Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi li Sezgin - al-Ulum al-Shariyya

Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi: al-Ulum al-Shariyya (The History of Arabic Heritage: The Religious Sciences) is the opening volume of the bio-bibliographical reference work Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums by the scholar Fuad Sezgin (d. 1439 AH / 2018 CE) Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1. It documents authors, works, and manuscript holdings across the foundational Islamic religious disciplines from the rise of Islam up to approximately 430 AH (1038 CE) al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1.

Background and Genesis

The idea for the work arose during Sezgin's studies at Istanbul University between 1942 and 1947 under Hellmut Ritter, who observed that Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur omitted many rare manuscripts preserved in Istanbul collections al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya. Initially, Sezgin intended to compile a supplementary appendix (dhayl) to Brockelmann's bibliography based on Istanbul libraries Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1. Over fifteen years of continuous labor, the scope broadened: Sezgin decided to rewrite and renew Brockelmann's enterprise entirely, producing an independent reference work recording Islamic written culture and tracing the emergence and evolution of each discipline Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1.

While the first volume adhered substantially to a bio-bibliographical template similar to Brockelmann's framework, Sezgin decided during its printing to shift subsequent volumes toward an integrated history of the sciences written in Arabic Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1.

Scope and Content

The volume covers authors and texts produced up to 430 AH across several primary religious fields al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1:

• Quranic Sciences: Encompassing Quranic reading traditions (qira'at), early exegesis (tafsir), and specialized lexical works such as Gharib al-Qur'an, Ma'ani al-Qur'an, and Majaz al-Qur'an Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1.
• Hadith: Compilations and transmission chains of the Prophetic traditions Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1.
• Historiography and Biography: Early chronicles, maghazi literature, and transmission records Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1.
• Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Dogmatics (Aqa'id): Legal works belonging to various early schools and traditions—including the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Zaidi, and Ibadi traditions—as well as theological treatises Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+2.

Entries are arranged chronologically by author death dates within each section Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl…. Each entry contains biographical data, citations of classical and modern biographical sources, and a detailed list of surviving works with their manuscript shelf marks, folios, dates of copying, library locations worldwide, and printed editions Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+2.

Methodological Premise

A key thesis advanced in the volume is Sezgin's defense of the early written recording (tadwin) of Islamic knowledge Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1. Challenging theories held by several Western Orientalists that early Islamic transmission was predominantly oral and prone to later invention, Sezgin demonstrated that written compilation began as early as the first century of Islam, citing early notebooks and written treatises associated with figures such as Abdullah ibn Abbas and his students Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+2.

Reception and Translation

Sezgin was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in recognition of his work on the opening volumes of the series al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1.

The Arabic translation of this volume was published under the sponsorship of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, appearing across multiple sub-parts translated by Mahmud Fahmi Hijazi Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1. The work also prompted scholarly addenda and reviews; for example, Hikmat Bashir Yasin published a multi-part series of addenda (istidrakat) in the Journal of the Islamic University of Medina, supplying additional manuscripts and titles omitted from the exegesis and recitation sections and critiquing certain chapter divisions Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl…+1.