DAMMAM, 23 January 2007 — The Austrian company Mischief Films is making a documentary on the life of Muhammad Asad, the most prominent Jewish convert to Islam in modern times. The film, Muhammad Asad — The Lion’s Journey, traces his life and journeys and the first scenes were shot recently on the Dammam-Riyadh train and in the surrounding desert.
Born Leopold Weiss in 1900 the son of a rabbi, Asad converted to Islam in 1926.
During the filming, the crew visited many tourist spots and historical sites in different areas of the Kingdom. Scenes were shot that reflect the environment this Islamic intellectual chose to live in during his life in the Kingdom.
Austrian director Georg Misch chose the railway station in Riyadh and the desert along the railway from Riyadh to Dammam to shoot some of the scenes. He explained that he wanted to bring to life Asad’s dream that he shared with King Abdul Aziz before he converted to Islam and that he interpreted later as a sign for his conversion.
Noman Kado, the Saudi director’s assistant, translator, writer and actor, told Arab News that the film crew visited many locations and met a number of officials in the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) to study the route used by the train. The film crew videotaped many scenes in the Dahna desert during three trips.
Kado said SRO offered a great deal of help in facilitating the filming. He said that SRO chief Khaled Al-Yahya directed his employees to smooth the way for the film team and provided valuable information that would boost the quality of the documentary.
The film crew chose the French trailer that belonged to one of the organization’s trains for conducting interviews with Saudis who have written about Asad and were influenced by him.
Among them were Saleh Al-Husain, the head of the Holy Mosques Affairs, Faisal ibn Muammar, a consultant to King Abdullah, Abdurahman Al-Shubaily, member of the Shoura Council, and Ibrahim Al-Bileihed, a newspaper columnist.
Asad was a descendant of a long line of rabbis in Lemberg in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which is now Lvov in Ukraine. After he conversion to Islam, he chose to be named Muhammad after the Prophet (peace be upon him). Asad is a literal translation of his first name, Leo, which means lion in Greek.
Asad documented his intellectual journey in “The Road to Mecca” which he wrote in 1952 and which has since been translated into many languages.
He worked as a correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung. It was during his assignments abroad that he gained insights into Islam.
