Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahudiyya was-Sahyuniyya

Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahudiyya was-Sahyuniyya (The Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism, and Zionism) is an eight-volume Arabic reference work by the Egyptian scholar Abd al-Wahhab al-Misiri (d. 1429 AH / 2008 CE), examining the history of Jewish communities, Judaism, Zionism, and the State of Israel through an analytical and deconstructive methodology Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

Composition and Genesis

The project originated while al-Misiri was writing his 1972 study Nihayat al-Tarikh: Muqaddima li-Dirasat Binyat al-Fikr al-Sahyuni (The End of History: An Introduction to the Study of the Structure of Zionist Thought), when he opted to compile an explanatory glossary of specialized terms and figures rather than pausing to define them within the main text Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…. This glossary expanded successively into a small lexicon, a comprehensive dictionary, and ultimately a multi-volume analytical encyclopedia, published in an earlier iteration in 1975 under the subtitle Ru'ya Naqdiyya (A Critical Perspective) Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

The preparation of the full encyclopedia spanned more than twenty-five years Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…. Al-Misiri personally directed and financed the work, collaborating with dozens of contributors, research assistants, technical editors, a Hebrew translation bureau, copyeditors, and typists Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…. The complete eight-volume work was published in 1999 Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

Scope and Structure

The encyclopedia comprises eight volumes, averaging approximately 450 pages each Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…:

• Volume 1 lays out the theoretical framework, epistemological models, and methodological issues Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.
• Volumes 2, 3, and 4 address Jewish communities, covering theoretical dilemmas, modernization and culture, and regional histories across the ancient world, the Islamic world, and Western countries Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.
• Volume 5 covers Judaism, including its scriptures, religious laws, rituals, sects, and modern reform movements Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.
• Volume 6 explores Zionism, tracing its ideological currents, history, relations with Western imperialism, and non-Jewish and Jewish anti-Zionism Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.
• Volume 7 focuses on Israel, analyzing it as a functional and settler-colonial entity, its political and security systems, and its internal crises Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

The work also features biographical entries for historical Jewish figures as well as non-Jewish figures whose actions influenced Jewish history Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu….

Method and Theoretical Framework

Rather than compiling uncritical factual data, the encyclopedia uses complex explanatory paradigms (namadhij tafsiriyya) to dismantle reductionist premises Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1. It rejects the concept of an unchanging, homogeneous "Jewish essence" or an isolated "sacred history," situating Jewish communities instead within general human, socioeconomic, and regional histories Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

The work relies on three primary analytical models:

1. Immanence and Pantheistic Monism (al-hululiyya al-kumuniyya al-wahdiyya) Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu….
2. Comprehensive Secularism (al-almaniyya al-shamila) Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu….
3. Functional Groups (al-jama'at al-wazifiyya), treating Jewish populations not as an isolated monolith, but as specialized minority groups fulfilling defined roles within their host societies Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

Through this framework, the work also critiques conspiracy-based reductionism, arguing that attributing global events to a single hidden hand misinterprets complex social and historical realities Majallat al-Bayan.

Reception and Incidents

Upon its release in 1999, the encyclopedia was awarded the Best Book Prize at the Cairo International Book Fair Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…. It generated wide scholarly discussion across the Arab world; while praised for providing a comprehensive Arabic reference that challenges Zionist terminology, aspects of its theoretical models—such as the extent to which religious factors versus functional-sociological factors drive Jewish history—sparked ongoing debates among Arab and Islamic intellectuals Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…+1.

During its preparation, the project drew hostile reactions: in January 1984, Meir Kahane, head of the Kach group, sent thirteen death threat letters to al-Misiri—six addressed to Riyadh, six to Cairo, and a thirteenth delivered upon his return to Egypt—demanding that he cease writing the encyclopedia, leading Egyptian security authorities to place the author under armed protection Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu…. In November 1993, Bar-Ilan University also sent a letter to the Israeli cultural attaché requesting diplomatic intervention against Egyptian figures writing on Zionism, including al-Misiri Mawsuat al-Yahud wal-Yahu….