Henri Lammens

Henri_Lammens

Henri Lammens (1 Jul 1862 – 23 Apr 1937) was an Orientalist historian and Jesuit. He is most notable for his books on the early history of Islam. He wrote in French.

Education and career as a Jesuit

Born in Ghent, Belgium of Catholic Flemish stock, Henri Lammens joined the Society of Jesus in Beirut at the age of fifteen, and settled permanently in Lebanon. During his first eight years in Lebanon, Lammens mastered the Arabic language, as well as Latin, and Greek, and he studied philosophy at the Jesuit-run Saint Joseph University in Beirut. Between 1886 and 1891 he taught the Arabic language at the same university. His early published writings are on the subject of Arabic language. Starting in 1903 he taught Islamic history at the Oriental Studies Department at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. In 1907 he went to the Jesuit-run universities at Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt to do the same, and returned to Beirut in 1919. He also lived in Rome for a while.[1]

Lammens on The Qurân

From La Syrie Précis Historique, Vol. 1, p. 162, Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1921:

″Au point de vue philologique, le style est d'une remarquable perfection, dans celle première œuvre en prose de la littérature arabe et il n'y a pas lieu de s'étonner qu'il ail servi de canon pour fixer les règles de là grammaire nationale.″ ″From the point of view of philology, the style is of remarkable perfection, in that first prose work of Arabic literature, and it is not surprising that it has served as a canon for fixing the rules of National grammar.″

From: Islam Beliefs and Institutions, Engl. translation by Sir E. Denison Ross, pp. 40–41, London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1968. (The sentence mentioning Dr. Tâhâ Hussain occurs in the Third "Revised & Augmented" French Edition of this book, Beirut, 1943).

″From the point of view of philology, the sentences run flowingly, especially in the post-Hijran Sûras, and this first prose work of Arabic literature achieves a remarkably finished style. Some Orientalists have alleged that it has been touched up in order to bring the language to the standard of perfection set by the pre-Islâmic poets. On the other hand, Dr. Tâhâ Hussain argues that the ancient divâns were adapted to the Qurayshî dialect, that of the Qurân.

″In that case we must suppose that these purists in their revision have paid no attention to the extremely primitive rhymes of the most recent Sûras and above all that they have passed over slight faults of grammar and style which it would have been so easy to rectify. (Qurân 20, 66: inna followed by a nominative; Qurân 49,9: dual subject of a plural verb). In Qurân 2, 106; Qurân 4, 40-41, the predicate is singular in the first clause of the sentence, and in the plural in the second although relating to the same grammatical subject. In Qurân 27, 61; Qurân 35, 25, passim, Allah speaks in the third person; then, without transition, in the first. Thus in Qurân 2, 172, the celebrated philologist Al-Mubarrad read al-barr instead of al-birr, in order to avoid this singular construction: “piety is he who...”

″In spite of all this there is no occasion for surprise in the fact that the Qurân, especially the Medinese Sûras with, their more polished phrases, less interspersed with ellipses and anacolutha than the pre-Hijran ones, has served as the standard for fixing the rules of national grammar.″

Lammens on the Initial Expansion of Islam

From: Le Berceau de l'Islam: l'Arabie occidentale à la veille de l'hégire, Vol. 1: Le climat, les Bédouins, Rome: Sumptibus Pontificii Instituti Biblici, 1914, p. 177:

″[Rapid] Sandification [of parts of Arabia], desertification, cosmic and climatological evolution? In our view, Islamic expansion involves an even more down-to-earth explanation: It was born of an irresistible penchant for raiding (l'irrésistible penchant à la razzia) which animated all the Arabs. The success of these tumultuous incursions, due to a better military organization, belatedly suggested to them the idea of occupation and conquest, an idea absent at the beginning.″

Lammens on the Universality of Islam as a Religion

From: Etudes Sur le Règne du Calife Omaiyade Mo`awia Ier, Troisième Série, Beirut, 1908, pp. 421–22 (footnotes renumbered):

