IBN DAUD, ABRAHAM ̄
(ca. 1110 – 1180?)
Abraham ibn Da ̄ud, who was born in al-Andalus about
1110 or later and died (supposedly a martyr’s death) pos-
sibly in 1180 at Toledo, is an important if neglected fi g-
ure in the cultural history of the Jews of al-Andalus.
He was apparently the fi rst to introduce Aristotelian
philosophy to the Jews of Spain; his work is extant
only in the medieval Hebrew translation, ha-Emunah
ha-ramah (edited with German translation, 1853; there
is a very poor modern English translation). In particular
he utilized the philosophy of Ibn S ̄ı n ̄a (Avicenna), and
was the fi rst to argue for the agreement between Juda-
ism and rational philosophical thought. Neither Jewish
nor Muslim philosophers, of course, had any “double
faith” or “reason versus revelation” confl ict, which
later plagued the Scholastics, so one should not view
Ibn Da ̄ud’s effort as an attempt to convince readers
that it was unnecessary to choose between religion and
philosophy. Rather, somewhat like Maimonides after
him, he was concerned with demonstrating the harmony
between religion and reason in achieving the same truth.
It was left to the far greater capacity of Maimonides to
make this demonstration (which explains the lack of
infl uence of Ibn Da ̄ud’s work on later thought).
More signifi cantly, Ibn Da ̄ud was fi rst in another area:
he was the fi rst (and, in fact, the only) Jewish writer of al-
Andalus to compose historical chronicles. He composed
two such treatises, one of minor importance, on the his-
tory of the Second Temple and the Roman Empire, with
an abridged version of the medieval Hebrew Yossifon,
and the much more interesting and signifi cant Sefer
ha-qabbalah (Book of Tradition). Both of these works,
like his philosophical work (in part), were written with a
certain degree of polemical propaganda. While it is true
that they were produced during the period of Almoravid
dominance of al-Andalus, a time of some persecution (it
is, however, scarcely true that “thousands” of Christians
were “wiped out,” or that “thousands” of Jews converted,
as has been claimed), these works show no evidence of
anti-Muslim hostility.
On the contrary, the latter book in particular seems
to have been directed primarily against the Qaraite
sectarians of Judaism. It purports to be a history of the
Jews from the biblical period to Ibn Da ̄ud’s day. Much
of the work is of interest only to the specialist in Jew-
ish historiography, therefore, but the relatively small
portion on Jews in medieval al-Andalus is obviously
of great value, chiefl y for biographical information on
important scholars and other persons. Some light is also
shed on historical events and on the general culture of
Jews at the time.
Thus, Sefer ha-qabbalah served as a major source
for the few later medieval Hebrew chronicles composed
in Spain, and entire sections were utilized by Abraham
Zacut; for example. Aside from these three or four
chronicles, however, neither the author nor his work
seems to have left any lasting impression on the Jews
of Spain.
There is yet another aspect of Ibn Da ̄ud’s career to
mention. It has frequently been claimed (even by the
editor-translator of Sefer ha-qabbalah) that he was
the famous “Avendauth” who, with the archdeacon
Domingo Gundisalvo, translated numerous Arabic
philosophical and scientifi c treatises into Latin. In fact,
this is a confusion with a Jewish philosopher (virtu-
ally unknown) by the name of Solomon ibn Da ̄ud,
who converted to Christianity and was known as Juan
Hispano (not Johannes Hispalensis, which has caused
further confusion between him and a supposed John of
Seville and even a Juan who was archbishop of Toledo
in 1166). In Latin this converted Jew was known as Jo-
hannes Avendaut or Avendehut. Only Albertus Magnus
calls him “archbishop of Toledo,” undoubtedly confus-
ing him with the previously mentioned Juan. Who this
David Iudaeus, whom Albert says included “dicta” of
several Muslim philosophers in his writing, may be is
unclear; there is the possibility that this reference is to
Abraham ibn Da ̄ud.
Finally, when the fourteenth-century Jewish astrono-
mer of Toledo, Isaac Israeli, stated that Ibn Da ̄ud wrote a
treatise on astronomy, otherwise unknown, he may very
well have confused it with one of the translations done
by Avendaut. More research on all of this is still needed.
See also Avicenna; MaimonidesFurther Reading
Guttmann, J. Philosophies of Judaism. New York, 1964. pp.
143–52.
Ibn Da ̄ud, A. Sefer ha-Qabbalah: The Book of Tradition. Ed. and
Trans. G. Cohen. Philadelphia, 1967.
Norman RothIBN EZRA, MOSES (ca. 1055–1138)
Moses ibn Ezra was the second of four sons in an in-
fl uential family of Granadan Jewish patricians, and the
fi rst important Hebrew poet born during the politically
turbulent but culturally productive period of the muluk
at-taw ̄a’if (los reyes de taifas, the party kings). Civil
disturbances connected with the 1066 murder of Yehosef
ibn Naghrila forced the family to fl ee to nearby Lucena,
where Moses studied with Isaac ibn Ghiyath, the master
rabbi associated with the famous Talmudic academy of
that town. When the clan returned to Granada, Moses
enjoyed the material culture and stimulating intellectual
and social life characteristic of the Jewish nobility. Dur-
ing the years prior to 1090 he came into his own as a
courtier-rabbi and won acclaim as a poet’s poet.IBN DAUD, ABRAHAM ̄