter the picture only in so far as their existence, or particular movements within them, have or had a direct influence on the destinies of Western man; and thus, in Western eyes, the history of the world and its various cultures amounts in the last resort to little more than an expanded history of the West." (5) These insensitivities are also "rooted in impressions that were born during the Crusades." (7) "When, in his famous speech at Clermont, in November, 1095, Pope Urban II exhorted the Christians to make war upon the 'wicked race' that held the Holy Land, he enunciated - probably without knowing it himself - the charter of Western civilization." (9). Probably, indeed.

This book is part religion, part philosophy, and part cultural exploration. He contrasts Christianity, with its gradual withering of a strong spiritual hold on Western civilization, with Islam and its pervasiveness with Arabian spirituality and life. He recognizes that Arab culture is not as robust as it was centuries ago (e.g., 317), but he offers little explanation. (Ironically, he says, "It was not Muslims that had made Islam great; it was Islam that had made the Muslims great." (207)) He also describes the stubbornness of Arabs along with their history of a willingness to resist political repression regardless of the odds. He made particular mention of the people of Baghdad: "...a great strength was apparent in these men: the strength of hatred - hatred of the foreign power that denied them their freedom. The people of Baghdad had always been obsessed by longing for freedom as by a demon." (222-223) I'm not sure what that says about Saddam Hussein's hold on them, but it may be apropos of our post-Saddam occupation of Iraq.

Beyond being an interesting read, the relevance of this book is the insight it provides into Arab sensibilities today. It shows a history of resistance to outside influences and an underlying sense of outrage at dar al-Harb for its lack of spiritual perfection.

Asad was a man before his time. His views - this book - provide the underpinnings of today's ideology of Islamism. "Never before, I reflected, have the worlds of Islam and the West come so close to one another as today. This closeness is a struggle, visible and invisible. Under the impact of Western cultural influences, the souls of many Muslim men and women are slowly shriveling." (371) He professed a balance with the West, but the seeds of conflict are clear.

Professor Said was correct. This book is definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read
Review: I had heard about Muhammad Asad from his articles that he wrote on the vision of Pakistan. I was always intrigued by the clarity with which he wrote his ideas (Pakistan is no where close to how he envisioned it). I wanted to find out more about him. This book provided just that. Its a short summary of his prime years as a young man, how the Arab culture inspired him to study Islam and how his logical/analytical thinking guided him to truth. The way story has been laid out it is very captivating and eye opening from start to end.

Rating:
Summary: Simply incredible
Review: I had The Road to Mecca in my bookcase for more than a year before I finally opened it; and I have never stopped reading and rereading since.

It's not a usual theoretical book on religion; instead it is a travelogue, a journey of a mind, a cultural awareness of a people and a nation, and a rare insight and understanding into faith, psychology, development sociology, and world affairs.

Muhammad Asad starts off with a journey towards Makkah, spiritual home of Muslims, and through the trip we travel back and forth in his mind and through his conversations and communications with people, about his past; his journey from a young Austrian journalist into a Muslim. We move through Arab lands, meet people, explore ways of life and philosophies, understand history, and most of all, gain a rare insight into Islam and what it means. Asad shows us all aspects of life in those lands; through bazaars to palaces, along risky journeys and enthralling adventures, meeting Kings and bandits. His understanding is rare and gifted and the socio-political-religious world has not been explained better elsewhere.

For Muslims and non Muslims alike, it is a must read, capturing but not imposing, exploring and understanding.

Rating:
Summary: Thank You Asad
Review: I wish I had read it earlier. This book was an eye opener. I have learnt so much from it. Not only is it a beautiful sprirtual journey it is also a pleasurable use of the english language. Makes one wonder why his works are not known more. Thank you for the wonderful gift to us Asad, May Allah bless your soul

Rating:
Summary: If you search, you will find!
Review: In this book Muhammad Asad wrote his personal quest for the Right Path, this book is more like a story than autobiography. It starts with the story when he was traveling with his Arab friend in the Saudi Arabian desert on two dromedaries. This book mainly covers his journey to Middle East, when he was working as a journalist for German Newspaper.