Vers la fin de sa carrière, dans la sourate neuvième, véritable khutba guerrière, Mahomet a résumé la ligne de conduite à observer vis-à-vis des « gens de l'écriture ». Or dans ce programme il est question non de les prêcher mais de « les combattre jusqu'à ce que, de guerre lasse, ils paient la jizya ». (1) Voilà comment il entend faire «triompher la religion de vérité sur toute religion» (2). Le triomphe, entrevu par lui, est exclusivement politique; il préconise l'assujettissement d'une caste à l'autre, et non pas une conquête religieuse, celle des intelligences et des cœurs. (Comp. Caetani, Annali, II, 1083). (3) La «Dawâ», l'invitation à l'islam n'est pas une condition indispensable. (Tirmidhî, Sahîh, I, 292). A la même époque, dans ce cerveau agité, où les idées successives se heurtaient tumultueusement, la formule de l'islam, «religion nationale des Arabes », aurait fini par surgir. Ce fut du moins la théorie préconisée par ses successeurs immédiats, Aboû Bakr et 'Omar (4). Resterait à savoir, si sur ce point ils n'ont pas élargi le plan primitif du Maître (5), comme cela leur est arrivé en d'autres circonstances. Le Prophète aimait à désigner du nom de ommati, ma nation, l'ensemble de ses adhérents, sans distinction de tribus. Celles-ci, il aurait souhaité les voir fusionner sous la bannière de l'islam. Le terme de Omma paraît avoir eu pour les contemporains de Mahomet la signification spéciale de communauté religieuse (6). Un poète, adversaire de Mahomet, appelle également ses sectateurs âl-i-Muhammad, famille de Mahomet (7). Dans les premières années de l'hégire, rien de plus fréquent que cette expression «ommat Mohammad» pour désigner la jama`a islamique. Ces indices suffisent-ils pour attribuer au Prophète la claire perception d'une religion universelle? Certains orientalistes l'ont pensé (8) et les Sahîh l'affirment (9) ou plutôt essaient de se le persuader, au moyen de hadît prophétiques, comme les suivants : «Parmi les envoyés d'Allah, je compterai le plus d'adhérents», et encore : «tous les hommes croiront en moi»; mais ce bienheureux moment sera en même temps «le signal de la fin du monde» (10). La plupart de ces hadît sont morsal, émanent d'inconnus, comme le maulâ Taubân ou d'imposteurs notoires, comme Aboû Horaira. D'autres fois ils paraphrasent le verset du Qurân (XXXIV, 28) : « nous t'avons envoyé à tous les hommes ». Dans ce passage, comme le montrent le contexte (11) et la concordance qoranique (12), il s'agit de Arabes et des contemporains du Prophète.

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(1) Qurân IX, 29.

(2) Qurân IX, 33.

(3) Caetani's actual words are: «Invano si cercherebbe nel Quran un invito a morire per la fede. Maometto promette ai credenti un lauto compenso nell'altra vita: fanciulle adorabili intatte, che dopo ogni amplesso, tornano ad essere vergini come prima: bevande deliziose, giardini incantevoli, frutti delicati ed eterna gioia. Ma questi compensi erano promessi in cambio di servizi resi all'Islam ed al Profeta, rimanendo sempre in vita. L'idea del martirio, della morte per la fede, concetto altamente cristiano, s'infiltrò in appresso nello spirito dell'Islam, quando centinaia di migliaia di Musulmani erano apostati cristiani.»

(4) De là, la politique, suivie par ce dernier envers Najrân et Taghlib; de là aussi la repression impitoyable de la ridda.

(5) Dans Moslim, Sahîh, I, 54, 2 — hadît très suspect— le Prophète affirme seulement, pour tous les Arabes “min hadhih l-Ummati” la nécessité de croire en lui, s'ils veulent échapper à l'enfer.

