UNIS/VIC/161
10 April 2008
Area in Front of Vienna International Centre to be Named
"Muhammad Asad Square"
VIENNA, 10 April (UN Information Service) - The open area in front of Gate 1 of the Vienna International Centre (VIC) will be named "The Muhammad Asad Square" by the Mayor and Governor of Vienna, Michael Häupl, at an official ceremony on 14 April at 11:00 hours.
Muhammad Asad was born in 1900 in Lvov (now Ukraine), into a Jewish family as Leopold Weiss. Throughout his life, he campaigned for a better understanding between the Muslim world and the West and published a multitude of significant books, hundreds of articles and essays. His masterpiece is his translation and annotated commentary of the Quran into English, published in 1980, after 17 years of work. Asad also served as ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations. He died in 1992 in Andalusia, Spain.
The naming ceremony will be attended by Austrian Government officials, diplomats, members of civil society, NGOs and UN officials.
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