Arabist
An Arabist is a scholar specializing in the Arabic language and culture. From the long list of important names, classics such as Lévi-Provençal, Dozy, Miguel Casiri, Arberry, Ahlwardt, or the Spanish Diego de Guadix, Julián Ribera, Serafin Fanjul, Miguel Asín Palacios or Emilio García Gómez.
In Spain
Throughout its history, Spain has developed a varied school of Arabists, from figures such as the theologian Juan de Segovia in the XV, or already in the XVI Diego de Guadix or the lexicographer Pedro de Alcalá.
Starting in the XVIII century, the Enlightenment recovered and in a way rediscovered the important legacy of the Hispano-Muslim civilization in the Iberian Peninsula, from that period it is worth mentioning Miguel Casiri, author of cataloging the manuscripts of the library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. His disciple José Antonio Conde wrote a History of the domination of the Arabs in Spain . The scholar Pascual Gayangos (1809-1897) continued this tradition in the 19th century. His most important disciple was Francisco Codera Zaidín (1836-1917), in the chair of Arabic at the University of Madrid. He edited the ten volumes of the Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana.
And already at the base of the school of Spanish Arabists (and with the subsequent support of the magazines Al-Andalus and Al-Qantara), Codera's students stood out as Julián Ribera (1858-1934) and Miguel Asín Palacios (1871-1944), who brought Spanish Arabism to a European level, continuing the task of his disciple Emilio García Gómez (1905-1995), the leading authority on the study of the jarchas and the first director of the School of Arab Studies in Madrid.One of his followers was Julio Cortés Soroa (1924-2009), translator of the Koran, and author of a Dictionary of Modern Cult Arabic. Mention should be made of essays by writers such as Juan Goytisolo, Rafael Cansinos or Luciano Rubio.