(6) Cf. Wellhausen, Ehe, p. 475, n. 1. Comp. Qurân, III, 106 ; X, 48 ; XVI, 38. Julius Wellhausen's actual words are: «Der Name Mutter selber bedeutet auch Volk, Stamm, Gemeinde. Das Wort Ummâ seheint freilich aramäischen Ursprungs zu sein (im Singular mit Femininendung, im Plural zum Theil mit Masculin-, z. Th. mit Femininendung). Im Hebräischen ist es spät (Gen. 25, 26. Num. 25, 15. Ps. 117, 1); im Arabischen bedeutet es die Religionsgemeinde und die Religion selber (schon Nab. 17,21: "Begeht denn eine Schuld ein Mann, der sich gehorsam an ein Herkommen halt"). Vielleicht gehört auch LAM hieher, wenn man die Annahme wagen darf, daß es gebildet ist wie die Eigennamen Lischams und (nach Nöldeke) Lemoel.»

(7) Qotaiba. Poesis, 60, 1.

(8) Cf. Caetani, Annali, I, 204, 208, 726.

(9) For example Bokhârî, I, 93, 4 a. d. l.

(10) Muslim, Sahîh, I, 53, 55. Cf. Ibid, 147 ; II 362. Mahomet affirme avoir reçu les clés de la terre ; parmi les Prophètes aucun ne verra arriver autant d'adhérents à son bassin ; sa nation occupera toute la terre. Bokhârî, IV, 175, 209 ; Tirmidi, Sahih,i, I, 293, 8 a. d. l.; 294, 4 ; II, 72.

(11) Comp. Qurân, XXXIV, 28.

(12) Kâfa’ n'a pas un sens universel: comp. Qurân, 2:208, 9:36, surtout 9:122; les autres versets, cités en faveur de l'universalité de l'islam sont: III, 87; XXI, 107; XXV, 1. Comp. Gâhiz, Hayawan, V, 25.

 Towards the end of his career, in the Ninth Quranic Sura, a real battle-sermon, Muhammad summarized the line of conduct to be observed with regard to "People of the Scriptures." But in this program it is not a question of preaching them but of "fighting them until, weary of war, they pay the jizya." (1) This is how he intends to "triumph the religion of truth over every religion." (2) The triumph, perceived by him, is exclusively political; he advocates the subjection of one caste to the other; and not a religious conquest, that of the minds and the hearts (Comp. Caetani, Annali dell'Islâm, (Milan, 1907), Vol. II, tomo ii, p. 1083). (3) The "dawa", the invitation to Islam, is not an indispensable condition (Tirmidhî, Sahîh, I, 292; [*]). At the same time, in that agitated brain where successive ideas clashed tumultuously, the formula of Islam, the "national religion of the Arabs," would have risen to the surface. This was at least the theory advocated by his immediate successors, Abu Bakr and Omar (4). It remains to be seen whether, on this point, they have not enlarged the Master's original plan, (5) as has happened to them in other circumstances. The Prophet had a liking for designating by the name Ummati, my nation, the whole of his adherents, without the distinction of tribes. He would have liked to see them merge under the banner of Islam. The term Umma seems to have had for the contemporaries of Muhammad the special meaning of religious community (6). A poet, -- an adversary of Mohammed, -- also calls his followers âl-i-Muhammad: the family of Muhammad. (7) In the early years of the Hijra, nothing is more frequent than this expression "Ummat Muhammad" to designate the Islamic jama'a [group]. Are these indications enough to attribute to the Prophet the clear perception of a universal religion? Some Orientalists have reflected upon it (8) and the Sahihs [Books of Hadîth] affirm it (9) or rather try to convince themselves, by means of prophetic hadīth, such as the following: "Among the envoys of Allah I will count the most adherents", and again: "all men will believe in me "; but this blessed moment will at the same time be "the signal of the end of the world" (10) Most of these hadîth are ‘mursal’ [i.e. technically one in which the narrator between the Successor and Muhammad is omitted from its isnad], emanate from unknown figures, like the maulâ Thaubân or notorious impostors, like Abû Huraira. At other times they paraphrase the verse of the Qurân (XXXIV, 28): "We have sent you to all men." In this passage, as the context (11) and the Quranic concordance (12) show, they are Arabs and contemporaries of the Prophet.

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(1) Qurân IX, 29.

(2) Qurân IX, 33.

