A Short History of Classical Arabic Literature

by Ignaz Goldziher, Joseph Desomogyi (Translator)

Klasik Arap Literaturu

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Ignác Goldziher was a Hungarian orientalist and scholar of Islam. Along with the German Theodore Nöldeke and the Dutch Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, he is considered the founder of modern Islamic studies in Europe. He represented the Hungarian government and the Academy of Sciences at numerous international congresses, and in 1889 he received the large gold medal at the Stockholm Oriental Congress. His eminence in the sphere of scholarship was due primarily to his careful investigation of pre-Islamic and Islamic law, tradition, religion and poetry, in connection with which he published a large number of treatises, review articles and essays contributed to the collections of the Hungarian Academy. Most of his scholarly works are still considered relevant. And in addition to his scholarly works, Goldziher kept a relatively personal record of his reflections, travel records and daily records. This journal was later published in German as Tagebuch. In his numerous books and articles, he sought to find the origins of Islamic doctrines and rituals in the practices of other cultures. In doing so, he posited that Islam continuously developed as a civilization, importing and exporting ideas.

Reviews

[Alan]

Originally written as a textbook for eighth grade Bosnian Muslims in the early 1900s. Exhaustive but dry. Far more useful as a reference than as a readable introduction to the history of Arabic literature. There is nothing off the beaten track here, because Goldziher is the one who beat the track in the first place.

[Ali]

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