The lack of continuity in the teaching of Arabic was felt in the Faculdade de Letras [School of Arts and Humanities] and was the subject of several attempts at restoration. Professor Virgínia Rau, as director of the School, contacted the eminent philologist and Arabist Arnald Steiger, author of the monumental Contribución a la fonética del Hispano-Árabe y de los arabismos en el Ibero-Románico y el Siciliano (1932), to invite him to teach at the school, but it was not possible to secure his appointment. Professor Pedro Cunha Serra took over until his retirement. Professor Virgínia Rau obtained a large grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to acquire specific bibliography and, with this funding, Professor Cunha Serra organised an excellent library, which is currently housed in the David Lopes Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa [School of Arts and Humanities of Lisbon].

When reviewing David Lopes’ scientific career, it is important to highlight his vast collection of publications, his attention to historical, philological and Arabist doctrine, the variety of topics, the predominance of printed and manuscript sources and th , the critical rigour of his analyses and conclusions, as well as the modesty and seriousness of his writings (cf. above, how he dealt with the non-identification of Ibn Mâjid with Vasco da Gama’s Arab pilot, contrary to the assertion of al-Nahrawâlî and the uncritical assumption of Gabriel Ferrand). If Ibn Mâjid did not lead Vasco da Gama to India but, due to his great work of maritime value, became known as the “lion of the seas”, David Lopes also deserved an equivalent lion-like epithet for the merit of his work and the scientific rigour he sought to imprint on all his work.

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