| Sumario: | In his al-Khiṭaṭ, al-Maqrīzī devotes a full chapter to the Jews’ falsification of canon writings, as alleged in Islamic sources. His account, focusing on the development of the Jewish Oral Law, is unique among Muslim scholars in its length and complexity. In this article, al-Maqrīzī’s presentation is deconstructed into ten stages, their sources of inspiration are suggested, and an attempt to understand the entire passage, its purpose, and its tendencies is made. The inquiry shows that al-Maqrīzī called on an eclectic range of sources from the Torah to Moses Maimonides and including Rabbinic and Karaite ideas and Qur᾿ānic verses. Al-Maqrīzī does not claim that the Torah was falsified, recognizes a pre-falsification version of the Mishnah as being of divine origin, but depicts the Talmud as men’s opinions placed in Allāh’s mouth. Thus he takes an in-between position on the Oral Law, with Rabbanites and Karaites on the opposing flanks.
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