INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC THEORY AND LAW pdf download

Introduction To Islamic Theory and Law by IGNAZ GOLDZIHER

INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC THEORY AND LAW

This is a translation of the first edition (Heidelberg, 1910) of the Vorlesungen iiber den Islam. Only the passage on the Zaydis (Ch. V, Sec. 18) is taken from the second edition;

it is clear from the French translation by F. Arin that this passage was written by Goldziher, and in its revised form it rounds out Goldziher’s picture of the Shi’i imamate.

We retained Goldziher’s interpretation of Qur’an verses that some scholars understand differently. Occasionally, where in the German a hadith appears be¬ tween quotation marks but has been turned into oratio obliqua, we put it back into the looserform of the Arabic, as this did not affect the sense.

We changed the numbering of Qur’an verses to conform to the usage of modern Arabic editions and Western translations.

 In some instances we supplied the Arabic for words or phrases translated in the text.

All our additions are in square brackets. In a very few places, we decided that the reader would be best served by an explanatory translation.

For example, where Goldziher writes about ‘Abd al- Malik’s Hauspfaffe, we thought that “chaplain” would be perplexing, and wrote “confidential jurisconsult” instead, going back to Goldziher’s source, Ibn Qutayba.

 Once in a great while we found that the exact rendering of sense did not require in English as cluttered a sentence as Goldziher wrote in German. An example is the first sentence of Chapter V.