É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
HOPKINS, Simon: The Language Studies of Ignaz Goldziher
THE LANGUAGE STUDIES OF IGNAZ GOLDZIHER durchstreifen". 23 4 This is precisely what Goldziher did with the Arabic sources, of which he read, and re-read, 23 5 such a vast number. 23 6 Goldziher's writings on Islam were anchored solidly in the sources and grow naturally out of them; "jeder seiner Gedanken ist literarisch belegt". 23 7 It is precisely for this reason that they created such an impact and have retained their value to this day. Everything he wrote about Islam was based on a close reading of the texts of Islamic literature, and his approach to these was decidedly philological. It is true that he was primarily interested in the contents of these texts, but he was fully aware that nothing certain can be said about the contents of any text until the philological problems accompanying it have been solved. This was the tradition in which he was schooled, this is the tradition upon which Arabic studies were built and upon which they still firmly rest. Goldziher was a leading exponent of this great tradition of Semitic philology during the golden age of its development. In the field of Arabic and Islam his effortless mastery of a colossal amount of material, his wondrous familiarity with the sources and the formidable philological expertise which he applied to them had not been seen before and have not been equalled since. Within his vast contribution to building the foundations of our profession his language studies are a vital part. 23 4 Tagebuch 28. 23 5 Remarks such as "den Nawawi zum Muslim hatte ich nur zu wiederholen; nochmals arbeite ich Ibn Hazm ... durch" (Tagebuch 92), "Nochmals arbeitete ich die Agäni durch" (ibid. 110), "Auch Ibn Sa'd III. T. habe ich nochmals durchgelesen" (ibid. 310), "ich lese jetzt wieder die Lauteren Brüder. ... habe ich Gelegenheit genommen, die ganze Sache nochmals durchzuochsen" (Hanisch, Briefwechsel 198), "dann habe ich eine ganze Menge wieder gelesen" (ibid. 306) and "Ich denke ... das JÍÍJ des Ibn 'Arabi wieder einmal durchzunehmen" (ibid. 402) reveal the thoroughness of his method. 23 6 Reading was Goldziher's greatest pleasure (Hanisch, Briefwechsel 318). The phenomenal speed at which he read, the retentiveness of his memory and the expedience of his writing are well described by Yahuda, Der Jude 8 (1924), 579-580. 23 7 C. H. Becker, Der Islam 12 (1922), 216. 137
