É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
SKJAERV0, P. Oktor: Goldziher and Iranian Elements in Islam
P. OKTOR SKJ/ERV0 This other source he labels external , as opposed to the internal forces, namely foreign influences. By these he understands not only popular elements , which may contain pre-Islamic ideas, but also what he calls its universal , or canonical, formation. He recalls the fact that Islam, from its very beginnings, was exposed to Judaic and Christian influences, which can be observed in the Koran itself, and then points out that such influences continued to make their marks on Islam also during the first generations after the death of the Prophet, whether they were rejected or not by Muslim theologians (French text, 2, Eng. tr., 163-64). After these general observations, Goldziher then draws attention to the Persian influences on Islam, which, as he puts it (Fr„ 2, Eng. tr., 164): "in the two forms of borrowing and reaction, exercised a decisive influence on the formation and character of Islam." [my translation] It is absolutely necessary, he continues, for any Islamologist to have a good grasp of both Persian and Muslim religions in order to understand the latter. To prove his point, he cites Blochet's studies, notably of the Prophet's horse Borak on which he made his heavenly journey. Goldziher then proceeds to survey the Persian influence, beginning by a general remark on its more universal nature, pointing out the existence of numerous Persian borrowings in Hungarian, among which he cites the words isten, god, from izadatr, ördög, the devil, from druga, dévaj, a 'gaillard', from daéva, as well as Persian elements in ancient Hungarian art and archaeology. He goes on to cite his own hypothesis that Arabic historiography was inspired by the Sasanians, and I cite from the English translation (165-66; Fr., 4-5): "It was the immediate and permanent contact with Sasanian culture which gave to the Arabs, who were solely confined to poetry, the first impulse which permitted the expansion of a deeper intellectual life. I adhere for instance to my thesis which has been accepted by Professor Brockelmann in his History of Arab Literature that the writing of history on part of the Arabs has its roots in the literature of the royal annals of the Persians, that there would be no Arab historians if the first impulse had not been received by Arab litterateurs from Persia, and that it was this impulse which led them to make researches and preserve the historic memory of their own nation. The ante-Islamic Arabs were devoid of all sense of history. Their memory of the most ancient events does not go beyond the sixth Christian century, save for the traditions regarding the migrations of the southern tribes of Arabia towards the north. The events of the nearest past were veiled to them and floated in the clouds of myths. It was contact with Persian culture, contact which goes back to the remotest period of Islam, which decided the direction and the end of the development of the intellectual life of the Arabs." I doubt if anybody today would subscribe to this sweeping statement. In particular, from my side, I must stress that the Iranians themselves were quite devoid of any historical awareness in the modern sense of the word. Their histories were mostly nothing but stories incorporated into the national epic tradition as set down around the year 1000 by Ferdousi in his Book of Kings ( Shähnäme ). It can easily be 246
