Reinhart Dozy

Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy (Leiden, Netherlands, 21 February 1820 – Leiden, 29 April 1883) was a Dutch scholar of French (Huguenot) origin, who was born in Leiden. He was a scholar of Arabic language, history and literature.

Biography

The Dozys, like other contemporary French families, emigrated to the Low Countries after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, but some of the former appear to have settled in the Netherlands as early as 1647. Dozy studied at the University of Leiden, obtained the degree of doctor in 1844, was appointed an extraordinary professor of history in 1850, and professor in 1857. Dozy was a correspondent of the Royal Institute between 1848 and 1851. He became a member of the successor institute, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1855.

Works

The first results of Dozy's extensive studies in Oriental literature, Arabic language and history, manifested themselves in 1847, when he published a translation from Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, born 1185, resident in South Spain between 1208 and 1217, leaving then for Egypt and visiting Mecca in 1221, dated 1224, Kitab al-mujib fi talkhis akhbar ahl al-Maghrib under the title The history of the Almohads, preceded by a sketch of the history of Spain from the time of the conquest till the reign of Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and of the history of the Almoravids, printed again in 1881 and reprinted in 1968.

His other works include:

• Scriptorum Arabum loci de Abbaditis (1846–1863, 3 vols.),
• His edition of 13th century Marrakech historian Ibn Idhari's History of Africa and Spain (1848–1852, 3 vols.), translation of a Leiden library manuscript purchased at Morocco in the 17th century titled Al-Bayan al-Mughrib.
• Of Ibn-Badrun's Historical Commentary on the Poem of Abd al-Majid ibn Abdun (1848), and
• His Dictionnaire détaillé des noms des vêtements chez les Arabes (1845), a work crowned by the Dutch Institute.

His most famous work was:

• Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne, jusqu'à la conquête de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides, 711-1110 (1861; 2nd ed., 1881) read, a graphically written account of Moorish dominion in Spain, which shed new light on many obscure points.
• Recherches sur l'histoire et la littérature de l'Espagne pendant le moyen âge (2 vols., 1849; 2nd and 3rd ed., completely recast in 1860 and 1881) form a supplement to his Histoire des Mussulmans, in which he exposes the many tricks and falsehoods of the monks in their chronicles, and effectively demolishes a good part of the Cid legends.

As an Arabic scholar Dozy wrote:

• Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes (1877–1881, 2 volumes) and
• Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais, dérivés de l'arabe, edited with W. H. Engelmann of Leipzig (1861; 2nd ed., 1869), and a similar list of Dutch words derived from the Arabic.

Dozy also edited:

• Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari's Analectes sur l'histoire et la littérature des Arabes d'Espagne (1855–1861, 2 vols.), and, in conjunction with his friend and successor, Michael Jan de Goeje, at Leiden:
• al-Idrisi's Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne (1866).
• Calendrier de Cordoue de l'année 961; texte arabe et ancienne traduction latine (1874).
• Het Islamisme (Islamism; 1863, 2nd ed., 1880; French translation) is a popular exposition of Islam, of a more controversial character; and
• De Israelieten te Mekka ("The Israelites at Mecca", 1864) became the subject of a rather heated discussion in Jewish circles.

Assessment

According to Edward Said, despite the "enormous labors" represented by Dozy's work, it was characterized by an "impressive antipathy [...] to the Orient, Islam, and the Arabs".