Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German
orientalist and scholar, originally a student of
Heinrich Ewald. He is one of the founders of the field of
Quranic studies
Quranic studies is the academic study of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. Like in biblical studies, the field uses and applies a diverse set of Academic discipline, disciplines and methods, such as philology, textual criticism, lex ...
, especially through his foundational work titled ''
Geschichte des Qorāns'' (''History of the Quran'')''.'' His research interests also ranged over
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
studies, and his command of Semitic languages ranging across
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
,
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
,
Syriac, and
Ethiopic 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.
Among the projects Nöldeke collaborated on was
Michael Jan de Goeje’s published edition of
al-Tabari
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...
's ''Tarikh'' ("Universal History"), for which he translated the
Sassanid
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
-era section. This translation remains of great value, particularly for the extensive supplementary commentary.
His numerous students included
Charles Cutler Torrey,
Louis Ginzberg
Louis Ginzberg (, ''Levy Gintzburg''; , ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, contributing editor to numerous articles of '' The Jewis ...
and
Friedrich Zacharias Schwally. He entrusted Schwally with the continuation of ''Geschichte des Qorāns''.
Biography
Nöldeke was born on 2 March 1836 in
Harburg, today a borough of
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. In 1853 he graduated from the Gymnasium Georgianum
Lingen,
Emsland
Landkreis Emsland () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems (river), Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer (district), Leer, Cloppenburg (district), Cloppenbur ...
, and went on to study at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
under
Heinrich Ewald, and later at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
, the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...
and the
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
.
In 1864 he became a professor at the
University of Kiel and from 1872 at the
University of Strasbourg until he retired aged 70. Many of his students became prominent researchers in their own right, including
Eduard Sachau,
Carl Brockelmann
Carl Brockelmann (17 September 1868 – 6 May 1956) German Semitic studies, Semiticist, was the foremost Orientalism, orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in University of Wrocław, Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, ...
,
Christiaan Snouck-Hurgronje,
Edward Denison Ross, and
Charles Cutler Torrey.
Nöldeke had ten children, six of whom predeceased him. His son Arnold Nöldeke became a judge and was a Hamburg senator during the
Weimar period.
He died in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
in 1930.
Research
''Geschichte des Qorâns''
Noldeke's ''
Geschichte'' emerged out of the dissertation that he had begun writing during his university studies, which was completed in 1856 and titled ''De origine et compositione surarum qoranicarum ipsiusque Qorani''. Compared to earlier works studying the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
by Western writers, Nöldeke uncoupled the study of the text from inquiries into the life of
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
and, unlike predecessors of his such as
William 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.
Although Nöldeke's work has been followed closely by some and rejected by others, it has been so influential that at least one scholar has referred to his work as "the rock of our church". In 2013, a complete translation of the volume into English was published.
Chronology of the Quran
The
Nöldeke Chronology is a "canonical ordering" of the 114
surahs 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. The Nöldeke Chronology has been adopted for general guidance by some schools of current scholarship. 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:
*Group 1. First
Meccan Period (48 Surahs):
Surahs 96;
74;
111;
106;
108;
104;
107 107 may refer to:
*107 (number), the number
*AD 107, a year in the 2nd century AD
*107 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*107 (New Jersey bus)
*107 Camilla, a main-belt asteroid
*Peugeot 107, a city car
See also
*10/7 (disambiguation)
*Bohrium, ...
;
102;
105;
92;
90;
94;
93;
97;
86;
91;
80;
68;
87;
95;
103;
85;
73;
101;
99;
82;
81;
53;
84;
100;
79;
77;
78;
88;
89;
75;
83;
69;
51;
52;
56;
70;
55;
112;
109;
113;
114;
1
*Group 2.
Second Meccan Period (21 Surahs): 54; 37; 71; 76; 44; 50; 20; 26; 15; 19; 38; 36; 43; 72; 67; 23; 21; 25; 17; 27; 18
*Group 3.
Third Meccan Period (21 Surahs): 32; 41; 45; 16; 30; 11; 14; 12; 40; 28; 39; 29; 31; 42; 10; 34; 35; 7; 46; 6; 13
*Group 4.
Medinan Period (24 Surahs): 2; 98; 64; 62; 8; 47; 3; 61; 57; 4; 65; 59; 33; 63; 24; 58; 22; 48; 66; 60; 110; 49; 9; 5
Mandaeism
In 1875, near the very beginning of the academic study of the religion of
Mandaeism
Mandaeism (Mandaic language, Classical Mandaic: ),https://qadaha.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/nhura-dictionary-mandaic-english-mandaic.pdf sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnosticism, Gnostic, Monotheism, ...
