The earlier biographical works on Husseini were characterized by extreme partisanship, with supporters among his Arab contemporaries showcasing his role as the central figure in an Arab revolt that was thwarted by British and Zionist conspiracies, and Zionist histories vilified him as a Muslim fanatic chiefly responsible for the disasters that befell Palestinians in 1948. Al-Husseini's first biographer, Moshe Pearlman, described him as virulently antisemitic, as did, a decade and a half later, Joseph Schechtman. Both have been accused by Philip Mattar of relying on press reports and lacking sufficient background understanding.