É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
DÉVÉNYI, Kinga: Information Exchange Before the Internet: On law aqsama alá lláh la-abarrahu in Goldziher's Correspondence
INFORMATION EXCHANGE BEFORE THE INTERNET ON LAWAQSAMA CALÄLLÄHLA-ABARRAHU IN GOLDZIHER'S CORRESPONDENCE Kinga Dévényi Budapest In an age when the scholarly exchange between Arab and non-Arab scholars is often hampered by the negative idea of "Orientalism", it might be interesting to shed some light on how those scholars to whom this label is too often attached worked. One of these scholars is Ignaz Goldziher. 1 During his life he corresponded^ with more than 1500 persons. Many of the letters were written by Arab scholars , some of whom Goldziher had met and befriended on his study tour 1 (like e.g. Tähir alJazä'iri 4), others he met at different oriental congresses, still others contacted him without being personally known to him. His many acquaintances from the Arab world included Mohammed Ben Cheneb (1869-1929), Muhammad Kurd CA1I (1876-1953), 1 Cf. Said (1985) who mentions Goldziher among the German (!) orientalists (p. 18). It goes without saying that Goldziher did not consider himself as a German scholar. Though Said, himself not knowing German, did not pay great attention in his work to those scholars who wrote in that language, he was bold enough in denouncing them on account of their alleged "intellectual authority over the Orient" (p. 19). An unbiased summary of Goldziher's scholarship - though under the general heading of'orientalists' - was written by alcAqIqI (1981) III, 40-42. Goldziher was highly esteemed by some Arab scholars as is evident from the view expressed by cAbd al-Rahmän Badawl writing about the Richtungen (1993), 203: A . „ Q\ja Ajá ul j — J* ' AlliaJI ^yi yht "'• " jiyill j I. ä"! 1 ,„ I ^ . J.j\ \ U M '1 j-. U) - IJSA J j . .1 , JA j ' 'ri " 'tj^jS J ' r Aj^tj JI jt- A jA^ SlliJl A ^ . J 6 J J . 1 j .a . -^.L, .1 : Goldziher's Correspondence is kept at the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (henceforth LHAS). For a first description of the Correspondence, see Somogyi (1935). See also Goitein (1948). Three voluminous correspondences have been edited so far: a selected correspondence of Goldziher and Theodor Nöldeke by Simon (1986), Snouck Hurgronje's letters to Goldziher by van Koningsveld (1985), and the correspondence of Goldziher and Martin Hartmann by Ludmila Hanisch (2000). 3 See his Oriental Diary. Cf. also Conrad (1990a), (1990b), and (1993). 4 On his role in Goldziher's life, see van Ess's article in the present volume and the sources cited therein. 21
