Subject: JUICE: Jewish Philosophy - Part 1
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 23:33:44 +0000
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: JUICE Administration <juice@virtual.co.il>
To: philosophy@virtual.co.il
Subject: JUICE Jewish Philosophy 1
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World Zionist Organization
Jewish University in CyberspacE
juice@wzo.org.il birnbaum@wzo.org.il
http://www.wzo.org.il
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Course: Introduction to Classical Jewish Philosophy
Lecture: 1/12
Lecturer: Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Woolf
The Encounter of Judaism Islam
I. Introduction
Medieval or Classical Jewish Philosophy must be approached
first (and foremost) against the background of the encounter
between Judaism and Islam in general, and between contemporary
Jewish Culture and Medieval Islamic Culture in particular. The
dynamic which ensued between these cultural entities produced a
polychromatic and multi-faceted culture known as the
Judaeo-Arabic Culture or civilization) Its fruits include
the cultivation of a wide variety of disciplines and cultural
activities, some of which were totally new to Judaism while
others received a new lease on life. Among these were Hebrew
Philology and Grammar, Biblical Exegesis, Legal Codification,
Hebrew Poetry, and General Scientific Research. By most accounts
though, it was the creation and development of Medieval Jewish
Philosophy which is acknowledged as the capstone of this vigorous
cultural efflorescence, and its inevitable end point. Thus, it is
most appropriate to start our course by examining the religious,
cultural and political context within which these intellectual
trends took shape and matured.
At the same time, it is not my intention to fall victim to
the Genetic fallacy. This is the mistake that many scholars (and
lay people too) make when they assume that the be-all and end-
all of a phenomenon lies in its origins. Thus, I do not want to
give the impression that Jewish Philosophy is no more than a
by-product of the encounter with Islam and that's it. The case is
quite the opposite.
As we shall see, after its initial stages, Jewish Philosophy
acquired a life and dynamic of its own, independent of totally
external factor or influences. Especially in its Hebrew form (the
classic works were all written in Arabic or Judaeo-Arabic), Medieval
Jewish Philosophy continued to develop in Christian Europe
through the High Middle Ages and into the Renaissance and Baroque
Periods. Moreover, while the methodological assumptions of this
school may be out of date today ( e.g. reliance on Aristotle and
Plato; Plotinus and Ptolemy) the classic works of Medieval Jewish
Thought such as Saadiah Gaon's Book of Beliefs and Opinions,
Bahya Ibn Paquda's Duties of the Heart, Judah HaLevi's Kuzari,
Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed, Gersonides's Wars of the Lord
and numerous other works, are still studied with profit, their
ideas and insights embellished and elaborated by specialists and
laypersons alike.
II. The Jews Under Islam
When the armies of Islam broke out of the Arabian Peninsula
in the second third of the seventh century CE, they rode inspired
by the mission to establish the dominion of the faith of the One
True God, Allah, over the entire world. This faith was expressed
in the inimitable book, the Quran, which Allah had vouchsafed to
his servant Muhammed, seal of the Prophets. The revelation and
traditions contained in the Quran represented the final
revelation of the will of God to the world, rendering all previous
revelations (Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian) null and void.
This, by the way, is the reason why the Bahai and Druse faiths
are persecuted by Orthodox Islam (whether Sunni or Shii). Both
claimed to teach revelations which were communicated after the
career o f Muhammed and are therefore, by definition, heretical.
[It should also be noted that the question as to the degree to
which oral traditions not contained in the Quran are to be
considered authoritative in Islam, is a critical point of
contention between Sunni and Shiite Islam. The former, which
counts the most adherents in the Muslim World, maximize their
reliance upon such supplementary traditions (known as Hadith)
while the latter are just as strong in their unwillingness to
rely thereupon.
Thus, the Arab conquest, which ultimately spread over all of
Asia, North Africa, Spain, Asia Minor and the Balkans, was
fundamentally religious in its goals. Or, as the distinguished
scholar Bernard Lewis put matters, Muhammed became a statesman to
advance his faith and role as prophet, not vice versa. Moreover,
it is patently clear, that (optimally) the Arabs believed that
ultimately all of mankind would recognize the truth of Islam and
convert. However, in practice, from early on the forces of Islam
drew a distinction between two groups of individuals who came
under their control. On the one hand, there were the pagans who
still adhered to various forms of polytheism and idolatry. These
individual (who were Mohammed's first target in his struggle to
establish Islam in Arabia), were given a very clear choice by
their new rulers. They could convert to Islam or they could die.
Needless to say, overwhelmingly the native populations in pagan
areas accepted Islam.
When it came to adherents of the now out-moded faiths which
had preceded Islam, the situation was more sensitive. On the one
hand, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians were not Muslims and
therefore could not have their faith communities legitimized. On
the other hand, they did possess an admittedly incomplete and
incompetent form of revelation, which paved the way for Islam.
