The contribution of prof. Tadeusz Lewicki (1906–1992) to Islamic and West African studies

Abstract

Prof. Tadeusz Lewicki (the member Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Association Internationale d’Études des Civilisations Méditerranéennes, Royal Asiatic Society) was not only one of the most famous scholars of Oriental studies in Poland 20th century but also one of the top experts on the history of the Ibadites. For example, he has gathered exhaustively all the references to Ibadites and placed with a certain amount of commentary of his own (Études ibadites nord-africaines, part 1. Warsaw 1955). He has studied and published Arabic sources (mostly Ibāḍī) on the history of the Ibadites and of the Slavic peoples and cataloged eighth- and ninth-century Arab coins found on Polish territory (Arabic External Sources for the History of Africa to the South of Sahara, Wrocław 1969; Polska i kraje sąsiednie w świetle “Księgi Rogera” geografa arabskiego z XII w. al-Idrīsī’ego, parts 1–2. Warsaw, 1945–54; Źródła arabskie do dziejów słowiańszczyzny, vols. 1–2. Wrocław 1956–69). Professor Tadeusz Lewicki attempts to reconstruct also the economic base of West African society between the 10th and 16th centuries (West African Food in the Middle Ages: According to Arabic Sources, London 1974). His basic sources are 15 Arab authors, all of whom noted the diet of the countries they described. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and critical analysis of Lewicki’s researches and answer which of his interpretations and philological speculations still have found acceptance. This paper also respect to how Lewicki supports, extends, and qualifies the previous literature on West African, Islamic and Ibadites study, and how gives directions for future research.