(3) Leone Caetani's actual words may be translated as: "One would in vain seek in the Quran an invitation to die for one’s faith. Muhammad promised believers a generous compensation in the next life: adorable untouched girls that, after each intercourse, become virgin as before, delicious drinks, enchanting gardens, delicate fruits and eternal joy. But these rewards were promised in exchange for services rendered to Islam and the Prophet, while remaining alive. The idea of martyrdom, of death for faith, a highly Christian concept, was infiltrated hereinafter in the spirit of Islam, when hundreds of thousands of Christians apostatized to Islam."

[*] Also cf. the following response attributed to Muhammad when one `Uttâb b. Shumîr mentioned about his attempt of proselytizing his old father and brothers: «'in hum 'aslimû fa hua khayrun lahum wa 'in hum aqâmû fa-l-Islâmu wâsi`u aw `arîzu»; i.e. "If they turn to Islam, it is well; if not, they remain [in their former faith]; as Islam is wide or broad" (Ibn S`ad, Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr, Vol. 6, edited by K.V. Zetterstéen, p. 30, line 10, Leiden: Brill, 1909).

(4) Hence the policy followed by the latter towards Najran and Taghlib; hence also the ruthless repression of the ridda.

(5) In Muslim, Sahîh, I, 54, 2 – a very suspect hadīth - the Prophet only affirms, for all Arabs "min hadhih l-Ummati" the need to believe in him if they want to escape hell.

(6) Cf. Wellhausen, Ehe, p. 475, n. 1. Comp. Qurân, III, 106 ; X, 48 ; XVI, 38. Julius Wellhausen's actual words may be translated as: "The noun Mother [Umm] itself also means people, tribe, community. The word Ummâ certainly appears to be of Aramaic origin (in the singular with feminine ending, in the plural, partly with masculine-, partly with feminine-ending). In Hebrew it is late (Genesis 25, 26, Numbers 25, 15, Psalms 117, 1); in Arabic it means the religious community and religion itself (as in the following hemistich of the pre-Islamic poet al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, c. 535 – c. 604: "wa hal ya'thaman dhu Ummatin wa huwa tā'i'u": "Can a man belonging to a religion (or religious community) err if he is pious?", Poem No. 17, Verse No. 21 in: W. Ahlwardt, Diwans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets, London, 1870). Perhaps [the Hebrew] LAM [Lamed-Alif-Mem] belongs here, too, if one may venture to assume that it is formed the same way as the Proper Nouns Lisham, and (according to Nöldeke) Lemoel."

(7) Qotaiba, Poesis, 60, 1.

(8) Cf. Caetani, Annali, I, 204, 208, 726.

(9) For example Bokhârî, I, 93, 4 a. d. l.

(10) Muslim, Sahîh, I, 53, 55. Cf. Ibid, 147 ; II 362. Muhammad affirms having received the keys of the earth; among the Prophets none will get so many adherents as his ‘pelvis’; his nation shall occupy the whole earth. Bokhârî, IV, 175, 209 ; Tirmidi, Sahih, I, 293, 8 a. d. l.; 294, 4 ; II, 72.

(11) Comp. Qurân, XXXIV, 28.

(12) Kâfa’ does not have a universal signification: comp. Qurân, 2:208, 9:36, especially 9:122; Other verses quoted in favor of the universality of Islam are: III, 87 (wa-nâsi ajm`aîn); XXI, 107 (rahmatal li-l `âlamîn); XXV, 1 (li-l `âlamîna Nadhîra). Comp. Gâhiz, Hayawân, V, 25. With reference to these Qurânic verses also compare C. Snouck Hurgronje, Mohammedanism, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1916, p. 49, n. 1: Lil-nâs is not "to mankind" but "to men," in the sense of "to everybody"... When the Qurân is called an "admonition to the world (`âlamîn)" and Mohammed's mission a "mercy to the world (`âlamîn)," then we must remember that `âlamîn is one of the most misused rhymewords in the Qurân (e. g., Qurân, xv., 70) ; and we should not therefore translate it emphatically as "all created beings," unless the universality of Mohammed's mission is firmly established by other proofs. And this is far from being the case.

