Ignác Goldziher (German form Ignaz Goldziher, often cited as Dr. Ign. Goldziher; 1850–1921) was a Hungarian orientalist — the founding figure of modern European Islamic studies — whose writings on Islamic law, tradition, saint-worship, and Arabic poetry are cited by Snouck Hurgronje throughout The Achehnese as among the standard European authorities on the gap between the theory and practice of Mohammedan law, on the Zahirite school of jurisprudence, and on the devotional literature of which the Malay translations of the Burda poem by Al-Busiri formed part. His treatise Mohammedanisches Recht in Theorie und Wirklichkeit (“Mohammedan Law in Theory and in Reality”), published in the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft (vol. VIII), is invoked by Snouck Hurgronje alongside his own essays on the same theme; his essay on Moslem saint-worship in the Muhammedanische Studien (Halle 1890) is described by Snouck Hurgronje as “the best sketch of the Moslim saint-worship in general” and is used to open his own discussion of Achehnese saint-worship.
Biographical Note and a Source Discrepancy
The historically attested Ignác Goldziher was born in Budapest in 1850 and died in 1921, having spent his career in Hungary and at the University of Budapest; he was a founding figure of European Islamic studies and was long regarded, with Theodor Nöldeke and Michael Jan de Goeje, as one of the three great European orientalists of his generation. The present article follows the biographical dates and the Hungarian nationality given in the source file that draws directly on Vol. I of The Achehnese.
A second source file in the wiki, however, gives the name as Heinrich Goldziher with the dates 1842–1927 and describes him as a “Hungarian-born Dutch orientalist” who held academic positions at the University of Leiden and died in Leiden. These biographical particulars — the forename “Heinrich,” the dates 1842–1927, the Dutch residence, the Leiden death — do not match the historically attested Ignác Goldziher and appear to be erroneous; the same source file, however, lists “Ignác Goldziher” among its aliases and cites Goldziher’s actual writings on Arabic poetry and on the Burda, both of which are works of Ignác Goldziher. The three source files are accordingly treated here as describing the same person; the “Heinrich” attribution is preserved in the alias list and noted here as a discrepancy in the source.
Writings on Islamic Law and the Theory–Practice Gap
Goldziher’s treatise Mohammedanisches Recht in Theorie und Wirklichkeit is cited by Snouck Hurgronje in connection with the question why Mohammedan law, “developed as it was for the most part in the schools, out of reach of all close connection with the real requirements of daily life”, is so ill-fitted for the practical administration of justice. Snouck Hurgronje had himself treated this theme in two earlier papers — Mohammedaansch recht en rechtswetenschap (Indische Gids, 1886) and De fiqh en de vergelijkende rechtsvietenschap (Rechtsgeleerd Magazijn, 1886) — and he places Goldziher’s contribution on the same level of authority. The Mohammedan law, in Snouck Hurgronje’s summary, “greatly hampers the detection of crime, imposes impossible demands on witnesses and fails to take cognizance of historical changes”. As the law itself excludes on principle all intrinsic reform, rulers everywhere have found themselves compelled to provide a practical method of administering justice by constituting themselves the judges in all cases, following partly the prevailing custom of the country and partly their own inclination.
Significance for Achehnese Studies
The general thesis advanced by Goldziher and Snouck Hurgronje is the key to the latter’s discussion of Achehnese judicial institutions. The twofold concession by which, in most Mohammedan countries, the adat (conceived as the ancient law of the land, altered but little by the spirit of Mohammedanism) and the hukom or religious law are made to govern side by side, “though in practice the former plays by far the larger part”, is presented as a direct consequence of the impracticability of the religious law in its ideal form. In Acheh, even the jurisdiction in matters affecting the family has not been entirely made over to the kali; the latter’s most usual duties are the declaration of the pasah (judicial dissolution of a marriage) and the acting as wali for maidens without walis by kinship — and even these duties are performed by the kali only by the authority of the uleebalang specially given in each case.
The Essay on Moslem Saint-Worship
Goldziher’s essay on Moslem saint-worship, published in the Muhammedanische Studien (Halle 1890), is described by Snouck Hurgronje as “the best sketch of the Moslim saint-worship in general” and is used to open his own discussion of Achehnese saint-worship — including the cult of figures such as Teungku Anjong. The essay furnished the comparative European framework against which Snouck Hurgronje measured the specifically Achehnese forms of saint-veneration.
Die Zahiriten and the Zahirite View
Goldziher’s Die Zahiriten (1884) is cited by Snouck Hurgronje for the Zahirite view on the question whether a person in a state of ritual impurity may touch the Quran — a question that bore on the daily devotional practice of the Achehnese and on the rules governing the handling of sacred texts in the prayer-houses and meunasahs.
Writings on Arabic Poetry and the Burda
Goldziher’s work on Arabic poetry and religious literature is cited in the source for a 16th-century Malay translation of the Burda of Al-Busiri. A Dutch-language commentary on his analysis of metaphorical language in Arabic poetry records that:
“Spot, smaad en schande worden in de Arabische poëzie dikwijls met een halsketen vergeleken…” (Mockery, slander and shame are often compared in Arabic poetry to a necklace…)
The passage illustrates Goldziher’s analysis of the motif of the necklace as a symbol of shame and disgrace in Arabic poetic imagery. His researches on the Burda are also cited through a French-language quotation of his commentary — “les savants les plus distingués…” — highlighting his role in introducing the poem to European academia. Goldziher’s editions and commentaries helped establish the Burda as a central text for comparative studies of Islamic devotional literature.
Although Goldziher’s primary focus was the Arab world, his methodological tools have been applied to the study of Malay and Achehnese Islamic literature. Scholars interpreting poetic imagery in the Malay translations of the Burda — such as those preserved in the seventeenth-century manuscript examined in the source — drew on Goldziher’s insights. His work thus indirectly shaped the literary culture of the Sultanate of Acheh in the 19th century, where the Burda became part of the religious and poetic repertoire of the Achehnese elite.
Sources
Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, p. 3.
See Also
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Al-Busiri
- Burda (poem)
- Teungku Anjong
- L. W. C. van den Berg
- K. F. H. Van Langen
- Acheh
- Achehnese saint-worship
- Sultanate of Acheh
- Malay language
- Arabic literature
- Theodor Nöldeke
- Michael Jan de Goeje
- 1850
- 1921
- 1884
- 1886
- 1890
- Batavia
- Budapest
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 1882
- 1885
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
Een 16de eeuwsche Maleische vertaling van de Burda van al-Būṣīrī (OCR transcription, DLP-54), pp. 30, 84.