David Samuel Margoliouth

David Samuel Margoliouth
D.S. Margoliouth
Born	17 October 1858 London, England
Died	22 March 1940(1940-03-23)(aged 81) London, England
Nationality	British
Education	New College, Oxford,England
Known for	Scholar, linguist, translator, editor and author
Movement	Orientalist

David Samuel Margoliouth,FBA(/mɑːrˈɡoʊliəθ/;17 October 1858, inLondon– 22 March 1940, in London) was an Englishorientalist.He was briefly active as a priest in theChurch of England.He wasLaudian Professor of Arabicat theUniversity of Oxfordfrom 1889 to 1937.

Life

His father, Ezekiel, had converted from Judaism to Anglicanism, and thereafter worked in Bethnal Green as a missionary to the Jews; he was also close to his uncle,the Anglican convertMoses Margoliouth.Margoliouth was educated atWinchester College,where he was a scholar, and atNew College, Oxfordwhere he graduated with adouble firstBachelor of Arts(BA) inliterae humanioresin 1880:he won an unprecedented number of prizes in Classics and Oriental languages, of which he had mastered Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian and Syriac, in addition to Hebrew. His academic dissertation, published in 1888, was entitledAnalecta Orientalia ad Poeticam Aristoteleam.In 1889, he succeeded to theLaudian Chair of Arabic,a position he held until he retired, from ill health, in 1937. He received the degreeDoctor of Letters(D.Litt.) from New College in July 1902.

Many of his works on the history of Islam became the standard treatises in English, includingMohammed and the Rise of Islam(1905),The Early Development of Mohammedanism(1914), andThe Relations Between Arabs and Israelites Prior to the Rise of Islam(1924).

He was described as a brilliant editor and translator of Arabic works,as seen inThe Letters ofAbu'l-'Ala of Ma'arrat al-Nu'man(1898),Yaqut's Dictionary of Learned Men,6 vol. (1907–27), and the chronicle ofMiskawayh,prepared in collaboration withHenry Frederick Amedrozunder the titleThe Eclipse of the 'Abbasid Caliphate,7 vol. (1920–21).

He identified a business letter written inJudeo-Persian,found inDandan UiliqinNorthwestern Chinain 1901,as dating from 718, and is the earliest evidence showing the presence ofJews in China.

He was a member of the council of theRoyal Asiatic Societyfrom 1905 onwards, its director in 1927, was awarded its triennial gold medal in 1928, and was its president 1934–37.

Egyptian Poet LaureateAhmed Shawqidedicated his famous poem, The Nile, to Margoliouth.

Margoliouth on the Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry

The Pakistani Islamic scholarJaved Ghamidispoke of "the recent campaign to cast aspersions on the relevance and reliability of the whole corpus of classical Arabic literature of the Jahiliyyah period which began with 'Usul al-Shu‘ara al-'Arabi' by the famous orientalist D.S. Margoliouth... "

However, a look at D.S. Margoliouth's own writings on Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry reveals that his views were not so black and white as has been claimed in, for instance, the above-mentioned examples, but in fact, had shades of gray which indicate scholarly caution and reserve in the face of paucity of data.

In hisMohammed and the Rise of Islam,Margoliouth wrote: "The language of the Koran was thought by experts to bear a striking likeness to that of the early poetry: and though for us it is difficult to pass an opinion on this point, seeing that the early poetry is largely fabrication modelled on the Koran, we may accept the opinion of the Arabs."

In an article in theEncyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics,Margoliouth wrote: "The relation of this Qur'anic style to the verse and rhymed prose of classical Arabic is an enigma which cannot at present be solved."

Personal life

Handwriting of Margoliouth (1930)

On 5 April 1896, Margoliouth marriedJessie Payne Smith(1856–1933), daughter ofRobert Payne Smith.Jessie was a Syriac scholar and campaigner forwomen's suffrage.

Margoliouth wasordainedin theChurch of Englandas adeaconand as apriestin 1899, during services atLiverpool Cathedral:this was unusual as the ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood normally occurred in successive years. He never held aparochialpost, and instead histitlewas his fellowship at New College, Oxford. Additionally, from 1899 to 1903, he was anexamining chaplainto theBishop of Liverpool.He occasionally preached at Oxford churches. He belonged to thelow churchwingof the Church of England, and had according to theOxford Dictionary of National Biography"extreme evangelistic tendencies".

Publications

Cairo, Jerusalem, and Damascus,1912

• Lines of Defence of the Biblical Revelation;Hodder and Stoughton, 1900; 2nd ed. 1901.
• Abu 'l-ʿAla al-Maʿarri's correspondence on vegetarianism, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1902, p. 289,by D. S. Margoliouth
• Mohammed and the Rise of Islam.New York and London: Putnam, 1905.
• "A poem attributed toAl-Samau’al."in:Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.London, 1906
• Umayyads and 'Abbasids.1907.
• The Early Development of Mohammedanism,London: Williams & Norgate, 1914.
• Irshad al-Arib ala Ma'rifat al-AdibofYaqut al-Hamawi,(Yaqut's Dictionary of Learned Men); 7 vols., ( "E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series," Vol.VI.),Leiden,Brill,1907–1927. (Arabic text)archive.org
• The Poetics of Aristotle;translated from Greek into English and from Arabic into Latin. (Hodder and Stoughton, 1911ISBN9789333679183)
• The Kitab al-Ansab ofʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Muḥammad al-Sam'ani.Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1912.
• Mohammedanism.London: Williams and Norgate, 1911.rev. ed. 1912
• The Table-talk of a Mesopotamian Judge.2 vols. 1921–1922.
• The Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate.1921.
• The Relations Between Arabs and Israelites Prior to the Rise of Islam.Schweich Lecturefor 1921. 1924.
• Lectures on Arabic Historians, delivered before the University of Calcutta, February 1929.Byzantine series, 38. Calcutta, 1930 (later reprint: New York City: Burt Franklin).
• Catalogue of Arabic Papyri in theJohn Rylands Library,Manchester.Manchester, 1933

See also

• Orientalism

External links

• Britannica online article
• on-line (pdf) versions of five of his works at muhammadanism.org