Drawing Boundaries in Conversion

Muhammad Asad’s The Road to Mecca as a Spiritual and Sociopolitical Narrative

Abstract

This article examines Muhammad Asad’s The Road to Mecca, first published in 1954, through the lens of conversion narratives and boundary-drawing discourses. Asad’s autobiography recounts a spiritual journey from a Jewish upbringing in Europe to embracing Islam in the Middle East, presenting religious transformation not as a sudden epiphany but as a gradual, reflective process of learning and enlightenment. The analysis of this specific conversion narrative explores three types of boundary-drawing between the ‘West’ and ‘Islam’ by intertwining personal experiences, collective identities, and stereotypes with broader critiques of Western society. Asad’s depictions of the Islamic world, especially his romanticized view of Bedouin life and his critique of Zionism, modernity, and colonialism, reflect both classic orientalist topics and a reverse-orientalist stance. This article considers the implications of framing conversion as a progressive realization and the ways this rhetoric aligns with academic conversion theories. It further investigates Asad’s presentation of his pre-conversion attitudes as entirely negative and post-conversion as idealistic and salvific, contributing to a discourse of self-othering that embraces his new identity as an Islamic intellectual and diplomat. The findings suggest that Asad’s approach constructs a dichotomy between the West and Islam, offering new insights into the dynamics of conversion narratives and their role in shaping socio-religious identities.