Lammens on the Conflict between Regressive and Reformist Muslims

From: La crise intérieure de l'Islam, in: Études, Vol. 186 (1926), pp. 145-6:

"L'Islam se trouve à la croisée des chemins. Il devine vaguement que le moment est venu de jeter du lest... C'est lui qui isole les musulmans de la société contemporaine. C'est lui qui, dans les pays non-musulmans, les empêche d'obtenir le privilège qui leur est offert, l'entière égalité civique. Le livre d'Abderraziq leur suggère qu'ils peuvent en sûreté de conscience envisager la refonte d'une législation où leur Prophète n'a eu en vue ni tous les temps ni tous les lieux. C'est ce que pense également une élite musulmane." "Islam has arrived at the crossroads. It vaguely senses that the moment has come to make concessions... Because of it, the Muslims in contemporary society stand isolated. It is the one which prevents them in non-Muslim countries from obtaining the privilege that is offered them: full civic equality. The book of Ali Abdel Rāziq [al-Islām wa Usûl al-Hukm, Cairo, 1925] suggests them that they can, with surety of mind, envisage the redrafting of a legislation where their Prophet had not in view all the times and all the places. This is how the Muslim elite also think."

From: Islam Beliefs and Institutions, Engl. translation by Sir E. Denison Ross, pp. 224-5, London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1968:

"With the exception of the old conservatives, all Muslims are conscious of the urgent need to carry out reforms and come to terms with modern progress. But each party envisages the transformation in its own way... The Moslem World [Volume 13, Issue 3, (July 1923), p. 285] speaks of 6 to 10 million Muslims who are alleged to have adopted Western Culture and to have broken with the traditional type of ancient Islamic Orthodoxy so completely that they may be classed as modern Muslims. We do not know on what data these summary calculations are based, but it would be just as rash to deny the internal crisis through which Islam is passing as to attempt at the present time to prophecy its issue."

Lammens' writings on medieval Islam

He published a series of studies on the Umayyads and several on Pre-Islamic Arabia (including Etudes sur le regne du calife Omaiyade Mo'awia ler (1908), Le berceau de l'Islam; L'Arabie occidentale à la veille de l'Hegire (1914)), and on the history of Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet Mohammed (including Fatima et les filles de Mahomet; Notes critiques pour l'etude de la Sira (1912)). He contributed many articles to the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, as well as to various learned journals.

His contributions to the early history of Islam are considered influential among Western historians of Islam; and yet he has often been criticized for his skewed portrayal of some historical issues. It is acknowledged "that Lammens provided the study of the Sîra with a new basis" ("Er hat das ganze Sîraproblem auf eine neue Basis gestellt");[2] and "none would underestimate his contributions on the history of the Umayyads."[3] Lammens was very well read in medieval Arabic writings, and he used this knowledge to good effect to produce evidence-based history reports. At the same time, however, he had a very negative view of Islam, which, in his view, had a unique political dimension that had adversely affected the development of the Arab world. Also, throughout his years living in Lebanon and Egypt, in addition to a very pro-Christian bias, he had a "commitment to European imperialism and a belief in the superiority of Western civilization".[1] Numerous historians during his lifetime deplored the overly hostile attitude against Islam transpiring in his books.

Writing in 1926 Arthur Jeffery notes "Lammens has not yet given us his "Life," which should be epoch-making when it appears."[4]

Lammens wrote a book-length biography of the Prophet Muhammad, but it has never been published, reportedly by express orders from the Vatican, "for its publication would have caused considerable embarrassment to the Holy See."[5]

The historian Patricia Crone gives an example [[6]] to demonstrate Lammens’ method of work:

In his monograph La Mecque à la veille de l'Hégire, Lammens, speaking about the trade between Mecca immediately prior to Islam’s emergence and Africa, claimed that “apart from gold-dust, Africa supplied [to Mecca] above all ivory and slaves,” (“Outre la poudre d’or, l’Afrique livrait surtout de l’ivoire et des esclaves” p. 204).

To support this claim, Lammens provided the following three references (Crone’s analysis of each reference is also given):

1. Pliny, Natural History, vi, 173, which in fact describes a trading center in East Africa to which ivory and other things were brought some 500 years before the rise of Mecca. Thus the reference is to the wrong time (i.e. 500 years before the rise of Mecca).

