RUHI AL-KHALIdI’S “AS-SAYūNīZM” • 73meted out to all.^120 This assessment of Judaism would certainly have
resonated with Muslim readers of al- Khalidi’s text.
The presence within al- Khalidi’s manuscript of conventional Islamic
anti- Jewish tropes, though, does not necessarily imply that his “as-
Sayūnīzm” should itself be viewed as a religious polemic. Identify-
ing the genre of al- Khalidi’s text is a difficult task, both because of its
composite nature (at times, as noted, it is a synthesis of unattributed
sources) and because it generally presents itself in what seems like an
objective, textbook style. The question here is, in part, one of intention-
ality: when al- Khalidi employed anti- Jewish themes and tropes, did he
do so consciously in order to engage in an act of polemics, or was he
simply utilizing and imparting his own conception of Judaism that was
unselfconsciously informed by such polemics? Given the methodologi-
cal challenges of determining authorial intent, this question cannot be
answered with certainty, but we might safely conclude that the text is
operating within a rich tradition and language of discourse concern-
ing Judaism that do have religious polemical qualities, regardless of
whether al- Khalidi intended them as such.
Realigning Interreligious Polemics in PalestineIn al- Khalidi’s passage on the absence of discussion of the afterlife, resur-
rection, and ultimate reward- and- punishment in the Jewish scriptures,
Judaism is not contrasted with Islam exclusively. Rather, the points of
comparison are Islam and christianity. While al- Khalidi only makes
passing reference to the “Holy Gospels,” it is clear that in this “us- and-
them” statement, christians are part of his “us.” Al- Khalidi’s linking of
christianity to Islam is not to be taken lightly. After all, the tradition of
Muslim- christian polemics is at least as extensive and severe as that of
Muslim- Jewish polemics.^121 It begins, as does its Muslim- Jewish coun-
terpart, in the Qurʾan itself. “Those who say, ‘God is the Messiah, the
son of Mary,’ are defying the truth” (Q. 5:17). And later, within the
same sura, “unbelievers” are identified as “those who say that God is
the third of three.” The Qurʾan contends, rather, that “there is only One
(^120) While the Qurʾan here suggests that only a subgroup of People of the Book fails to
believe, al- Khalidi implies that this quality applies to the Jews broadly. On the possible
inclusion of Jews among Muhammad’s category of believers, see donner, Muhammad
andtheBelievers, especially 68– 74. On the apocalyptic orientation of the Qurʾan, see 59,
78– 82.
(^121) As polemics scholar Moshe Perlmann explains, “the polemic literature of Islam is
directed, for the most part, against the far more numerous and powerful christians; the
Jews are considered only in passing.” Perlmann, ed., “Samauʾal al- Maghribī,” 18.