Page 345 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

ORIENTALIST MOTIVATIONS: A STUDY OF SUBJECTIVITY 325

author of several highly acclaimed books on the Dead Sea Scrolls,
including the widely used Penguin edition, TheDead Sea Scrolls inEnglish,
now in its third edition. The Scientific American interviewer was incred-
ulous: 'A full professor at Oxford, incompetent?' So were we all.,,13

The incredulity is well placed, for the real issue here is not competence
but rather the willingness to tow the line on a 'definitive interpretation'.
Following this scheme from the outset and fiercely guarding the Scrolls
from general academia, the team has shown no regard or recognition for
any sort of scholarship - Jewish or otherwise - except that which furthers a
specific intent. What clearer example of inbred subjectivity can there
be~14
These three examples, and in fact dozens of others from post-war Europe
and America alone, illustrate a recurring theme of unseating all scholars
(if alive,physically,and if dead, academically) who happen to display ideo-
logical rivalry in the course of working on sensitiveJewish issues.Whether
the scholars in question are allegedly renowned or outstanding bears no
relevance; ideological incompatibility alone is weighed in disqualifying
them. To what extent does this thinking hold true for Muslims?

2. The Muslim Counterpoint

i. Israeli Suppression of Palestinian History

Keith Whitelam, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Stirling
(Scotland), is author of a paper which stirred great controversy in many
Bible circles, asserting as it did a conspiracy by Biblical scholars and arch-
aeologists, particularly Zionists, to shapeJewish history into a mould that
denies the history of those who settled the land long before the Israelites,
i.e. the ancient Palestinians." Since 1948 the stance of Israeli scholarship

13 ibid, p. xiv.
14 Note that all the previous quotes are from the first printing, they were altogether
omitted from the second (and perhaps in subsequent) printings. The Biblical Archaeo-
logical Society successfullypublished A Facsimile Edition qf the DeadSea Scrolls in 1991,
amid much praise (along with bitter condemnation from the Scroll editors). To my
horror, I discovered that in the second printing of this set Hershel Shank's original
foreword has shrunk from 36 pages to just two. No substantial note was given for this
omission.
15 H. Shanks, "Scholar Claims Palestinian History isSuppressed in Favorof Israelites",
BiblicalArchaeology Review, MarchiApril 96, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 54. "Whitelam's paper was
considered so significant that it was delivered in one of the very few sessionssponsored
jointly by the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion and
the American Schools of Oriental Research." [ibid, p. 54.]