108 CHAPTER FOUR
meant to assign them a role in the redemption of Israel. Typical exam-
ples of this approach can be found in the writings of Saadia Gaon,
Abraham ibn Ezra, and Judah Halevi.^112 In Maimonides’ works this ap-
proach is manifest in his attempt to fi t Islam and Christianity into his
historiography. In Guide of the Perplexed he alludes, without specifi -
cally mentioning Islam or Christianity, to these religions’ contribution
to raising the religious level of humanity. Comparing the contemporane-
ous situation to that of the days of the Patriarchs, who lived in a Sabian
environment, Maimonides says: “If the belief in the existence of the de-
ity were not generally accepted at present to such an extent in the reli-
gious communities, our days in these times would be even darker than
that epoch.”^113 This enigmatic statement does not reveal much about
Maimonides’ view regarding the direction of religious development in
the world. In his Mishneh Torah, however, he speaks more clearly,
saying:
As far as the Jewish nation is concerned, [these two religions] only
pave the way for the Messiah, to prepare the whole world to wor-
ship God in unison, as it is said [Zeph. 3:9]: “For then will I turn to
the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of
the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.”
These notions have spread to distant isles, among many peoples,
uncircumcised of heart. They discuss these matters and the com-
mandments of the Torah. Some [that is, the Muslims] say: Those
commandments were true, but they were abrogated in our times,
and were not meant to be binding for generations to come. Others
[that is, the Christians] say: Those matters have esoteric meanings;
they were not meant to be taken literally, but the Messiah has al-
ready come and revealed their meaning.
When the true King- Messiah will appear, when he succeeds and is
exalted and glorious, they will all repent immediately. They will
then realize that they have inherited naught, and that their prophets
and ancestors led them astray.^114(^112) See S. Stroumsa, “Islam in the Historical Consciousness of Jewish Thinkers of the Arab
Middle Ages,” in N. Ilan, ed., The Intertwined Worlds of Islam: Essays in Memory of Hava
Lazarus-Yafeh (Jerusalem, 2002), 447– 48.
(^113) Guide 3.29 (Dalala, 379:13– 14; Pines, 519). The concluding hint at the dark potential
of his own times is crowned with the remark: “However, their darkness is of a different
kind.”
(^114) Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 11:4 (facsimile of the Rome edition; Jerusalem, 1956).
On the polemical themes of abrogation (naskh) and corruption (tahrif), see, for example,
H. Lazarus- Yafeh, Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism (Princeton,
1992), 19– 49.