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The Identity of the Apostate in the Epistle to Yemen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2014

Haggai Mazuz
Haggai Mazuz*
Affiliation:
Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

In his Epistle to Yemen, Moses Maimonides answers an anonymous Jewish apostate's polemical claims about the truth of Islam. This apostate challenged the Yemenite Jews by presenting quotes from the Torah that Muslims considered proof of the future advent of Islam and Muḥammad (dalā'il). The identity of the apostate, however, has been disputed by researchers. This article proposes that the apostate Maimonides had in mind was Samaw'al al-Maghribī, the Jewish convert who authored Ifḥām al-Yahūd. The reasoning is based on unique characteristics of Samaw'al's tract that distinguish it from other polemical works. Samaw'al discussed the dalā'il with much greater sophistication than any earlier polemicist and used an advanced manner of presentation, in response to which Maimonides provided well-conceived refutations. This combination of Samaw'al's sophisticated polemical arguments and Maimonides's replies demonstrates that the two appear to be matched.

Type
Research Article
Information
AJS Review , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , November 2014 , pp. 363 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Jewish Studies 2014 

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References

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3. Generally, the word ummī is interpreted as “illiterate.”

4. Translation taken from Maulana, Muḥammad ‘Alī, The Holy Qur’ān: Arabic Text, English Translation and Commentary (1917; repr., Lahore: The Lahore Aḥmadiyya Movement in Islam, 1998)Google Scholar.

5. The epithet poshe‘a was the name given by other Jews to Jews who converted to Islam. See further, Friedman, Mordechai Akiva, Ha-Rambam ha-mashiaḥ be-Teiman ve-ha-shmad (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2002), 25–26Google Scholar.

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10. On Samaw'al's conversion see Stroumsa, Sarah, “On Jewish Intellectuals Who Converted to Islam in the Early Middle Ages,” in The Jews of Medieval Islam: Community, Society, Identity, ed. Frank, Daniel (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 192–196Google Scholar.

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12. Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, introduction, vii n. 29.

13. Halkin and Hartman, Crisis and Leadership, 138 n. 102.

14. Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, introduction, vii n. 29.

15. See e.g., Friedman, Ha-Rambam ha-mashiaḥ be-Teiman ve-ha-shmad, 40 n. 83.

16. See e.g., Tobi, Yosef, “Hit'aslemut be-kerev yehudei Teiman taḥat ha-shilton ha-zaydi,” Pe‘amim 42 (1990): 106Google Scholar.

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18. Scholars disagree about whether Samaw'al was influenced by previous Muslim polemicists. Hanna Shemesh argues that Samaw'al repeats some of Ibn Ḥazm's arguments but adds arguments of his own as well. Moshe Perlmann has doubts about whether Samaw'al knew Ibn Ḥazm's work and states, “The material in Ibn Ḥazm and Samaw'al is very often similar. This does not necessarily indicate that the later author borrowed from the earlier one; they may rather have had common sources which cannot now be traced.” See Shemesh, Hanna, “Ibn Ḥazm's ‘Al-Radd ‘alā Ibn al-Naghrīla,’” in Sofrim muslemim ‘al yehudim ve-yehadut: Ha-yehudim be-kerev shkhneheihem ha-muslemim, ed. Lazarus-Yafeh, Hava (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 1996), 84Google Scholar; Perlmann, Moshe, “The Medieval Polemics between Islam and Judaism,” in Religion in a Religious Age, ed. Goitein, Shlomo Dov (Cambridge: Massachusetts, 1974), 119–120Google Scholar. Cf. al-Maghribī, Samaw'al, “Ifḥām al-Yahūd––Silencing the Jews,” ed. and trans. Perlmann, Moshe, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 32 (1964), introduction, 23Google Scholar.

19. Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, introduction, vii n. 29.

20. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 118.

21. Here Samaw'al mistakenly conflates verses 15 and 18 from Deuteronomy 18: “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee; [I] will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18), (נָבִיא אָקִים לָהֶם מִקֶּרֶב אֲחֵיהֶם כָּמוֹךָ וְנָתַתִּי דְבָרַי בְּפִיו וְדִבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶם אֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּנּוּ) and “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet in your midst, from among your brethren like myself; him you shall heed” (Deuteronomy 18:15), (נָבִיא מִקִּרְבְּךָ מֵאַחֶיךָ כָּמֹנִי יָקִים לְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵלָיו תִּשְׁמָעוּן). Translation taken from The King James Version of the English Bible: An Account of the Development and Sources of the English Bible of 1611 with Special References to Hebrew Tradition (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1941)Google Scholar.

22. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 29.

23. He refers to Samaw'al's pamphlet in support of his argument. See Halkin and Hartman, Crisis and Leadership, 139 n. 131.

24. See, e.g., Abū Ḥātim Aḥmad b. Ḥamdān al-Rāzī, A‘lām al-Nubuwwa (Teheran: Anjuman-e-Falsafa-ye-Irān, 1977), 195Google Scholar.

