This grammar of Biblical Aramaic is intended in the first place for the student who wishes to acquire a thorough knowledge of the language of the Aramaic portions of the bible. But it also hopes to stimulate interest in the Aramaic dialects in general and to create a sound basis for further Aramaic studies. It contains a brief but quite full description of the phonetic and grammatical features of Biblical Aramaic, as well as tables of paradigms for the different classes of verbs. Special attention has been paid to the syntax, and the important syntactic data of the language have been treated...

In Knowledge Triumphant, Franz Rosenthal observes that the Islamic civilization is one that is essentially characterized by knowledge ('ilm), for 'ilm is one of those concepts that have dominated Islam and given Muslim civilization its distinctive shape and complexion.' There is no branch of Muslim intellectual and daily life that remained untouched by the all-pervasive attitude towards 'knowledge' as something of supreme value for Muslim being. With a new foreword by Dimitri Gutas.