Islam at the Crossroads

Islam at the Crossroads is a book written by Muhammad Asad . The book originally published in Delhi and Lahore in 1934, and was later reprinted by Dar Al-Andulas in 1982 with an additional note by the author. The book is a plea to Muslims to avoid blind imitation of Western social forms and values, and to try to preserve instead their Islamic heritage [ 2 ] , which once upon a time had been responsible for the glorious, many-sided historical phenomenon comprised in the term "Muslim civilization" . Asad dedicates the book to "the Muslim youth of today in hopes that it may be of benefit." Muhammad Asad born Leopold Weiss; 12 July 1900 - 20 February 1992 was a Jewish-born Austro-Hungarian 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 native languages German and Polish. By his mid-twenties, he could read and write in English, French, Persian and Arabic. In Mandatory Palestine, Weiss engaged in arguments with Zionist leaders like Chaim Weizmann, voicing his reservations about some aspects of the Zionist Movement. After travelling across the Arab World as a journalist, he converted to Islam in 1926 and chose for himself the Muslim name “Muhammad Asad”—Asad being the Arabic rendition of his root name Leo (Lion). During his stay in Saudi Arabia, he spent