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This second installment of hitherto unpublished letters of Muhammad Asad and his fourth wife, Pola Hamida Asad, shed new light on the life and intellectual activities of Muhammad Asad over an extended period of time (1946-1992). The first letter, written shortly after Asad's release after six years of internment during World War II, expounds on his future plans and provides details of little-known aspects of his family life. The last letter, written by Pola Hamida shortly after Asad's death in 1992, is an abrupt rejoinder to "a most insensitive request. After all, I was his constant companion for almost forty years and my loss is very great; it is too painful for me to write these details at the request of a curious journalist-even if you were really an old friend." Taken together, these letters provide a rare insight into making of Asad's intellectual and personal life, his relationships with family and friends and they will also be valuable for a future biography of Asad. The letters are being published as they were written, without any changes to the text.
Keywords: Muhammad Asad; Pola Hamida Asad; Munira Asad; Talal Asad; Islamic intellectual history; Pakistan; English translations of the Qur5ān; Formative currents in twentieth century Islamic thought; politics and culture of the colonial era; British Raj; Islam, Muslims and the challenge of modernity; The Road to Pakistan.
Letters 1-2
To Malik Muhammad Ashraf (Gujrat, Pakistan, 1946)
Malik Muhammad Ashraf (1915-1981) was a devoted friend of Iqbal who met Asad during his visits to Iqbal. Two letters of Asad to Ashraf were published in the previous installment of Asad's letters in the winter 2016 issue of this journal. The first of the two letters included in this issue was written on January 24, 1946, five weeks after his release from internment (1939-December 1945), indicating his future plans: the establishment of an Islamic Research Institute, starting a monthly journal (Arafat), resuming the publication of his English translation of Sahīh al-Bukhārī, work on a revised edition of Islam at the Crossroads and another book on Islamic law. The second letter was written in April 1946 when Asad is already "overworked"; he is fully immersed in his one-man journal, he works 8-10 hours per day; he has no time...