112 CHAPTER FOUR
as intrinsically jahili: simpletons, children, women. The role of religious
commandments is therefore to identify these Sabian ideas and to curb
them.
The religion of the simple people is present in all Maimonides’s writ-
ings, and he obviously evaluates his own religiosity as superior to it.
Maimonides neatly sums up his feelings in this respect when he says:
What I try to do— I and all the people of the elite who seek to attain
perfection (ahl al- tahsil min al- khawass)—is quite different from
what the masses attempt to do. For what the masses of religious
people (awamm al- sharai) love most of all, and what they, in their
foolishness, fi nd most pleas urable, is to present religion and the in-
tellect as diametrically opposed.^123At the same time, he regards this simple religiosity as something that
must be treated with care, as it is essential to the preservation of a func-
tioning community. Navigating between his own ideals and the reality of
everyday life, he accommodates his reactions to the situation at hand.
The way he handles this complex reality is refl ected in his responsa and
letters.
Maimonides usually treats the simple men who turn to him with pater-
nal condescension, extending to them a welcoming, encouraging hand.
In par ticular, he responds warmly and patiently to the humble and unas-
suming men who strive to acquire knowledge. Thus, for instance, Obadia
the Proselyte, asking him about the wine produced by Muslims, mentions
a previous discussion he has had with his own teacher on the same topic,
in which the teacher insulted him, calling him “stupid” (ksil). Maimo-
nides goes out of his way to take the sting out of Obadia’s humiliation
and to reassure him. He recalls the merits of the convert, “A man who
left his father, birthplace, and the prosperous kingdom of his people...
and entered under the wings of the divine presence,” elaborating this
point at length and concluding: “God forbid that you should be called
stupid (ksil)! the Lord did not call you, ‘stupid,’ but on the contrary: ‘in-
telligent’ (maskil): that is to say, understanding and clever, going on the
right path and a disciple to Abraham our father.”^124 When Joseph ibn
Jabir, a manifestly studious but unaccomplished merchant, introduces
himself as an ignoramus (am ha-aretz), Maimonides rebukes him gen-
tly: “First of all... you should know that you are not an am ha-aretz;
no, you are our student whom we love— you, and anyone engaged in the
(^123) Essay on Resurrection,Epistles, 330 [Hebrew, 360]; and see below, apud note 161. On
Maimonides’ attitude to pop ular religion, see also K. Seeskin, Searching for a Distant God:
The Legacy of Maimonides (New York and Oxford, 2000), 142– 54.
(^124) Epistles, 240– 41; and see chap. 6, below, apud note 110.