The lecturer for 1914 was Professor C. Snouck Hurgronje. Born in Oosterhout, Holland, in 1857, he studied Theology and Oriental Languages at the University of Leiden and continued his studies at the University of Strassburg. In 1880 he published his first important work Het Mekkaansch Feest, having resolved to devote himself entirely to the study of Mohammedanism in its widest aspects. After a few years' activity as Lecturer on Mohammedan Law at the Seminary for Netherlands-India in Leiden, he spent eight months (1884-5) in Mecca and Jidda. In 1888, he became lecturer at the University of Leiden and in the same year was sent out as Professor to Batavia in Netherlands-India, where he spent the years 1889-1906. Upon his return he was appointed Professor of Arabic at the University of Leiden. Among his principal published works may be mentioned: Mekka, The Hague, 1888-9; De Beteekenis van den Islam voor zijne Belijders in Oost Indïe, Leiden, 1883; Mekkanische Sprichwörter, The Hague, 1886; De Atjehers, Leiden, 1903-4, England tr. London, 1906; Het Gajôland en zijne Bezvoners, Batavia, 1903, and Nederland en de Islâm, Leiden, 1915.
The lectures to be found in the present volume were delivered before the following Institutions: Columbia University, Yale University, The University of Pennsylvania, Meadville Theological Seminary, The University of Chicago, The Lowell Institute, and the Johns Hopkins University.
The Committee owes a debt of deep gratitude to Mr. Charles R. Crane for having made possible the course of lectures for the year 1914.
RICHARD GOTTHEIL
CRAWFORD H. TOY
Committee on Publication.
April, 1916.
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