2. Fraenkel, Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen, p. 177, which in fact conjectures that the King of Hîra bought Ethiopian ivory and slaves as well as leather in Arabia. Thus the reference is to the wrong place (i.e. Kingdom of Hîra).

3. Theodor Nöldeke, Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft, 46, which in fact merely states in general terms that the Meccans traded with the Ethiopians, from whom they brought slaves and other goods. This reference mentions Mecca, Africa and slaves but fails to mention ivory.

Other Historians' views of Henri Lammens

da:Frants Buhl, a biographer of the Prophet Muhammad, remarks:

«dessen Belesenheit und Scharfsinn man bewundern muss, der aber doch oft die Objektivität des unparteiischen Historikers vermissen lässt.»[7]
i.e. "[Lammens] whose erudition and acumen one must admire, but who often lacks the objectivity of an impartial historian."

Maxime Rodinson, a biographer of the Prophet Muhammad, characterized Lammens as follows:

He... possessed a remarkable ability to lay hold of those living qualities communicated by the ancient texts along with a literary talent which enabled him to convey these to his readers... In addition, he was filled with a holy contempt for Islam, for its 'delusive glory', and 'lascivious' prophet."[8]

Louis Massignon criticized Lammens for 'misinforming' his readers with his 'far too cynical and disparaging study' of Fatima.[9]

The authors of The History of the Qurʾān have the following to say:

″Lammens’ main mistake is that, for no apparent reason, he generalizes correct, individual observations, partly already made by others, and inexplicably overextends them as a principle.″[10]

C.H. Becker Carl Heinrich Becker examined Lammens' studies in a special article.[11] He points out that the skepticism of Lammens, though great, does in fact not go far enough, as it leaves him with a somewhat naïve faith exclusively in all those stories reported in the Islamic tradition which portray Muhammad, his family, his political dealings, etc. in a bad light even when motives and tendencies explaining them are quite obvious.

Writing[12] in 1926, Arthur Jeffery placed Lammens among those scholars who practiced "Advanced Criticism" of Muhammad's life, whose dominant note was "back to the Qurân." He spoke of Lammens approach as "more monographic than biographic" and anticipated a Life of Muhammad written by Lammens to be "epoch-making".

Joseph Schacht writes: ″[M]y investigation of legal traditions has brought me to respect and admire his [Lammens'] critical insight whenever his ira et studium were not engaged.″[13]

Schacht continues: ″the reaction to Lammens's one-sided thesis ought not to have left to a reversion from historical criticism,″[14]

In 1969 the English translation of an interesting Russian book book was published simultaneously from New York (Praeger), London (Pall Mall) and Jerusalem (Israel Universities Press). This book is unique in that the author, E.A. Belyaev E. A. Belyaev, attempts to explain the origin of Islam from a Soviet Orthodox Marxist-Leninist perspective.

Speaking about Lammens, Belyaev has the following to say:

″[An] outstanding orientalist specializing in pre-Islamic Arabia was Henri Lammens, an exceptionally erudite scholar of the first part of the twentieth century who was particularly intimately acquainted with Arabic historical and literary works of the feudalists period, as well as with the relevant European literature. His numerous printed works should be handled with caution, however. An active Jesuit and missionary in the Arab Orient, as well as a professor at the Catholic University of Saint-Joseph in Beirut, his scientific writings and pedagogic activities reveal extreme religious intolerance in regard to Islam, and an obvious overestimation of the historical role of Christian Arabs, so that to the present-day Moslem intelligentsia Lammens seems an odious figure. Nevertheless, as long as a critical approach is retained, his works are highly valuable for their tremendous variety of material (from numerous Arabic sources as well as from European scholarship). His richly documented monograph The Cradle of Islam, deals with the historical geography of western Arabia and the life of its society, using the data of pre-Islamic poetry with a scope and depth unique to Lammens.″ (Arab Islam And The Arab CalphateArabs, Islam and the Arab Caliphate in the Early Middle Ages, pp. 24, 25).

