route rather than taking the shortest way: “God did not lead them by
way of the land of the Philistines, ki it was nearer” (Ex. 13:17). The He-
brew particle ki (because) is usually understood in this context as “al-
though” (ki in the sense of af ki). Maimonides, however, understands it
in its usual meaning, “because.” God did not lead them through the land
of the Philistines precisely because it was shorter. The short path would
not have allowed this nation of recently freed slaves suffi cient time to
become accustomed to the responsibility required of free, sovereign citi-
zens.^43 For the same reason, God gave the Israelites, accustomed to idola-
try, laws that would gradually guide them toward the pure philosophic
truth.
In Maimonides’ understanding, idolatry is the fi rst and primitive stage
of religion in human history. Although it may take on different shapes in
different religions, at its base are foundations shared by all. Ethically
speaking, idolatry is characterized by licentiousness and the pursuit of
the gratifi cation of pleasures in general and of sexual pleasures in par tic-
ular. When discussing idolatry from this standpoint, Maimonides refers
to it as jahiliyya. Maimonides uses this term, derived from Muslim histo-
riography, as a generic term to express the ethical aspect of the initial
stage of development in every religion.^44 From a theological standpoint,
(^43) Guide 3.32 (Dalala, 385:20– 25; Pines, 527); “Treatise on Resurrection” (Epistles, 355).
See also Berman, “Maimonides the Disciple of al- Farabi,” 165– 68. See also R. Brague, “La
ruse divine (talattuf); quelques textes nouveaux,” in T. Langermann and J. Stern, eds., Ad-
aptations and Innovations: Studies on the Interaction between Jewish and Islamic Thought
and Literature from the Early Middle Ages to the Late Twentieth Century, Dedicated to
Professor Joel L. Kraemer (Paris 2007), 17– 26.
(^44) Jumhur al- jahiliyya;Guide 2.32 (Dalala, 253:17; Pines, 160, translates: “the multitudes
among the Pagans”). S. Munk (Maïmonide, Le Guide des égarés: traité de théologie et de
philosophie par Moïse ben Maimoun dit Maïmonide, [Paris 1881], 3:260n2) rightly points
out that in using this term, Maimonides “is referring to... the condition of nations who
had never benefi ted from divine revelation, namely the age of paganism.” In contrast to
Munk’s assertion, however, Maimonides did not use this term “in conformity with the
practice of the Arab writers,” since the latter employ it, as a rule, solely to denote the pre-
Islamic period. This consistent terminology of the Arab writers led Hourani to view Mai-
monides’ use of this term as a veiled reference to Islam. See G. F. Hourani, “Maimonides
and Islam,” in W. N. Brinner and S. D. Ricks, eds., Studies in Islamic and Judaic Traditions
(Atlanta, 1986), 153– 165, esp. 156, on Guide 2.32. See also Guide 3.33 (Dalala, 389:12)
andGuide 3.35 (Dalala, 393:29– 394:1), where Munk (Maïmonide, Le Guide des égarés,
3:273) translates the word jahiliyya as “the ignorant” (and cf. Pines, 532 and 537, respec-
tively). In contrast, in Guide 3.39 (Dalala, 406:21– 24; Pines, 554), the word jahiliyya ap-
parently does denote the pre- Islamic period and its ideals of unconditional generosity and
hospitality. It is likely that when Maimonides juxtaposes “al-milal al-jahiliyya” with “milla
fadila” he is infl uenced by Farabi’s taxonomy; See Kraemer, “On Maimonides’ Messianic
Posture,” 109– 10, and note 2. Idolatry as an early stage of human religion appears also in
Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry, 1– 2, where Maimonides sketches a gradual deterioration