Muhammadan Studies

The book Muhammedanische Studien by the orientalist Ignaz Goldziher was published for the first time in the years 1889–1890. It consists of two parts that are dedicated to Goldziher's friends and professional colleagues C. Snouck Hurgronje (vol. 1) and August Müller (vol. 2). With this work, as with his later lectures on Islam (1910), both of which are still considered to be groundbreaking today, the author laid the foundations for modern Islamic studies . By locating the Islamic sources in the context in which they were created, Goldziher arrived at a dynamic understanding of Islam.

Summary

The introductory chapter of the first volume, Muruwwa and Din , explains the contrast between Muruwwa , the traditional knightly virtues in pre-Islamic Arabia , and Din , the revelation of God. A similar tension is discussed in the second chapter: The Arab tribal system and Islam . Here the contrast between the principles of Islam and traditional life in the tribal association is described, in which the often hostile demarcation measures between neighboring tribes and the traditional origins of noteworthy and glorious ancestors are of decisive importance. In particular in hadiths that are narrated after the death of Muhammad , old tribal feuds become irrelevant when the equality and brotherhood of all Muslims is proclaimed in the umma . The second volume deals with the development of the Hadith on the one hand and the veneration of saints in Islam on the other . The presentation of one of the central scientific disciplines of Islam, Hadith and Sunna, has lost none of its importance after more than a hundred years of publication.

Angelika Neuwirth points out that the science of Judaism plays an important role in Goldziher's research on Islamic studies. The historical-critical Koran research of German-speaking Jews of the 19th century begins with Abraham Geiger's dissertation “What did Mohammed take in from Judaism?” (1833) and Gustav Weil's “Historical-critical introduction to the Koran” (1844). This research work, a later offshoot of the Jewish Enlightenment , continued at the beginning of the 20th century until the University for the Science of Judaism was closed in 1942 and this tradition was violently broken off by the National Socialist regime.

expenditure

• Muhammadan Studies . 2 vols. Halle, Niemeyer. 1889–1890 ( digitized version )
• Muhammadan Studies , 2 volumes in 1 volume. Olms Verlag 2004. ISBN 978-3-48712-606-7 .

Translations

• English: Samuel Miklos Stern: Muslim Studies , 1968. Volume 1 , Volume 2
• French partial translation: Etudes sur la tradition islamique . Extraites du tome II of "Muhammadan Studies" (= Initiation à l'Islam, VII) Paris, Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient, Adrien Maisonneuve, 1984. Review (English) Partial online view

literature

• Dirk Hartwig, Walter Homolka, Michael J. Marx, Angelika Neuwirth (eds.): "In the full light of history". The science of Judaism and the beginnings of Koran research. ERGON Verlag, 2008. ISBN 978-3-89913-478-0 .

Web links

• The science of Judaism and the beginnings of historical-critical research on the Koran and Islam: A contribution to the German-Jewish history of science

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brillonline
2. ^ Raphael Patai: Ignaz Goldziher and His Oriental Diary. A Translation and Psychological Portrait. Detroit 1987. p. 68; Róbert Simon (Ed.): Ignác Goldziher: His life and scholarship as reflected in his works and correspondence. Brill, Budapest 1986, p. 99ff.