The life Of Muhammad Asad , Leopold Weiss (1900-1992)

attributed to man but what he himself has striven for [Qur'an53:39]. No asceticism was required to open a hidden gate to purity:for purity was man's birthright, and sin meant no more than a lapsefrom the innate, positive qualities with which God was said to haveendowed every human being. There was no trace of any dualism inthe consideration of man's nature: body and soul seemed to betaken as one integral whole."After traveling much of Central Asia, he was now in Afghanistan. He wasonce traveling from Kabul toHerat on horseback through the snowcoveredvalleys of Hindu-Kush when his horse lost an iron shoe. So hehad to stop the trip for a few days and go to a village to have the shoerepaired. A hakim (district governor) in Afghanistan came to know about a"foreigner" visiting his area. He invited Weiss to spend an evening and anight with him. Weiss, who spoke Persian fluently by that time, acceptedthe invitation. After the dinner, a villager entertained them with a song andhis three-stringed lute. The room was carpeted and warm and it wassnowing outside, which could be glimpsed through the window. The songwas about David's fight with Goliath ...When it ended, the hakim remarked: "David was small, but his faith wasgreat."I could not prevent myself from adding: "And you are many, but your faithis small."My host looked at me with astonishment, and, embarrassed by what I hadalmost involuntarily said, I rapidly began to exam myself. My explanationtook the shape of a torrent of questions:"How has it come about that you Muslims have lost your self-confidence— that self-confidence which once enabled you to spread your faith, in lessthan a hundred years, from Arabia westward as far as the Atlantic andeastward deep into China —and now surrender yourselves so easily, so