1966 — Fine French Original decorative imitation full leather bdg. Demy 8vo. (22 x 14cm). In French. [Lxv], 632, [7] p. Le Coran. Traduction intégrale et notes de Muhammad Hamidullah. Préface de Louis Massignon. Avec la collaboration de Michel Leturmy. Hamidllah, (1908-2002), D. Phil., D. Litt., HI, was a Muhaddith, Faqih, scholar of Islamic law and an academic author with over 250 books. A prolific writer, his extensive works on Islamic science, history and culture have been published in several languages and many thousands of articles in learned journals. His scholarship is regarded by many as unparalleled in the last century. A double doctorate (D.Phil. and D.Litt.) and a polymath, he was fluent in 22 languages including Urdu (his mother tongue), Persian, Arabic, French, English, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Russian etc. He learned Thai at the age of 84. Hamidullah is known for contributions to the research of Hadith history, translations of the Qur'an into multiple languages and in particular into French (first by a Muslim scholar) and for the monumental biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in French. He is also famous for discovering a missing work on the Prophet Muhammad regarded as one of his great contributions to the Hadith literature. The earliest Hadith manuscript still extant today, Sahifa Hammam bin Munabbah, was discovered in a Damascus library. Hammam bin Munabbah being a disciple of Sayyidina Abu Huraira, one of the Sahaba. Massignon, (1883-1962), was a Catholic scholar of Islam and a pioneer of Catholic-Muslim mutual understanding (Krokus 2012, p. 525). He was an influential figure in the twentieth century with regard to the Catholic church's relationship with Islam. He focused increasingly on the work of Mahatma Gandhi, whom he considered a saint. He also played a role in Islam being accepted as an Abrahamic Faith among Catholics. Some scholars maintain that his research, esteem for Islam and Muslims, and cultivation of key students in Islamic studies largely prepared the way for the positive vision of Islam articulated in the Lumen gentium and the Nostra aetate at the Second Vatican Council (Krokus 2012, p. 525). Although a Catholic himself, he tried to understand Islam from within and thus had a great influence on the way Islam was seen in the West; among other things, he paved the way for a greater openness inside the Catholic Church towards Islam as it was documented in the pastoral Vatican II declaration Nostra aetate. "This non-trade edition is reserved exclusively for members of the French Book Club. It includes ten thousand copies numbered from 1 to 10,000.". This is no. 9499. 9499/10000.
