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built upon the torah and there is nothing in the torah that requires
or permits the murder of children for a religious purpose.” the edi-
tors then address the root of such allegations. “For those who envy
and despise the Jews,” they write, “these accusations are easily leveled
and are, with little difficulty, believed.” however, “the evidence that
is mustered to prove” these allegations, insists al-Muqtaṭaf, “will not
convince the fair- minded.” rather, the charges are “baseless” and those
who make them should be punished.^88
Similarly, in 1910– 1911, al-Hilāl was asked a question about the
Jews by a reader in Natchez, Mississippi.^89 this reader had heard that
Jews took “the blood of a Christian to add it to their matzah” for pass-
over,^90 and that “this is one of the laws of their religion.” the reader
considered these claims unlikely and wished to consult with al-Hilāl.
the editor begins his answer by noting that he had been asked a similar
question fifteen years earlier and published a discussion on the topic
then. the journal concluded then that the “alleged horrors to which
you alluded” are simply
the remnants of superstitions of the Dark ages, when mutual hatred
spread between Christians and Jews and each sect ascribed aspects
of indignity upon the other. We do not believe that an entire people
[umma] would be able to agree to commit such horrors, and espe-
cially not the Jewish people [al-ummaal-yahūdiyya] that was co-
eval with both ancient and modern civilization, and was the source
of law and the foundation of the true religions, particularly after
the light of civilization dawned and the rays of freedom and knowl-
edge rose. Incidents such as these are not impossible among some
individual Jews just as they are not impossible among non- Jews.
however, on the question of whether these horrors are required or
permitted by the official religious law, the answer is “no.”^91Al-Hilāl permits the theoretical possibility that there may be some Jews
who engage in horrifying acts such as ritual murder but insists that
Jews were no more likely than non- Jews to commit such misdeeds. Im-
portantly, the editors of both al-Muqtaṭaf and al-Hilāl agree, and state
as much with forceful conviction, that the Jewish religion is unequiv-
ocally innocent in this regard. But the defense of Judaism, at least as
articulated by al-Hilāl’s editor, is actually much more significant. not
(^88) al-Muqtaṭaf 28:9 (July 1903), 616.
(^89) a potentially fruitful area for future research would be an investigation of the par-
ticipation of american (or arab american) readers in these arabic intellectual journals.
(^90) Identified here not as Passover but as “the great holiday.”
(^91) al-Hilāl (October 1910– July 1911), 53– 54.