Goldziher the greatest Islamicist of his day and one of the most profound and original
scholars in Europe in an age that produced veritable giants in this field is presented here
with what he considered his great opus first published in 1920 in Leiden. Since his study tour
in the East 1873-1874 he had such a command of Arabic so as to discuss matters of dogmatics
fiqh poetry and syntax with local scholars. The work is largely based on his study and
translation of Arabic primary sources. He treats the evolution of the science of tafsir from
its most elementary stage the 'Uthmanic' recension down to early twentieth century
interpretations of Rashid Rida and Syed Ameer Ali touching upon dogmatics asceticism
mysticism as well as rationalism. The translator an old hand at translating Goldziher
displays a sensible pragmatic attitude towards the considerable problem presented by
Goldziher's style.
