traNSLatioN aND coNqueSt • 225are not all alike,” continues Sura 3, as “there are some among the peo-
ple of the Book who are upright,” who “believe in God and the Last
Day, who order what is right and forbid what is wrong” (q. 3:113– 14).
Malul boldly expands this qurʾanic description to all monotheists, not
merely to Muslims or a subgroup of the people of the Book.
In his book, Malul appears to be arguing not only against critics of
the Jews but also against those who would delegitimize religion alto-
gether. “religion,” he declares, “is the foundation of human society
because it demands moral excellence and beneficence. it is the source
of justice and integrity.” Given religion’s vital role, Malul contends that
one must not abandon religion just because of the existence of “reli-
gious superstitions” or even the fact that religion “causes its radicals
and extremists to use violence and force against those who disagree.”^156
Because he devotes a great deal of attention in the book to acts of vio-
lence and persecution carried out in the name of religion, Malul is keen
not to be misperceived as an opponent of religion broadly. aiming to
allay the concerns of both Muslim and Christian arabs about the Jews
and Judaism, Malul apparently recognized that he would have little
effect were he to be perceived as harboring a bias against religion more
generally.
Malul next presents his readers with brief descriptions of the three
monotheistic religions (diyānāt al- muwaḥḥidīn), “in the order of their
appearance” historically.^157 Beginning with “the Israelite religion,”
the term he generally uses for Judaism, Malul claims that this was
“the first religion to be based on [the principle of] monotheism [at-
tawḥīd].”^158 this religion’s scripture, “the torah,” he elaborates, was
“the first religious book in which the rules and duties of religion are
written.” Interestingly, in noting the diversity of Jewry, and particu-
larly the distinction between rabbanites and Karaites, Malul cites a
medieval Islamic source, al- Milal wa- n- niḥal, the work of the eleventh-
to twelfth- century Muslim author ash- Shahrastani (the same scholar
whom al- Khalidi cited, as we saw in chapter 2).^159 Currently, Malul
explains, “the Israelites are scattered throughout the world” as a result
of “the Babylonian exile and the expansion of their dispersion by titus
the emperor of rome, who destroyed the temple and demolished Je-
rusalem.” Malul’s account of Judaism concludes with the demographic
(^156) Malūl, Kitāb asrār al- yahūd, 12.
(^157) Ibid., 12.
(^158) ibid., 13.
(^159) Ibid., 14.