52 • cHAPTeR 2
another source; this ezekiel passage, for example, is not mentioned in
Gottheil’s “Zionism” entry.^47
Not only does al- Khalidi unreservedly offer biblical passages that
stress the Israelites’ yearning to return to their land, but he sees this
same desire continuing into postbiblical Jewish history as well. “The
mystical part of the Talmud,” al- Khalidi explains, elaborating on Got-
theil’s article,
is loaded with Zionist aspirations on the model of that which ap-
pears in the books of the Old Testament. It is pointed out in it [the
Talmud] and in the midrashic writings^48 that the messiah^49 . . . will
assemble the dispersed, and with them they will gain mastery over
Jerusalem [al- Quds]. Among the rabbis [aḥbār]^50 of the Jews, there
are those who believe that the Messiah the son Joseph will collect
the children of Israel around him and march with them to Jerusa-
lem, and he will gain mastery over the power of enemies and will
restore the religious worship in the Temple [al- haykal], that is, al-
masjid al- aqṣā [the al- Aqsa Mosque], and establish his dominion.^51Here al- Khalidi faithfully renders an uncensored translation of the ma-
terial Gottheil presents in his article, while adding further specificity
that leaves no room for doubt as to the precise locations in question.
The Temple to which these Jewish authors wish to restore the religious
worship is, al- Khalidi explains, the al- Aqsa Mosque, or at least it would
stand on the same site.^52 And then al- Khalidi adds an explanation, not
found in Gottheil’s entry, about what this “religious service” is. It is
“the slaughtering of sacrifices,” he clarifies, “and burning them on the
altar above the rock.” This term for “the rock,” aṣ-ṣakhra, refers to the
(^47) Nor, for that matter, are they found in Nassar’s aṣ-Ṣahyūniyya, which appears to list
only those passages mentioned in Gottheil’s “Zionism” article.
(^48) Al- Khalidi uses the phrase al-kitābātal-midārjiyya in translating/transliterating Got-
theil’s phrase “midrashic writings.”
(^49) Al- Khalidi first transliterates “messiah” into Arabic script and then translates it:
al-massayāayal-masīḥ.
(^50) Gottheil uses the term “philosophers.”
(^51) al- Khālidī, “as- Sayūnīzm, ay al- masʾala aṣ- ṣahyūniyya” [copyist version], 23.
(^52) This passage is found as well in Naṣṣār, aṣ-Ṣahyūniyya. Nassar, however, inserts
al- Ḥaram ash- Sharīf (the Noble Sanctuary), i.e, the Temple Mount, as opposed to al-
Khalidi’s al- masjid al- aqṣā, in identifying this location. This difference may be connected
to the different religious affiliations of Nassar and al- Khalidi, the latter preferring the
unambiguously Qurʾanic term while the former offers a more general name relating to
the area’s holiness. Given the common presumption that the ancient Jewish temple stood
at the center of Herod’s Temple Mount, approximately where the dome of the Rock now
stands, it is curious that al- Khalidi identified the Temple with al- Aqsa rather than with
the dome.