25. Though it is not clear where he learned of this argument—it may have been current among the Jews of his time—Samaw'al states that he is knowledgeable in Jewish literature: “My father had me learn Hebrew writing and then study the Torah and the commentaries until, by the age of thirteen, I had mastered this knowledge.” Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 97. Perlmann notes, “With his unusual self-admiration, the author [i.e., Samaw'al] indicates that since previous polemic treatises by distinguished Muslim authors are inadequate, he has decided to use his “inside knowledge” of Jewish scriptures and affairs to assist the community of the believers in its disputations with the Jews.” See, Introduction to Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 18. Elsewhere, Perlmann writes, “[Samaw'al] wrote his compendium of polemics against the Jews after reading some of the earlier literature on the subject.” Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 20.

26. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 29–30.

27. “Remember that it is not right to take a passage out of its context and argue from it. Before making any deduction, it is imperative to take into account the preceding and following contents in order to comprehend the meaning and fathom the writer's aim.” Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, 46.

28. Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 48.

29. Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 48–50.

30. Halkin and Hartman, Crisis and Leadership, 139 n. 132.

31. The verse appears in the text in Hebrew letters. וּלְיִשְׁמָעֵאל שְׁמַעְתִּיךָ הִנֵּה בֵּרַכְתִּי אֹתוֹ וְהִפְרֵיתִי אֹתוֹ וְהִרְבֵּיתִי אֹתוֹ בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר נְשִׂיאִם יוֹלִיד וּנְתַתִּיו לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל (“And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation”).

32. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 31–32.

33. When Maimonides rejects the argument based on Deuteronomy 18:15, he mentions the names Zayd and ‘Amr as well: “We disbelieve the prophecies of ‘Amr and Zayd,” Maimonides says, “not because they are non-Jews [...]. Rather, we believe or disbelieve in a prophet because of what he preaches, not because of his descent, as I shall explain.” Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, 50–52. Although these two names are very common in Arabic literature, the fact that they appear in both sources that discuss the dalā’il is interesting.

34. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 32–33.

35. Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 40.

36. Notably, there is a Qur'ānic verse that calls Abraham neither a Jew nor a Christian but a Muslim. Q. 3:67 states: “Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was (an) upright (man), a Muslim; and he was not one of the polytheists.”

37. Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 40–42.

38. Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 43–45.

39. Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 43–45.

40. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 35.

41. Al-Rāzī, A‘lām al-Nubuwwa, 195.

42. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 34–36.

43. One of the Muslim polemicists’ arguments is that the Torah has been abrogated and replaced by the Qur'ān. See further in Lazarus-Yafeh, Hava, Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 35–41Google Scholar; Burton, John, “Naskh,” in Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1960–2005)Google Scholar.

44. R. Sa‘adiah Gaon al-Fayyūmī, Kitāb al-Amānāt wa'l-I‘tiqādāt, 23. Translation taken from Gaon, Sa‘adiah, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, trans. Rosenblatt, Samuel (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976), 137Google Scholar.

45. Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, 44.

46. Maimonides, ’Iggeret Teiman, 44.

47. Interestingly, Maimonides uses the same word to denote the false Messiah in Yemen in The Epistle to Yemen. See Maimonides, 'Iggeret Teiman, 4.

48. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 41–42. Here he appears to have misinterpreted the talmudic expression shi‘abud malkhuyot (e.g., B. Shabbat 63a, 151b), although the source of his familiarity with the expression is not clear. Shi‘abud malkhuyot may denote the Jews’ enslavement to non-Jewish nations or their enslavement of them. The normative Jewish interpretation is the former, a condition that is to end with the arrival of the Messiah; Samaw'al gives it the latter interpretation and defines it as the Jews' nefarious hope and goal.

49. Samaw'al, Ifḥām al-Yahūd, 41–42.

50. Maimonides, Moses, Mishneh Torah (Repetition of the Torah): A New Translation with Commentaries and Notes by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger (New York: Moznaim; Jerusalem: Targum Press, 1986)Google Scholar, Hilkhot melakhim u-milḥamot, 12:1.

51. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot melakhim u-milḥamot, 12:1.

52. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot melakhim u-milḥamot, 12:7.

53. Stroumsa, Sarah, “Elisha Ben Abuyah and Muslim Heretics in Maimonides' Writings,” Maimonidean Studies 3 (1992–1993): 188, 190Google Scholar.

54. On Maimonides's familiarity with a variety of Islamic literature, see Libson, Gideon, “Zikat Rambam la-halakhah ha-muslemit ‘al reka‘ tkufato,” in Ha-Rambam: Shamranut, mekoriyut, mahapkhanut, 2 vols. ed. Ravitzky, Aviezer (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2008), 1:247–294Google Scholar; Harvey, Steven, “Al-Ghazali and Maimonides and their Books of Knowledge,” in Be'erot Yitzhak: Studies in Memory of Isadore Twersky, ed. Harris, Jay Michael (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005), 99–117Google Scholar; Ivry, Alfred L., “Ismā‘īlī Theology and Maimonides’ Philosophy,” in The Jews of Medieval Islam: Community, Society, and Identity, ed. Frank, Daniel (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 271–300Google Scholar; Mazuz, Haggai, “Islamic and Jewish Law on the Colors of Menstrual Blood,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 164 (2014): 99–103Google Scholar.