A Man Who Never Was: Ṭālūt and The Jew Again

David J Wasserstein

doi:10.3989/alqantara.2015.017

Abstract

The story of Ṭālūt and the Jew (known from our sources for the Revolt of the Suburb, in the early third/ninth century), has been studied recently by Luis Molina (Al-Qanṭara, 32, 2011), who argues that the Jew is an invention. Here it is argued that the entire story, including also the character of Ṭālūt himself, is an invention, created probably in the fourth/tenth century. Our apparent evidence is extremely weak: the sources for Ṭālūt’s existence are shown to be thin and unreliable; severe chronological problems make it almost impossible for him to have existed; the story has all the character of invention. Its aim, far from being to say something about Jews in al-Andalus or about a participant – Ṭālūt or any other – in the revolt – seems to be to glorify the ruler, al-Ḥakam I.

Highlights

In an elegant study in a recent issue of Al-Qanṭara, Luis Molina subjected the story of Ṭālūt b
Given the importance of that work in the historiographical tradition of al-Andalus, and the difficulty it presents to our understanding of its original form and history, Molina’s study is of great value
We worry: we find Ṭālūt in several biographical dictionaries, it is striking, to put it mildly, that the entries on him in all the dictionaries where he occurs derive from a single historiographical source

Summary

A Man Who Never Was: Ṭālūt and The Jew Again Un hombre que nunca existió

The story of Ṭālūt and the Jew (known from our sources for the Revolt of the Suburb, in the early third/ninth century), has been studied recently by Luis Molina (Al-Qanṭara, 32, 2011), who argues that the Jew is an invention. It is argued that the entire story, including the character of Ṭālūt himself, is an invention, created probably in the fourth/tenth century. Recientemente (en Al-Qanṭara, 32, 2011), Luis Molina ha estudiado el relato de Ṭālūt y el judío (ya conocido de las fuentes sobre la Revuelta del Arrabal), concluyendo allí que el judío es una pura invención. Aquí se propone que todo el relato, incluyendo también el carácter de Ṭālūt mismo, es inventado, creado probablemente en el curso del siglo IV/X. Palabras clave: Ṭālūt; judíos; al-Andalus; historiografía árabe; Ibn al-Qūṭiyya

Introduction

A MAN WHO NEVER WAS

Conclusion