Umayyad's lover: R. Stephen Humphreys in Preface of his book describes that Henri Lammens was a Scholar but an unreliable writer being a lover of the Ummayyads,the author also referred to an article published in Encyclopaedia of Islam in 1991 by Martin Hinds added that Martin Hinds would have been Mu‘awiya’s ideal biographer, but his untimely death deprived us of that possibility.[15] (The "untimely death" referred to in Humphreys' Preface is that of Martin Hinds (not Henri Lammens) who died in 1988 at the age of forty-seven when he was at the height of his scholarly career).

Other writings

Lammens was also a frequent contributor to the popular Beirut-based scholarly journal, al-Mashriq. In a review of the Maronite priest and scholar Fadl Allah Abu Halqa’s 1890 historical geography textbook, for instance, he critiqued ABu Halqa for his ignorance of the classical languages, including Greek, Hebrew and Syriac.[16]

Henry Lammens published one of the earliest in-depth pieces on Zionism in Arabic in 1899 in the journal al-Mashriq, titled “The Jews in Palestine and their Settlements.” He surveyed the existing Zionist settlements, dividing them into five categories: Jaffa and its surroundings, Jerusalem and its Surroundings, Safed and Bilad al-Bishara (i.e. the Galilee), Haifa and its surroundings, and the Hawran and Transjordan (‘Abr al-Urdunn). His tone was dry and detached, seemingly indifferent to the whole matter. He made no mention anywhere that the Jews were interested in establishing an independent government in Palestine. His only point of criticism was that the Jews had violated orders of the Sultan in establishing their colonies. His only source was a report published in the Istanbul-based, Journal of the Palestine Association.[17]

Works

(List incomplete)

References

  1. 1 2 Biography of Henri Lammens at the Belgian Royal Academy for Overseas Science
  2. ↑ C. H. Becker, Prinzipielles zu Lammens' Sîrastudien, in: Der Islam, Bd. iv (1913), S. 269
  3. ↑ K.S. Salibi, Islam and Syria in the writings of Henri Lammens, in B. Lewis & P.M. Holt, eds., Historians of the Middle East, London, 1962, p. 330
  4. ↑ A. Jeffery, THE QUEST OF THE HISTORICAL MOHAMMED, in: The Moslem World, Vol xvi (Oct. 1926), No. 4, pp. 327–348; Available online at http://answering-islam.org/Books/Jeffery/historical_mhd.htm
  5. ↑ Ibn Warraq, "A Personal Look at Some Aspects of the History of Koranic Criticism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," in: Ohlig. "The Hidden Origins of Islam", p.230.
  6. ↑ in: Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Gorgias Press, NJ, 2004, p. 79
  7. ↑ Buhl, Frants (). Das Leben Muhammeds, p.367.
  8. ↑ Rodinson, Maxime (). "A Critical Survey of Modern Studies of Muhammad", p.26.
  9. ↑ Fatimiya Sufi Order. "The Gnostic Cult of Fatima in Shi'ite Islam". gnosticfatima.blogspot.co.uk.
  10. ↑ Nöldeke, Schwally, Bergsträßer, Pretzl, The History of the Qurʾān, Engl. translation by Wolfgang H. Behn, Brill: Leiden, 2013, p. 372.
  11. ↑ Prinzipielles zu Lammens' Sirastudien in: Der Islam, Vol. iv (1913), pp. 263–9.
  12. ↑ The Quest of the Historical Mohammed in: The Moslem World, vol. 16 (1926), pp. 327-48. Available online at: http://answering-islam.org/Books/Jeffery/historical_mhd.htm
  13. ↑ The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950, p. vi
  14. ↑ A Revaluation of Islamic Traditions in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1949), pp. 143-154, Available online at: http://answering-islam.org/Books/Schacht/revaluation.htm
  15. ↑ Humphreys, R. Stephen (2006). Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan From Arabia to Empire. Oxford OX2 7AR England: Oneworld Publications. p. ix. ISBN 1-85168-402-6.
  16. ↑ Zachary Foster, "The Untold Story of Palestinians Who Learned Hebrew, 'Palestine Studies Blog,' 28 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Henry Lammens, “al-Yahud fi Filastin wa-Musta‘maratihim,” al-Mashriq 2(1899): 1088-1094
  18. ↑ "Books". Flipkart.com.

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