Maimonides in His World. Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker

98 CHAPTER FOUR Nabateans with the Egyptians,^64 an identifi cation recorded also by Shah- rastani.^65 The Sabians are also ment ...

error played a role in Maimonides’ identifi cation of the Egyptians with the Sabians and with al-Filaha al- nabatiyya. Maimonide ...

100 CHAPTER FOUR in Maimonides’ environment, in al- Andalus as well as in North Africa.^80 A similar list appears in the Ghayat ...

cornerstone.^86 Furthermore, as far as I know, in none of these sources— naturally not the Muslim, but also not the Jewish or Ch ...

102 CHAPTER FOUR Maimonides’ originality, the fact that he presents the fruits of his own scholarship rather than reiterates the ...

interest that this discovery requires, one might say that no one prior to him could have made it. The method of taking data acqu ...

104 CHAPTER FOUR Scholars of Judaism, on the other hand, who seek to understand Mai- monides in the context of Jewish thought, a ...

actual validity of his historical reconstruction.” With regard to the Sabi- ans, however, Funkenstein seems to share Graetz’s vi ...

106 CHAPTER FOUR Maimonides as an Historian of Religion The seventeenth- century Hebraists whose approach to the study of reli- ...

ceived as a waste of time.^108 In Guide of the Perplexed, Maimonides re- fers dismissively to the perusal of history books (tar ...

108 CHAPTER FOUR meant to assign them a role in the redemption of Israel. Typical exam- ples of this approach can be found in th ...

This paragraph was censored in Christian lands, and does not appear in most editions.^115 It points to what Maimonides sees as t ...

110 CHAPTER FOUR rituals (particularly the ones related to the pilgrimage), which, as Oba- dia’s teacher seems to have pointed o ...

can indeed be traced back to idolatrous ceremonies, these rituals have lost their pagan sting and can now be considered an integ ...

112 CHAPTER FOUR as intrinsically jahili: simpletons, children, women. The role of religious commandments is therefore to identi ...

quest of learning,^125 and it does not matter if this person understands only one verse, or only one commandment.”^126 The warmt ...

114 CHAPTER FOUR Master who made us perfect, saying: ‘Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ”^130 Follo ...

gogy, the leader of the community must not impose on his fl ock more than they can handle, and must take the context into accoun ...

116 CHAPTER FOUR It is nevertheless noteworthy that Maimonides’ usually in dependent mind does not exert itself in this matter, ...

curt ruling includes neither censoring of the husband’s conduct, nor any expression of empathy for the plight of the woman. Maim ...