Theodor Nöldeke | |
|---|---|
 Nöldeke, before 1907 | |
| Born | (1836-03-02)2 March 1836 |
| Died | 25 December 1930(1930-12-25) (aged 94) |
| Occupation | Orientalist |
| Notable works |
|
Theodor Nöldeke (German:[ˈteːodoːɐ̯ˈnœldəkə]; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a Germanorientalist and scholar, originally a student ofHeinrich Ewald. He is one of the founders of the field ofQuranic studies, especially through his foundational work titledGeschichte des Qorāns (History of the Quran). His research interests also ranged overOld Testament studies, and his command of Semitic languages ranging acrossArabic,Hebrew,Aramaic,Syriac, andEthiopic allowed him to write hundreds of studies across a wide range of Oriental topics, including a number of translations, grammars, and works on literatures found in various languages.[1][2]
Among the projects Nöldeke collaborated on wasMichael Jan de Goeje’s published edition ofal-Tabari'sTarikh ("Universal History"), for which he translated theSassanid-era section. This translation remains of great value, particularly for the extensive supplementary commentary.His numerous students includedCharles Cutler Torrey,Louis Ginzberg andFriedrich Zacharias Schwally. He entrusted Schwally with the continuation ofGeschichte des Qorāns.
Nöldeke was born on 2 March 1836 inHarburg, today a borough ofHamburg. In 1853 he graduated from the Gymnasium GeorgianumLingen,Emsland, and went on to study at theUniversity of Göttingen underHeinrich Ewald, and later at theUniversity of Vienna, theUniversity of Leiden and theHumboldt University of Berlin.
In 1864 he became a professor at theUniversity of Kiel and from 1872 at theUniversity of Strasbourg until he retired aged 70. Many of his students became prominent researchers in their own right, includingEduard Sachau,Carl Brockelmann,Christiaan Snouck-Hurgronje,Edward Denison Ross, andCharles Cutler Torrey.[2]
Nöldeke had ten children, six of whom predeceased him. His son Arnold Nöldeke became a judge and was a Hamburg senator during theWeimar period.
He died inKarlsruhe in 1930.
Noldeke'sGeschichte emerged out of the dissertation that he had begun writing during his university studies, which was completed in 1856 and titledDe origine et compositione surarum qoranicarum ipsiusque Qorani.[3] Compared to earlier works studying theQuran by Western writers, Nöldeke uncoupled the study of the text from inquiries into the life ofMuhammad and, unlike predecessors of his such asWilliam Muir, did not have a missionary zeal. Instead, Nöldeke studied the Quran for its own sake. One of the most important aspects of Nöldeke's argument was his periodisation of the Quranic surahs into a tripartite Meccan phase followed by a Medinan phase (an idea already conceived by his predecessor,Gustav Weil). In this, Nöldeke, though he did not follow the traditional chronological division of surahs exactly, did follow it in some detail. At the same time, Nöldeke also considered his division to be malleable and tentative to a degree as opposed to absolute and deciding.[4]
Although Nöldeke's work has been followed closely by some and rejected by others,[5] it has been so influential that at least one scholar has referred to his work as "the rock of our church".[6] In 2013, a complete translation of the volume into English was published.[7]
The Nöldeke chronology is a "canonical ordering" of the 114surahs of the Qur'an according to the sequence of revelation. Intended to aid theological, literary, and historical scholarship of Qur'anic exegesis by enhancing structural coherence.[8] The Nöldeke Chronology has been adopted for general guidance by some schools of current scholarship.[9] Nöldeke considered the surahs from the perspective of content and stylistic development and linguistic origination to rearrange them in historical sequence of revelation. According to his system Sura 21: “The Prophets,” – 21st of 114 surahs in the Qur'an – is renumbered '65'. His chronology further divided the surahs into two periods: The Meccan (in three phases), and the Medina.
The Nöldeke Chronology of the Qur'an: Four groups of the 114 Surahs:
In 1875, near the very beginning of the academic study of the religion ofMandaeism, Nöldeke published theMandäische grammatik,[10] a monumental work of Mandaean grammar that was of such philological depth that it remains the standard work on the subject to this day. It was also the basis of the subsequentMandaic Dictionary byE. S. Drower.[11]
In 1890, Nöldeke initiated the study ofAlexander legends in the Arabic tradition with the publication of hisBeiträge zur geschichte des Alexanderromans.[12]
He contributed frequently to theZeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, theGöttingische gelehrte Anzeigen and theExpositor.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nöldeke, Theodor".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
