Goldziher Ignác: Az arabok és az iszlám / The Arabs and Islam. 1. köt. Szerk. Ormos István. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. A 7.)

Előszó

FOREWORD With our present edition of a wide selection of works which Ignaz Goldziher (1850 — 1921) wrote originally in Hungarian on the Arabs and Islam, we want to render some outstanding achievements of Hungarian scholarship easily accessible to specialists. We also would like to draw the attention of the learned general public once again to these most exciting studies and essays, which can be understood without special previous training in most cases. These works have become nearly completely unknown to the general public. This is all the more deplorable since in the present situation we are facing one of those rather rare cases when we have at our disposal original Hungarian contributions from the pen of admittedly one of the foremost representatives — if not the foremost — of a completely international area of scholarly studies. These contributions amalgamate the serious requirements of high scholarly standard with a reserved, unpretentious and modest style of writing. Even if the long years that have since elapsed, have in some cases left their mark on the outlook as well as the contents of some of the works, they can still be perused with considerable benefit even today. This is due to their fresh approach as well as the rich material contained in them. At the same time these papers bring close numerous aspects of a world which has aroused considerable interest in recent years. The importance of Goldziher's works was recognized by his contemporaries even then: they respected him as one of the foremost Islamisants alive, if not the foremost one of all. This is no mean achievement by itself, yet what may seem extraordinary is the fact that Goldziher has retained his place in the orbit of scholarship. This has occurred notwithstanding the fact that scholarly studies have achieved considerable progress in the meantime, surpassing in volume nearly all conceivable limits yet becoming easily accessible beyond all comparison at the same time. This is proved by the appearance of reprints and new translations of Goldziher's works among others. Goldziher can count on the interest of the scholarly world, however, not only regarding his works: particular attention has been focused lately on his life and career, on Goldziher as a person, on Goldziher the phenomenon. From the rich harvest of the past one and a half decades, in this field of study we may pick out the sensational edition of his adult Diary

1, which was followed by the English 1 Ignaz Goldziher: Tagebuch. Hrsg. v. Alexander Scheiber. Leiden, 1978; Goldziher Ignác: Napló [Diary. Selection, edition, foreword and remarks by Alexander Scheiber, translation into Hungarian by Lívia Scheiber]. Budapest, 1985. XXII