In the early 1920s Leopold Weiss, a Viennese Jew, alienated by the materialism and spiritual emptiness of the West, travelled to the Middle East, visiting Jerusalem, Egypt, the Transjordan and Saudi Arabia. After studying the Koran, he left his Jewish roots behind, converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Asad.
Asad (1900-1992) became one of the most important Muslims of the 20th century, spreading its message of peace and brotherhood as a journalist and author of books such as Islam at the Crossroads, The Principles of State and Government in Islam and his autobiography, The Road to Mecca. He served as an advisor to the royal court of Saudi Arabia and was a co-founder of Pakistan and its Ambassador to the UN.
A ROAD TO MECCA traces his spiritual journey, from the Arabian desert to Ground Zero, visiting the places where Asad lived and travelled. Archival footage and photos and excerpts from Asad's writings are blended with contemporary interviews with writers, historians, scholars, and his friends and associates, revealing Asad's legacy as a modern theological thinker.
In portraying the lifelong evolution of the philosophy of Muhammad Asad, who sought to be a mediator between East and West, A ROAD TO MECCA provides a portrait of contemporary Islam, challenging deeply rooted Western prejudices by revealing the distance between fundamentalist beliefs that support terrorism and the core beliefs of a profoundly humane religion.
This archive documentary from 1973 explores the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which was relatively unknown and mysterious to the world in the 1970s and how it develops following the oil boom and increasing demand for the fuel.
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed presents the 20th Anniversary Edition re-release of the historical documentary film, "Mr. Jinnah: The Making of Pakistan." The documentary was part of Ambassador Ahmed's 1990s Jinnah Quartet of projects about the founder of Pakistan, which also included "Jinnah," a feature ...
Over 500 years ago, driven out by the Spanish Inquisition, Ismael Diadié's ancestors left Al-Andalus for Timbuktu. In 2012, Ansar al Din salafist fighters and their al Qaeda allies threatened to destroy the 500-year-old ancient Islamic library belonging to Diadié and his ancestors, which they had...