Goldziher

Ignác Goldziher (1850–1921) was a Hungarian orientalist and a foundational figure in modern Islamic studies in Europe. A Jewish intellectual, he established a methodological framework for studying Islam that combined philology, textual criticism, and historical context rather than reliance on faith or tradition alone.

Goldziher is best known for his critical examination of early Islamic literature, particularly hadith, and for arguing that much of the traditional material about the Prophet and the early Muslim community was formed in later centuries and shaped by juristic and theological concerns. His work emphasized the need to analyze Islamic sources as historical artifacts, to understand their development within specific social and intellectual contexts, and to distinguish between different kinds of religious literature.

His most influential work, Vorlesungen über den Islam (Lectures on Islam), published in the 1880s, laid out a systematic history of Islamic origins and the evolution of Islamic law and theology. He treated the Qur’an, the Hadith literature, and the legal schools as subject to close philological and source-critical analysis, helping to establish a rigorous Western approach to Islamic studies. Goldziher’s methodology and insights influenced a generation of scholars and helped shape the standard for scholarly inquiry into Islamic texts in the 20th century, including figures such as Joseph Schacht. He remained active in Hungarian and international scholarly circles until his death in 1921.