Post by Olena Stepanchenko-Crouch, GRP

From Lviv to the heart of Pakistan’s identity 🇺🇦🇸🇦🇵🇰 ​I’ve been diving into the life of Muhammad Asad lately, and as a Ukrainian in Saudi Arabia, his story hits home. He was ​born as Leopold Weiss in Lviv, Ukraine. He took a journey that sounds like a movie script - eventually becoming a key figure in the birth of Pakistan. ​Why he remains a giant in Pakistani history: ​ ✨️He was a close friend of Muhammad Iqbal (Pakistan’s spiritual father). Iqbal personally asked him to stay and help draft the intellectual foundatoins of the new state. ​✨️After independence, he headed the Department of Islamic Reconstruction. ​✨️He was Pakistan's first "Minister Plenipotentairy" to the UN, literally introducing the young nation to the world stage. ​✨️In a beautiful symbolic gesture, he was issued the very first Pakistani passport ever printed. I think it is ​quite rare to find one life that connects the streets of Lviv, the courts of King Abdulaziz in Riyadh, and the founding halls of Pakistan. ​As an expat, it’s a powerful reminder: our backgrounds aren't baggage - they are the very things that help us build something new in a foreign land. 🇺🇦🇸🇦🇵🇰 https://lnkd.in/d2QKpVyg #Riyadh #SaudiArabia #Pakistan ​