After Abdullah Yusuf Ali, if anyone has performed the noble task of propagating the message of the Quran in English language, it is none other than Muhammad Asad through his translation and brief commentary of the Quran. His translation and commentary has addressed the western readers in a pragmatic way and has presented the message of the Qur'an with contemporary relevance. Although many translations of the Qur'an were written before but the literary flavour, intellectual depth and persuasive attraction found in his interpretation is not seen in other translations. Born in a Jewish family, Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) opened the eyes of consciousness in the skeptical and materialistic atmosphere of the West and after a long intellectual and spiritual struggle, eventually, he renounced his ancestral faith, and accepted Islam. His personal spiritual quest revealed to him the fact that Islam is the religion which has a flawless guidance regarding every aspect of human life and it has a potential to guide mankind according to its requirements. During his spiritual quest the Holy Qur'an was the immediate reason behind his change of the faith. He later recounts,

when he was fed up with the materialistic glitter and rat-race of the Western civilization, how a short chapter from the Holy Quran (Surah Al-Takathur) transformed his mental and spiritual horizon and he was moved to tears by these verses and it looked as if they have been revealed just for his guidance and he took refuge in the blessed lap of Islam.
After this outstanding incident of personal discovery, Muhammad Asad's
love for the Qur'an deepened and he began to take an extraordinary interest in understanding the message of the Qur'an. He spent the most precious moments of his life, as a student, in understanding the Qur'an. The biggest obstacle was his unfamiliarity with the Arabic language and literature. He dedicated himself to do research on the words and themes of the Qur'an and for that purpose he consulted noted scholars, Arabic dictionaries and even traveled to Saudi Arabia to get a local touch for understand the language of the Qur'an. He spent a good time with Arab Bedouins to understand their language vis-a-vis the language of the Qur'an.
In order to understand the Holy Quran, he tried to take help from the various available English translations and to his dismay, he realized that these translations have not been written from 'dawah' point of view and the contemporary requirements of the modern age have not been kept in mind. After a long research and understanding, he decided to translate the Qur'an in English and after 17 years of hard work and research, at the age of 80, he fulfilled the biggest dream of his life, and completed the unique English translation, interpretation and commentary of the Holy Quran. Firstly he translated the Qur'an in lucid prose with a unique literary taste. Later, he added footnotes to it based upon his understanding and completed 'The Message of the Quran' in a single volume consisting of more than a thousand pages. In this commentary, he has tried to address the modern mind and has tried to open new vistas of understanding the Qur'an.
There are many qualities that distinguish him from all other Quran scholars and commentators, such as his modern research approach, contemporary relevance, response to Western cultural paradigm, mastery on the Judeo-Christian tradition and the literary and allegorical understanding of the themes of the Quran. As far as the Western civilization is concerned, on the one hand he open-heartedly acknowledges it's positive side like scientific advancement and pragmatic outlook but on the other hand he unequivocally expresses its fundamental flaws as well.
He offers a critique of the Western purview of the universe, man, history, knowledge and society of which had a good understanding.
As far as English translations of the Qur'an are concerned, Muhammad Asad (1980) is the third Muslim translator after Pikthal (1930) and Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1934) to convey the message of the Qur'an on a mass scale through English language. Earlier, Alexander Ross and George Sale, in their translations adopted a biased and prejudiced approach and made efforts to distort the Qur'anic message for their vested interests. Muhammad Asad, through his translation and commentary, made a brilliant attempt to re-examine these distortions objectively.
Muhammad Asad's translation has an extraordinary literary sweetness and intellectual depth. On the first page, as a caption, he writes this part of a verse of the Qur'an: "liqaumin Yatafakarün" which translates as:
"For people who think"
That is to say that the message of the Qur'an can be grasped by those who think, thus Qur'an focuses on rational understanding of the Truth. According to the Qur'an, the reason is useful in the realisation of the truth but it needs to be kept under the guidance of revealed knowledge.
In the Foreword of his commentary, Muhammad Asad writes that two things distinguish the Qur'an from all other religious scriptures:
1.The Qur'an places more emphasis on reason and invites man to think and reflect in order to believe.
2.According to the Qur'an, a person's physical and spiritual life is interconnected, so social and religious life of an individual is inseparable
There is no contradiction in mundane and spiritual life. Islam is the religion based upon the requirements of human nature which simultaneously takes into account the social, political, intellectual, psychological spiritual and other needs of man. The inseparability of physical and spiritual aspects of man have particularly been addressed in the Holy Quran.
Since the intellectual tendency of modern man is mostly towards rational understanding, Muhammad Asad has made a good effort to remove the barriers in the rational and practical understanding of the Qur'an. Thus this translation is indispensable for the intellectual class of the society. (To Be Continued)

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