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But this, in effect, is what Glubb does. Glubb concludes his book on Muhammad, which was aimed at Anglo-Saxon audiences, with a moving plea for tolerance towards Islam: To most Europeans, Islam appears a hard, cruel, savage faith, typified by the hawk-nosed Muslim fanatic, a drawn scimitar in his hand, and the Crescent banner fluttering above his head. 102 If, during the Middle Ages, Jews lived well in the Islamic world, they did not fare so badly in the Christian world either, according to Glubb.

As a life-long agent of the British Empire, Glubb here seems to identify with the empire rather than with its oppressed subjects. ’83 The rebels are dismissed as ‘extreme nationalists’ and ‘gangsters’84 - one of the leaders of the revolt in the north, Yohanan of Gush-Halav (John of Gischala), is described as ‘the local gangster’85 - and the revolt itself as an act of irrational fanaticism and xenophobia: The extremists who rebelled against Rome were not a majority of the Jews in Palestine ... Their motives do not appear to have been religious ...

Never been the same since the Palestine disturbances,’ he wrote. ‘Previously nobody in Transjordan thought that British authority could be seriously threatened. ’ Meanwhile, reported Glubb, Husseini was busy laying the groundwork for ‘unrest in Transjordan should he desire a diversion ... ’ Glubb illustrated his point: Jordanian visitors to Palestine were regularly accosted by rebel agents who tried to recruit them. One sheikh's son from the Kerak area had recently travelled to Jerusalem to receive medical treatment.