The Road to Mecca (The journey of Muhammad Asad) Georg Misch

The Road to Mecca is sort of a road documentary where the Austrian filmmakers follow the path of Muhammad Asad, a journalist, writer and diplomat. Asad is best known as a man who built up bridges between Islam and the West in the course of the 20th century.

The film starts in Lviv (nowadays Western Ukraine) that was the Austro-Hungarian hometown of Leopold Weiss (1900-1992). Weiss was born Jewish, but converted to Islam in his twenties and translated his name into Arab, so from that on he was called Muhammad Asad (literally ‘lion’). The documentary travels the path of life of Muhammad Asad: from Ukraine to Austria, Israel/Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. Although entering Mecca is not that simple for non-Muslim filmmakers, nevertheless it’s just a part of the journey Asad made in his lifetime. The film then travels to Pakistan, USA, Morocco and eventually Spain. The name Road to Mecca actually refers to the autobiography of Mohammad Asad.

To convert from a religion to another is not a simple matter. When Muhammad Asad told his father in 1926 that he had converted to Islam already some time ago and even changed his name, he was never again to be mentioned in his Jewish family. Asad had to follow his own path. He rightly did so: in Saudi Arabia, he even becomes friend with the King. Later on, he involves himself strongly to the birth of the Republic of Pakistan. This merits him a short envoi as the Pakistani representative in the United Nations. After a series of disillusionments in the political arena, our man moves to Morocco for making an acclaimed translation and commentary of the Qu’ran in English, a work of 17 years in total. At the end of his life he refuges in solitude to Spain, close to Granada.

While drawing the portrait of Muhammad Asad through the re-visiting of the key-places of his life, Georg Misch seems to adopt the attitude of his subject. The Austrian director thus shows a lot of respect toward different people and beliefs. Maybe the only time somebody is shown in a questionable light, is when the demographic planner of Israel tries to explain the idea behind the construction of the Israeli West Bank 8-meter-barrier that separates Israeli and Palestinian territories, quite controversially cutting the Palestine off. “We here, them there” is the logic.

The film contains plenty of archive material: classical images footage, but also a precious voice-recorded interview and an equally precious photo album with black-and-white photos of Asad and people he met during his journey. Cinematography of Joerg Burger is beautiful as well and works in favor of the story. For instance, images from the Saudi-Arabian Nafud desert make the spectator understand Mohammad Asad’s viewpoint: "Living in the desert and traveling in the desert brings one closer to God. It was the feeling of absolute loneliness facing God, the feeling of insignificance, and absolute dependence on one central power."

More the travel goes further, more we explore the many nuances of the man’s personality, and more we get through him a seemingly more profound understanding of the current state of the Islam World and Muslims. One question remains though: was Muhammad Asad – referred as ‘Europe’s gift to Islam’ – a modernist, or a reformist? The answer is to be found in Asad’s writings: “I am just a Muslim, who tries to find out in the text what is right at the current time.” The Road to Mecca portrays a lionhearted man with passion, modesty and sense of situation; more often than not ahead of his time.

Lasse Lecklin