Henri Lammens

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Henri Lammens (1862-1937) was a prominent Belgian-born Jesuit and Orientalist.

Born in Ghent, Belgium of Catholic Flemish stock, Henri Lammens joined the Society of Jesus in Beirut at the age of fifteen, and settled permanently in Lebanon. During his first eight years there Lammens mastered the Arabic language, as well as Latin, and Greek. His first work of scholarship was a dictionary of Arabic usage (1889). He edited al-Bashir, the Jesuit newspaper of Beirut, and after much travelling, he began his career as an Orientalist at the School of Oriental Studies at the Jesuit College in 1907.

He published a series of studies on the Umayyads, and several on pre-Islamic Arabia: Etudes sur le regne du calife Omaiyade Mo'awia ler (1908), Le berceau de l'Islam; L'Arabie occidentale à la vielle de l'Hegire (1914). He contributed many articles to the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, as well as to various learned journals.

His contributions are considered highly influential among Western historians of Islam; and yet he has often been criticized for his skewed portrayal of many issues. It is universally acknowledged "that Lammens provided the study of the sira with a new basis; and none would underestimate his contributions on the history of the Umayyads."

Lammens concluded that the outcome of the meeting of Saqifah came about as the result of a conspiracy woven by Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman, who, in the Saqifah of the Banu Sa`idah, had agreed to seize the caliphate and succeed one another. ^ref

[edit] Other peoples views of Henri Lammens

Maxime Rodinson, a contemporary of Lammens, and a biographer of Muhammad, characterized Lammens as

"filled with a holy contempt for Islam, for its 'delusive glory', and 'lascivious' prophet." ^{"A Critical Survey of Modern Studies of Muhammad" p26}

A Library Journal reviewer wrote:

"...one who had 'a holy contempt for Islam.' Lammens himself refers to the Qur'an as an 'infinitely shabby journal.' ^{-Michael W. Ellis, Ellenville P.L., NY}