Alois Musil

Who was Alois Musil?

Alois Musil was an Austro-Hungarian and Moravian theologist, orientalist, explorer and writer.

Musil was the oldest son born into the family of a poor farmer. He was a second cousin of Robert Musil, a famous writer. In the years 1887–1891 he studied Roman Catholic theology at the University of Olomouc, was consecrated as a priest in 1891 and received a doctorate in theology in 1895. In the years 1895–1898 he studied at the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem, in 1897-1898 at the Jesuit University of St. Joseph in Beirut, 1899 in London, Cambridge and Berlin.

He traveled extensively throughout the Arab world and kept on coming back to it until 1917, collecting a huge body of scientific material. Among his discoveries was the desert castle of Qasr Amra with figural Islamic paintings. His unhealthy lifestyle caused him a serious lung disease.

Between his trips Musil kept working on his publications and lecturing. In 1902 he became professor of theology at the University of Olomouc, in 1909 professor of Biblical studies and Arabic at Vienna University. In addition to modern and classical languages he mastered 35 dialects of Arabic.