Josef Horovitz (26 July 1874 – 5 February 1931) was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

orientalist.A son of Markus Horovitz (1844–1910), an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, Josef Horovitz studied with

Eduard Sachau Carl Eduard Sachau (20 July 1845 – 17 September 1930) was a German orientalist. He taught Josef Horovitz and Eugen Mittwoch. Biography He studied oriental languages at the Universities of Kiel and Leipzig, obtaining his PhD at Halle in 1867 ...

at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

and was there since 1902 as a

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

. From 1907 to 1915, he worked in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, at the

Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College ( ur, Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind, italics=yes) was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of taking it to a college level institution, known as Muhammed ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the cap ...

(later Aligarh Muslim University) and taught

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

at the request of the Indian government

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for Islamic

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the w ...

s. In this role, he prepared the collection ''Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica'' (1909–1912). After his return to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

he was from 1914 until his death

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at the Oriental Seminar of the University of Frankfurt. Since the foundation of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Horovitz was a member of its board of trustees. He founded there the Department of Oriental Studies, and was its director. He focused his studies initially on Arabic historical literature. Then he published a concordance of earlier Arabic poetry. The concordance consists of hundreds of thousands of cards each containing an Ara-bic word, its root, and its usages in different textual contexts in pre- and early Islamic Arabic poetry. In this manner, Horovitz aimed to reach a true understanding of a words meanings. In addition to the scientific significance of the concordance, Horovitz also hoped it would foster dialogue and understanding between intellectuals of Jewish and Muslim origin in Palestine.

Main work

His main work was a

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

on the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

, which remained unfinished. In his ''Qur'anic Studies'' (1926), he used his method of detailed analysis of the language of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

and his followers, and historical insights from his own study of early texts (''

Hebrew Union College Annual The ''Hebrew Union College Annual'' (HUCA) is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of Jewish studies. It was established in 1924 and is published by the Hebrew Union College. The editors-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also kn ...

'' 2, Cincinnati 1925), and in the ''Qur'anic paradise'' (Jerusalem 1923) he examined the relationship between Islam and Judaism. His work on India under British rule appeared in 1928 (Leipzig: BG Teubner) and extends from the first dynasty of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

Muslims until the emergence of

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. In response to

Ignác Goldziher Ignác (Yitzhaq Yehuda) Goldziher (22 June 1850 – 13 November 1921), often credited as Ignaz Goldziher, was a Hungarian scholar of Islam. Along with the German Theodor Nöldeke and the Dutch Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, he is considered the ...

's theory that

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

traditions were recorded late in the 2nd and 3rd Hijri centuries, Horovitz showed that the collection and writing of Hadiths started in the first quarter of the 2nd century.J. Horovitz: “The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors", translated from the German by Marmaduke Pickthall, Islamic Culture, vol 1, 1927, pp.535-559; vol 2, 1925, pp.22-50, 164-182 and 495-523

Bibliography

* J. Horovitz: “The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors", translated from the German by

Marmaduke Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called ''The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Qur ...

, Islamic Culture, vol 1: 1927, vol 2: 1925

Notes

Josef Horovitz' books at the Open Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horovitz, Josef German orientalists Jewish orientalists 19th-century German Jews People from Lębork People from the Province of Pomerania Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Historians of India German Arabists History of Quran scholars German male non-fiction writers 1874 births 1931 deaths Jewish scholars of Islam