The Use of Islamic Materials by Non-Muslim Writers r 101the Muslim authors endeavored to reconstruct the early historical past
of the congregation (umma) and supply the jurists with textual evidence
to justify anti-Jewish and anti-Christian regulations and taxations, the
kitabiyun learned to read the Islamic tradition in a subversive way.^72
Not disputing their position as communities without political power,
the People of the Book argued that the model of the past restricted the
measures that the governing Islamic administration could take against
them. In order to secure their communities’ position and to supply ex-
planations of past events, both internally to members of their commu-
nities and externally to the governing Islamic umma, they acquired the
knowledge to manipulate the Islamic historical narrative.^73 The “Protected
People” argued that the primary Islamic texts ensured their property and
lives. They demonstrated a close reading of Islamic sacred history in order
to claim that it was the duty of the Islamic polity to protect them.
Moreover, they interpreted these pseudo-documents in a manner that
safeguarded the kitabiyun’s autonomy and strengthened the position of
their leadership. They manufactured what Amos Funkenstein called in-
authentic narrative that served them as a counterhistory. The function of
counterhistory is polemical, although I do not argue that by a systematic
exploitation of the Islamic hegemonic narrative the non-Muslim authors
aimed to distort the Muslims’ self-image through the destruction of their
collective memory.^74
The interests of the governing Islamic power were at odds with the con-
cerns of the “Protected People.” Adhering to their respective communal
interests, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish writers used similar accounts to
fortify their communities’ positions. Hence it is not surprising to discover
that, although analogous accounts of past events were used, they were
construed in opposite ways. Saying so, we might deduce another conclu-
sion from the above texts: under the caliphs, the Fertile Crescent wit-
nessed the development of an Arabo-Islamic culture that encompassed
all segments of the population. This culture enabled the People of the
Book to live side by side with their Muslim neighbors. It underlined the
legal pseudo-contractual relations between the hegemonic Islamic state
apparatus and the Protected People. There is no need here to present the
reaction of Muslim authors to this interpretation of the ideal polity.^75 His-
torical reality proved time and again that the Muslim majority rejected the
harmonious picture depicted by the kitabiyun.