, Nöldeke published the ''Mandäische grammatik'', 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 subsequent ''Mandaic Dictionary'' by
E. S. Drower.
Alexander the Great
In 1890, Nöldeke initiated the study of
Alexander legends in the Arabic tradition with the publication of his ''Beiträge zur geschichte des Alexanderromans''.
Distinctions
*1859 – won the French ''
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres).
History ...
'' prize for his ''Histoire du Coran'' and ''Semitic languages, and the history and civilization of Islam''.
*1860 – ''Geschichte des Qorâns'' German edition published with additions at Göttingen.
*1861 – lectures at the university of Göttingen.
*1864 – extraordinary professor at the university of Göttingen.
*1868 – ordinary professor at
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
; ''Grammatik der neusyrischen Sprache'' published.
*1872 – chair of
Oriental Languages at
Strassburg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, (resigns in 1906).
*1874 – ''Mandäische Grammatik'' published.
*1878 – Foreign member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
*1879 – external member of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
*1881–1882 – translates
Tabari (
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
–
German).
*1888 – member of the
Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts.
*1892 – awarded an honorary doctorate by the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
.
*1893 – appointed external member of the
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...
in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
.
*1906 – International Member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
*1920 – associate member of the
Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.
*1926 – awarded honorary membership of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
–he had been a corresponding member since 1885; Honorary citizen of the city of Harburg (now part of Hamburg).
Selected works
*''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'', several early essays and articles on the Qur'an, with others, republished in the journal ''Oriental Sketches''.
*
Geschichte des Qorâns' (1860;
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
, Dieterich, 2nd rev. ed., 1909–38
pt. 1pt.2 English translation by Wolfgang H. Behn: ''The History of the Qurʾān'', Leiden: Brill 2013)
*
Das Leben Mohammeds' ("Life of Muḥammad", German text; Hanover, Rümpler, 1863)
*
Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Poesie der alten Araber'. (Hanover, Carl Rümpler, 1864)
* ''Die alttestamentliche Literatur'' (1868)
*
Untersuchungen zur Kritik des Alten Testaments' (1869)
*
*
*
Histoire Littéraire de L'ancien Testament'; French (Paris, Sandoz et Fischbacher, 1873)
*
Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden. Aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari übersetzt' (1879)
*
**
***
*
*
* Review of
Julius Wellhausen
Julius Wellhausen (17 May 1844 – 7 January 1918) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. In the course of his career, his research interest moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhau ...
's ''Reste Arabischen Heidentums'' (1887) in ZDMG, Vol. 41 (1887), pp. 707–26.
*
Aufsätze zur persischen Geschichte' (Leipzig, 1887); articles on
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
.
* ''
Beiträge zur geschichte des Alexanderromans'' (1890)
*
Sketches from Eastern History' (London & Edinburgh, Adam And Charles Black, 1892)
*
A Servile War in the East [The Zanj Slave Uprising in 9th Century Mesopotamia]' (English transl., John Sutherland Black; appeared as Chap. 5 in ''Sketches from Eastern History''; 1892)
*
''Das Iranische Nationalepos''(Strassburg: Trübner, 1896).
* ''Zur Grammatik des klassischen Arabisch'' (1896)
* ''Fünf Mo'allaqat, übersetzt und erklärt'' (1899–1901)
* Articles in the ''
Encyclopaedia Biblica'' (1903)
* ''Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft'' (1904)
* ''Kalila wa Dimna'' (Strassburg, Trübner, 1912)
*
Israel und die Völker nach jüdischer Lehre' co-authored by August Wünsche; ed., Joseph S Bloch; (Berlin, Wien, 1922)
He contributed frequently to the ''
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
The ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft'' () is a peer-reviewed academic journal
An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relatin ...
'', the ''
Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen'' and the ''Expositor''.
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
History of Sasanian's State*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noldeke, Theodor
1836 births
1930 deaths
German orientalists
German biblical scholars
German male non-fiction writers
Grammarians from Germany
History of Quran scholars
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Leiden University alumni
19th-century German linguists
Old Testament scholars
People from Harburg, Hamburg
Syriacists
Translators of the Quran into German
University of Göttingen alumni
University of Vienna alumni
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Shahnameh Researchers
Scholars of Mandaeism
Translators from Mandaic
Grammarians of Aramaic
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Semiticists
International members of the American Philosophical Society
Quranic studies academics
German Islamic studies scholars