Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
toponymsandtotheeventsbelongingtoitshistory.Itseemsthatthe
authorhadhadaccesstounknownvaluablesourceswhichcouldhave
broughttolightsomenewmaterial.Somefactsmentionedbythe
authorpermitustodrawconclusionaboutthegeographical
explorationactivitiescarriedoutbyAndalusianadventurersonthe
AtlanticOcean.
7.TechnicalProblems
Intheframeworkofthiswork,themostimportantgenreofsuch
writingswouldbechronicles,biographicaldictionaries,andnarrative
andliterarymaterials.Itseemsalsothatthematerialthatapparently
haslittletooffercontainsmuchrequestedinformationandbecomes
ausefulsupplementforthefundamentalsources.Ofcourse,we
cannotexpecttoachieveanythingofvaluejustbyplungingintothose
materials.Inadditiontothesurveyofallthesources,whichmay
pertaintotheproblemsofthisstudy,onemustdoscientific
investigationsandinterpretationsofanytextbasedonthe
understandingofitsconceptual,rhetorical,structural,andeven
metaphoricalmeaning.
Acompleteconspectusofthevarioustypesofsourcematerialswill
permitustotracealltheinformationrelatedtotheissueandthento
verifyandanalyzeitandfinallytoreachtheactualMuslim
conceptionoftheworld.Thatwouldprovideasecurerbasefrom
whichtoapproachthequestionoftheoriginofIslamicgeographyas
ascientificoneandnotasamixoflegendsandillusions.Itisnotso
difficulttoclassifyandtosortthefactsoutofthesuperstitionsinthis
heritage.
Thedifficultyofunderstandingsomearabicworksdoesnotonlylie
inthealterationofplacenames,propernamesandsoon,butalsoin
thefactthatsometimesasingleideaislinkedtoanotheridea,amatter
whichrequiressomereadingbetweenthelines.Forinstance,many
geographersgivethelocationofsomeplacesaccordingtolongitude
andlatitude.Onemusttakenoticeofwhichideaormethodthey
applied.Moreover,inonework,theauthorpossiblyquotesfrom
asourceusingtheIndianmethodandfromanothersourceusingthe