I like his style of writing: He uses simple english, he can communicate his points very clearly, and he always keeps you interested. Being a western Muslim, his judgement and thoughts are different than that of born Muslims, this makes the book more interesting. Because for him simple things that he encountered during his journey was a big lesson, which many born Muslims don't realize. For example, in one of the chapters he questions the old Arab guy in Jerusalem: "Why do you pray, as you pray? Why do you have to perform all these movements with your body? You could just pray with your heart (as Christians do)". And the old man says: "Because God has created us in two forms, body and soul. That is why we pray with our heart (soul) as well as body. Because body and soul are together".

There are lots of things that will benefit you in this book. To get the real message, you must read it.

Rating:
Summary: Simply enlightening!
Review: M. Asad has written a truly inspiring work with "The Road to Mecca". As a foreign journalist in the Middle East, he was in a unique position to truly experience the culture and religion of the area and express his experiences in a way in which only a journalist could. What caught my eye was what happened when he returned to Europe where he suddenly felt like an outsider who was surrounded by people simply sleepwalking through their lives. It was after this revelation that he truly grasped the draw that so many feel towards Islam awakening within himself. As a muslim convert myself, I felt that this was something that I could closely relate to. Nonetheless, I believe that M. Asad's novel was not only inspiring but also a useful, insightful resource into understanding the countries and cultures of the Middle East; something which is useful to muslims & non-muslims alike. I would highly recommend this book to all.

Rating:
Summary: A remarkable book by an accomplished author
Review: Muhammad Asad's "The Road to Mecca" is unanimously considered to be one of the most important works on contemporary Islam in the past century. It is an enlivening tale of a man's incredible journey for knowledge and serenity. When he converted to Islam from Judaism and adopted Muhammad Asad as his name in 1926, Leopold Weiss was already a respected journalist in Europe. His popular travelogues about his journeys in Arabia gained wide readership through the Franfurter Zeitung, one of the foremost newspapers in Europe at the time.

The book starts with the writer narrating his voyage in a Saudi Arabian desert, proceeds to his childhood in Vienna, his struggling days in Frankfurt, to his eye opening experiences in Palestine, Iran, India, and finally coming full circle to Saudi Arabia. The Road to Mecca is commonly perceived as a tale that informs the reader about Asad's conversion to Islam. This is of course the most noticeable theme, but the story is also an important chronicle of the political, social and economic scenarios in Europe, Arabia and Asia at every stage of the book, which is itself spread on a canvas of about five decades. Some of the most insightful accounts of the leading figures of that time, like King Ibn Saud, Kemal Ataturk, Maxim Gorky and Riza Khan are presented with remarkable perceptiveness. The same acumen can be seen in Asad's understanding of the people he met and the lands he saw. Asad handles a wide variety of subjects with rare alacrity and clarity, with Islam, and his journey to it, being the underlying theme at all times.

The Road to Mecca is a travelogue, a lesson in history and politics, and a definitive presentation on Islam, all rolled into one. It is an extremely readable book, not only for readers who are interested in knowing more about Islam at this important juncture, but also for those who want to read one of the most clear-sighted illustrations of the first half of the 20th century.

Rating:
Summary: The Road to Mecca
Review: The Road to Mecca is a travel narrative by Muhammad Asad about his travels and experiences in the Middle East following his conversion to Islam.
I read this book for a college course, and it was the most enjoyable work of the semester. It is enjoyable to read. At points it is relaxing, at points it challenges one to examine one's own convictions.
As far as what Asad's purpose is in writing the book, it can best be described by two passages:

"[Asad has] set out to exchange one world for another - to gain a new world for yourself in exchange for an old one which you never really possessed." (pg 48)

and:

"The meaning of all my wanderings lay in a hidden desire to meet myself by meeting a world whose approach to the innermost questions of life, to reality itself, was different from all I had been accustomed to in my childhood and youth." (pg. 50).

All in all, a great read. Highly recommended.