52 CHAPTER TWO
could be any person. One cannot understand Maimonides’ emphasis on
the fact that those referred to are “some distinguished individuals of our
religious community, who were physicians,” in the plural, as if this were
a typical question of physicians. Even less clear is why Maimonides for-
mulates this exegetical question in the words: “I have mentioned to you
the way in which those who assault the prophets’ discourse misunder-
stand this discourse.” It follows from this that those selfsame “distin-
guished individuals of our religious community, who were physicians,”
who ask a question stemming from their misunderstanding of the verse
in Psalms, are defi ned as those who “assault the prophets’ discourse”—
surely a severe accusation.^94
The accusation placed in the mouth of the physicians is not specifi cally
a medical one, and its wording has a provocative ring, pointing out the
absurd and ridiculous in the verse.^95 We thus have reason to suspect that
here, too, Maimonides has mixed into the framework of the discussion
elements that do not properly pertain to it in the historical sense. Because
of the proximity of this discussion to that concerning the phi losopher
who “assault the prophets’ discourse,” Abu-Bakr al- Razi, it is possible
that these elements were borrowed from the Muslim struggle against this
philosopher.
As this chapter has shown, Maimonides had a thorough knowledge of
the theological trends in the Islamic world. His familiarity with Muslim
kalam and with Christian theology permitted him to analyze Jewish kalam
and its development. His knowledge of the polemical scene within Mus-
lim theology allowed him to weave it into his own thought and to use it
in his attempts to address Jewish heresies, both past and present. The lit-
erary baggage that contained this theology and these polemics was based
mostly on material developed in the Islamic East before Maimonides’ time.
The next chapter is dedicated to a brand of Muslim thought that seems to
have had the most powerful infl uence upon Maimonides’ thought, and
which emerged in the Islamic West during his own lifetime.
(^94) Pines’s translation (478), “Those who are overhasty in their interpretation of the prophets’
discourse,” evidently comes from the assumption that he indeed speaks of “distinguished
individuals of our religious community,” and moderates the translation accordingly. But
the word “overhasty” does not refl ect the belligerence of the expression mutahafi tin; and
see note 76, above.
(^95) Cf. the manner in which Maimonides presents a legitimate, nonprovocative exegetical
question in Guide 3.32 (Dalala, 385:13– 15; Pines, 526– 27).