Philology and the Philological Tradition in German-Speaking Orientalism (The Islamic Period)

Philology means the study of culture through language and attention to the linguistic nature of culture. Philology has been a major part of European Orientalism since the 18th century. Attention to Eastern languages began with biblical studies, with the advent of philology gradually separating its path from theology and becoming a way of understanding Eastern languages and texts. The need to learn Arabic, Persian and other Eastern languages led to the establishment of schools in Europe. It started in France but continued in Germany. In this article, after a brief overview of Orientalism and expressing the turning points of Iranian studies in Germany, the academic tradition of philology is explained in detail. Then, the importance of the philological method in the two traditions of German Orientalism (romantic and philological) is illustrated. The Romantic tradition relies more on the translation of Oriental texts and uses philology as a means of improving the quality of translation. The philological tradition seeks the historical reconstruction of text and language, and follows a neat trajectory. The importance of the philological method is attention to the text and its context. Classical philology, with its teaching of Oriental languages and manuscripts, has provided rich sources, from dictionaries to catalogs and corrected texts. In this tradition, the analysis of the Quran and the reconstruction of its context play a pivotal role. The importance of the philological tradition in the study of the sacred text is the abandonment of the concept of sanctity, which makes it possible to research the context and details of the text. This article deals with the genealogy of German philologists and the classification of their services at the levels of translation, cataloging, and proofreading of Persian and Arabic texts, and shows its evolution from the first generation to the golden age in the twentieth century. The focus of the article is on correcting mystical and Islamic texts and the projects of German-speaking orientalists in this field.