Thus, members of these groups could not be seen to be
Religion-less (as was the case with pagans). They did, after all,
believe (more or less) in the same God as the Muslims. And in the
Quran itself (II,256), it is stated that there is no compulsion in
religion. This was understood by Muslim legalists to mean that those
who already had some sort of religion (i.e. revelational faith in
Allah, as defective as it might well be), could not be forced to
convert to Islam. Indeed, the logical corollary was that they
should be allowed to practice their faith.
Based upon guiding hints already present in the Quran and
its cognate literature, Islamic scholars and leaders resolved that the
status of the People of the book would be tolerated under Islam
and would be allowed a certain degree of communal autonomy and
freedom to practice their faith. However, there were to be very
clear limitations and conditions to these freedoms. First of all,
dhimmi must recognize their fundamentally subordinate,
second-class position in Muslim society. As kufr (nonbelievers)
they would never be the equal of Muslims. They were to be barred
from bearing arms or riding horses. Both of these very military
and masculine activities were reserved for Muslims (and were
fundamentally humiliating in so military and masculine society as
that of Islam). They were barred from holding public office, lest
they be in positions of authority over adherents to the True
faith. Again, the emphasis was upon their second-class
citizenship and humiliation as infidels. In many instances, Jews
and Christians (though the former more consistently) were
required to wear distinctive articles of clothing marking them
off from the population of the Faithful, protecting the latter
from the former.
Most prominent, though, in the various characteristics of
the status of the dhimmi was the requirement that they pay
a special poll and land tax simply by virtue of their
being tolerated by Islam. These taxes, known as the jizya and
kharaj respectively, were sources of shame for the dhimmi and
reinforced the attitude of total and abject contempt which was
the leitmotif of Islamic attitudes towards dhimmi. The dhimmi was
an object of derision who would be tolerated as long as he stayed
in his place. Straying from that subordinate position, though,
could lead to the most extreme reaction.
In order to illustrate this situation in practice, we would
do well to cite two examples from Medieval Spain in the so-called
Golden age. Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (10th cent), is generally
regarded as the founder of the golden age in Muslim Spain.
Courtier, senior advisor to Abdar-Rahman III, Caliph of the
Umayyad Emirate, Hasdai set the tone, content and agenda of the
period. He was politically powerful, carrying on diplomatic
relations with the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany and the
Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. One could hardly expect to
encounter a more accomplished individual.
Yet we are surprised to discover, that Hasdai was less than
happy with his lot. This information comes to us from a precious
letter written over Hasdai's signature by his personal secretary,
the Hebrew poet Menahem Ibn Saruq. The letter is addressed to
the King of the Jewish Empire of the Khazar's, located between the
Black and the Caspian Seas; a kingdom of whose existence Hasdai
had just become apprised. In his letter, after describing his
wealth and accomplishments, Hasdai complains bitterly of the
terrible humiliations suffered by himself and by all Jews at the
hands of the Muslims. He writes that he only wishes he could come
to Khazaria and thereby regain his pride and his self-respect.
For this he is willing to sacrifice everything. The status of
the dhimmi was painful, even for Hasdai Ibn Shaprut!
The second example occurred about one hundred years later,
in the middle of the eleventh century in the Andalusian (southern
Spain) city of Granada. For many years the viceroy (vizier) of
the King of Granada had been Samuil ibn Nagrela, known to Jews as
Shmuel HaNagid. The Nagid had served as the kings right hand, as
well as commander of the armies of Granada in many successful
wars. However, the Nagid was also very careful to stay in his
place at court and not to appear to wield the type of power which
he actually did possess.
Upon his death, the Nagid was succeeded by his son Yehosef,
who possessed none of his fathers tact, political savvy or sense
of place. As a result, he was overthrown in 1066 (the year of the
Norman Conquest of England) by Muslim mobs intent upon putting
the dhimmi where they belonged. Hundreds of Jews were slaughtered
in the pogroms which accompanied the fall of Yehosef HaNagid.
Stepping out of line could be fatal for dhimmi, but while they
adhered to the rules, they were protected if despised.
The bottom line of all of this, with wide variations from time to
time and place to place, is that Jews (and to a lesser degree
Christians), were severely restricted and humiliated in return for their
right to live and practice their faith. The goal of the dhimmi status was
several-fold. First, to emphasize for the faithful exactly what happens
to those who remain outside of Islam. Second, to teach the exact same
lesson to the dhimmi. Third, to get across to the latter the message that
as intense as their humiliation might be, all that is required to be
relieved thereof is to accept the new faith.
Suggestions for further reading:
Bernard Lewis. The Jews of Islam.
Bernard Lewis, Semites and AntiSemites
E. Ashtor, a History of the Jews in Muslim Spain
S. D. Goitein, Jews and Arabs
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