110 CHAPTER FOUR
rituals (particularly the ones related to the pilgrimage), which, as Oba-
dia’s teacher seems to have pointed out, originate in pagan rituals. Mai-
monides, on the other hand, stresses the mono theistic nature of Islam,
and consequently allows the use of Muslim wine.^120
The legal status of Muslim wine, and its linking to the rituals of the
hajj, had been discussed before Maimonides by the Gaonim, who have
suggested that despite their origin, these rituals as performed in a mono-
theistic context do not constitute idolatrous practices. Although the Ga-
onicresponsa focused on the specifi c legal question, its implications for
the issue of whether or not of Islam is truly mono theistic must have been
evident to the Gaonic authorities. In this sense, Maimonides’ response to
Obadia toes the line of previous Rabbinic tradition. Its examination in
the wider framework of Maimonides’ perception of religion, however,
highlights his innovation.
As we have seen in the previous chapter, Maimonides developed a per-
ception of Mosaic religion as an expression of God’s pedagogic ruse.
Rather than abruptly severing a nation from its past, God gave it a law
that is accommodated to the idolatrous ways of life to which it was
accustomed. In the Guide of the Perplexed Maimonides elaborates on
this theory, and lays out in detail its manifestation in the precepts of the
Torah. His discussion revolves around the Israelites and their pagan back-
ground, but it evidently refl ects a broader anthropological understand-
ing. The fact that Maimonides’ discussion is replete with Hebrew and
Aramaic quotations camoufl ages, as it were, the relativistic and phenom-
enological aspect of his claims, as if even when he provides a comparative
explanation, he is really interested only in Judaism. Such a confi guration
of Maimonides’ concerns would be, I believe, a grossmisinterpretation.
TheLetter to Obadia shows that the phenomenological insight was fore-
most in Maimonides’ thought, and that he saw it as universal and over-
arching, and thus applicable also to other religions.
Maimonides’Letter to Obadia is formulated in terms that suit its legal
and personal character. If, however, we were to translate it into the
language of the Guide, we could probably construct the following argu-
ment: “The Arabs (“Ishmaelites”) lived in a pagan, ‘Sabian’ environ-
ment. Instead of commanding them to abandon their ways abruptly,
God in his grace guided them to consecrate their old rituals to the worship
of the one God. Thus, although the Muslim religion comprises rituals that
(^120) Thisresponsum confi rms the well- known fact that, despite the unambiguous Muslim
prohibition on drinking wine, its production and use were common in Muslim lands. The
letter does not specify the kind of permissible usage, but another responsum clarifi es Mai-
monides’ permission as relating to commerce; the actual drinking of this wine is to be
avoided, and is condoned only in social situations where its avoidance can be perceived as
an offensive insult; see Epistles, 427.