Ignác Goldziher

Ignác Goldziher

Ignác (Yitzhaq Yehuda) Goldziher (June 22, 1850November 13, 1921), often credited as Ignaz Goldziher, was a Hungarian orientalist and is widely considered among the founders of modern Islamic studies in Europe.

Biography

Born in Székesfehérvár of Jewish heritage, he was educated at the universities of Budapest, Berlin, Leipzig and Leiden with the support of Baron Eötvös, Hungarian minister of culture. He became "privatdozent" at Budapest in 1872. In the next year, under the auspices of the Hungarian government, he began a journey through Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and took the opportunity of attending lectures of Muslim sheiks in the mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo.

In 1890 he published "Muhammedanische Studien" in which he showed how Hadith reflected the legal and doctrinal controversies of the two centuries after the death of Muhammad rather than the words of Mohamed himself. He was strong believer in the view that Islamic law owes its origins to Roman Law but in the opinion of Patricia Crone his arguments here are "uncharacteristically weak". [Patricia Crone. "Roman, Provincial and Islamic Law". Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2002. ISBN 0521529492 p. 3]

He was the first Jewish scholar to become professor in Budapest University (1894), and represented the Hungarian government and the Academy of Sciences at numerous international congresses. He received the large gold medal at the Stockholm Oriental Congress in 1889. He became a member of several Hungarian and other learned societies, was appointed secretary of the Jewish community in Budapest. He was made Litt.D. of Cambridge (1904) and LL.D. of Aberdeen (1906).

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.

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". The following quotation from Goldziher's published journal provides insight into his feelings about Islam.

:Ich lebte mich denn auch während dieser Wochen so sehr in den mohammedanischen Geist ein, dass ich zuletzt innerlich überzeugt wurde, ich sei selbst Mohammedaner und klug herausfand, dass dies die einzige Religion sei, welche selbst in ihrer doktrinär-offiziellen Gestaltung und Formulirung philosophische Köpfe befriedigen könne. Mein Ideal war es, das Judenthum zu ähnlicher rationeller Stufe zu erheben. Der Islam, so lehrte mich meine Erfahrung, sei die einzige Religion, in welcher Aberglaube und heidnische Rudimente nicht durch den Rationalismus, sondern durch die orthodoxe Lehre verpönt werden. (p. 59)

:i.e., "In those weeks, I truly entered into the spirit of Islam to such an extent that ultimately I became inwardly convinced that I myself was a Muslim, and judiciously discovered that this was the only religion which, even in its doctrinal and official formulation, can satisfy philosophic minds. My ideal was to elevate Judaism to a similar rational level. Islam, as my experience taught me, is the only religion, in which superstitious and heathen ingredients are not frowned upon by rationalism, but by orthodox doctrine."

In Cairo Goldziher even prayed as a Muslim: "In the midst of the thousands of the pious, I rubbed my forehead against the floor of the mosque. Never in my life was I more devout, more truly devout, than on that exalted Friday." [ [http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/JewishDiscovery.htm The Jewish Discovery of Islam] by Martin Kramer]

Works

*"Tagebuch", edited by Alexander Scheiber (Leiden: Brill, 1978) ISBN 90-04-05449-9
*"zur Literaturgeschichte der Shi'a" (1874)
*"Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachgelehrsamkeit bei den Arabern" (Vienna, 1871-1873)
*"Der Mythos bei den Hebräern und seine geschichtliche Entwickelung" (Leipzig, 1876; Eng. trans., R Martineau, London, 1877)
*"Muhammedanische Studien" (Muslim Studies) (Halle, 1889-1890, 2 vols.) ISBN 0-202-30778-6
*"Abhandlungen zur arabischen Philologie" (Leiden, 1896-1899, 2 vols.)
*"Buch v. Wesen d. Seele" (ed. 1907)

References

References

*

See also

*Islamic scholars

External links

*A review of the book on Goldziher of the major contemporary scholar of his oeuvre, Róbert Simon: [http://www.ece.ceu.hu/?q=node/87]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Goldziher — Ignaz Goldziher Ignaz Goldziher Erinnerungstafel an seinem Geburtshaus in Stuhlweißenburg Ignaz (Isaak Yehuda) Goldziher (*  …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Goldziher — Gọldziher   [ tsiɛr], Ignác, ungarischer Orientalist, * Stuhlweißenburg 22. 6. 1850, ✝ Budapest 13. 11. 1921; ab 1904 Professor in Budapest; wurde als einer der Begründer der Islamwissenschaft bahnbrechend in der Kritik der islamischen Tradition …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Ignaz Goldziher — Ignaz (Isaak Yehuda) Goldziher (* 22. Juni 1850 in Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweißenburg), Ungarn; † 13. November 1921 in Budapest) war ein ungarischer Orientalist. Er publizierte einige seiner Werke auf Ungarisch, den Hauptteil jedoch in …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ignaz Goldziher — Ignác (Isaac Yehouda) Goldziher (Székesfehérvár, Hongrie, 22 juin 1850 Budapest, 13 novembre 1921) était un éminent spécialiste de l islam, et l un des pères de l orientalisme scientifique. Som …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tafsīr (Koranexegese) — Tafsīr, arabisch ‏ تفسير‎ „Erläuterung, Kommentar“, die Exegese des Korans, gehört zu den wichtigsten islamischen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen. Die klassischen Kommentare zum Korantext folgen überwiegend dem Aufbau des Korans nach Sure/Vers… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Maria al-Qibtiyya — Maria al Qibtiyya, ‏مارية القبطية‎, Māriya al Qibṭiyya, Maria die Koptin († 16. Februar 637 in Medina), war christliche Sklavin und Konkubine Mohammeds. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 1.1 Abstammung …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Shia Islam — Shia redirects here. For other uses, see Shia (disambiguation) …   Wikipedia

  • Zaidiyyah — Zaidi redirects here. For Zaidi (Last Name) and other uses, see Zaidi (disambiguation). Zayd ash Shaheed Imams of Shi a Islam …   Wikipedia

  • Székesfehérvár — Infobox Settlement image caption = Downtown image shield = WĘG Székesfehérvár COA.jpg subdivision type = Country subdivision name = HUN timezone=CET utc offset=+1 timezone DST=CEST utc offset DST=+2 pushpin pushpin label position = pushpin map… …   Wikipedia

  • Leone Caetani — (september 12 1869 – december 251935), Duke of Sermoneta (also known as Prince Caetani), was an Italian scholar, politician and historian of the Middle East. Caetani is considered a pioneer and founding father in the application of the Historical …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”