Muhammad Asad (1900-1992), the Jewish convert to Islam who rose to fame with his autobiographical work, The Road to Mecca, and Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2003), the Bosnian leader during the Balkan wars, were men imbued in Islam's spiritualising and moralising force that translated into political activism. Their intellectual journeys will inspire a younger generation of concerned Muslims, who look to religion not just as a private affair or cultural phenomenon, but as a paradigm with its own norms and notions, including the project of an Islamic state.