The Guide for the Perplexed
The Guide for the Perplexed (Arabic: دلالة الحائرين, romanized: Dalālat al-ḥā'irīn, דלאלת אלחאירין; Hebrew: מורה הנבוכים, romanized: Moreh HaNevukhim) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish theology by finding rational explanations for many events in the text.
This article is about the 12th-century book by Maimonides. For the 1977 book by E.F. Schumacher, see A Guide for the Perplexed. For the 2001 novel by Gilad Atzmon, see A Guide to the Perplexed.Author
דלאלת אלחאירין
c. 1190
1881
Manuscript
181.06
BM545 .D3413
דלאלת אלחאירין at Hebrew Wikisource
The Guide for the Perplexed at Wikisource
It was written in Judeo-Arabic, a dialect of Classical Arabic using the Hebrew alphabet. It was sent originally, part after part, to his student, Rabbi Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta, the son of Rabbi Judah, and is the main source of Maimonides' philosophical views, as opposed to his opinions on Jewish law.
Since many of the philosophical concepts, such as his view of theodicy and the relationship between philosophy and religion, are relevant beyond Judaism, it has been the work most commonly associated with Maimonides in the non-Jewish world and it is known to have influenced several major non-Jewish philosophers.[2] Following its publication, "almost every philosophic work for the remainder of the Middle Ages cited, commented on, or criticized Maimonides' views."[3] Within Judaism, the Guide became widely popular, with many Jewish communities requesting copies of the manuscript, but also quite controversial, with some communities limiting its study or banning it altogether.
Reception[edit]
While many Jewish communities revered Maimonides' work and viewed it as a triumph, others deemed many of its ideas heretical. The Guide was often banned and, in some occasions, even burned.[10]
In particular, the adversaries of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah declared war against the "Guide". His views concerning angels, prophecy, and miracles—and especially his assertion that he would have had no difficulty in reconciling the biblical account of the creation with the doctrine of the eternity of the universe, had the Aristotelian proofs for it been conclusive[11]—provoked the indignation of his coreligionists.[12]
Likewise, some (most famously Rabbi Abraham ben David, known as the RaBad) objected to Maimonides' raising the notion of the incorporeality of God as a dogma, claiming that great and wise men of previous generations held a different view.[13]
In modern-day Jewish circles, controversies regarding Aristotelian thought are significantly less heated, and, over time, many of Maimonides' ideas have become authoritative. As such, the book is seen as a legitimate and canonical, if somewhat abstruse, religious masterpiece.
The Guide had great influence in Christian thought, both Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus making extensive use of it: the negative theology contained in it also influenced mystics such as Meister Eckhart. It was massively used in – and disseminated through – Ramon Martí's Pugio Fidei.[14] It was also read and commented on in Islamic circles, and remains in print in Arab countries.[15]
Several decades after Maimonides' death, a Muslim philosopher by the name of Muhammad ibn Abi-Bakr Al-Tabrizi wrote a commentary in Arabic on the first 25 propositions (out of 26) of Book Two, leaving out the last one, which states that the universe is eternal. The extant manuscript of the commentary was written in 677AH (1278 CE), and states that it was copied from a copy in Maimonides' own hand writing. The commentary was printed in Cairo in 1949.[16]
Translations[edit]
The original version of the Guide was written in Judaeo-Arabic. The first Hebrew translation (titled Moreh HaNevukhim) was written in 1204 by a contemporary of Maimonides, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon in southern France. This Hebrew edition has been used for many centuries. A new, modern edition of this translation was published in 2019 by Feldheim Publishers. Another translation, which most scholars see as inferior, though more user-friendly, was that of Judah al-Harizi.
A first complete translation in Latin (Rabbi Mossei Aegyptii Dux seu Director dubitantium aut perplexorum) was printed in Paris by Agostino Giustiniani/Augustinus Justinianus in 1520.
A French translation accompanied the first critical edition, published by Salomon Munk in three volumes from 1856 (Le Guide des égarés: Traité de Théologie et de Philosophie par Moïse ben Maimoun dit Maïmonide. Publié Pour la première fois dans l'arabe original et accompagné d'une traduction française et notes des critiques littéraires et explicatives par S. Munk).
The first complete English translation was The Guide for the Perplexed, by Michael Friedländer, with Mr. Joseph Abrahams and Reverend H. Gollancz, dates from 1881. It was originally published in a three volume edition with footnotes. In 1904 it was republished in a less expensive one volume edition, without footnotes, with revisions. The second edition is still in use today, sold through Dover Publications. Despite the age of this publication it still has a good reputation, as Friedländer had solid command of Judeao-Arabic and remained particularly faithful to the literal text of Maimonides' work.[20]
Another translation to English was made by Chaim Rabin in 1952, also published in an abridged edition.[21]
The most popular English translation is the two volume set The Guide of the Perplexed, translated by Shlomo Pines, with an extensive introductory essay by Leo Strauss, published in 1963.[22]
A modern translation to Hebrew was written by Yosef Qafih and published by Mossad Harav Kook, Jerusalem, 1977. A new modern Hebrew translation has been written by Prof. Michael Schwartz, professor emeritus of Tel Aviv University's departments of Jewish philosophy and Arabic language and literature.[23] Mishneh Torah Project published another Hebrew edition between 2018 and 2021, translated by Hillel Gershuni.[24][25]
Mór Klein (1842–1915), the rabbi of Nagybecskerek translated it to Hungarian and published it in multiple volumes between 1878 and 1890.[26]
The Arabic original was published from Arabic manuscripts in a critical edition by the Turkish Dr. Hussein Atai and published in Turkey, then in Cairo Egypt.[27]
Translations exist also in Yiddish, French, Polish, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, and Chinese.
Manuscripts[edit]
The earliest complete Judeo-Arabic copy of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, copied in Yemen in 1380, was found in the India Office Library and added to the collection of the British Library in 1992.[28] Another manuscript, copied in 1396 on vellum and written in Spanish cursive script, but discovered in Yemen by bibliophile, David Solomon Sassoon, was formerly housed at the Sassoon Library in Letchworth, England, but has since been acquired by the University of Toronto. The manuscript has an introduction written by Samuel ibn Tibbon, and is nearly complete, with the exception of a lacuna between two of its pages. Containing a total of 496 pages, written in two columns of 23 lines to a column, with 229 illuminations, the manuscript has been described by David Solomon Sassoon in his Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library.[29] In the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, England, there are at least fifteen incomplete copies and fragments of the original Arabic text, all described by Adolf Neubauer in his Catalogue of Hebrew Manuscripts. Two Leyden manuscripts (cod. 18 and 211) have also the original Arabic texts, as do various manuscripts of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (No. 760, very old; 761 and 758, copied by Rabbi Saadia ibn Danan). A copy of the original Arabic text was also stored at the Berlin Royal Library (now Berlin State Library), under the category Ms. Or. Qu., 579 (105 in Catalogue of Moritz Steinschneider); it is defective in the beginning and at the end.[30] Hebrew translations of the Arabic texts, made by Samuel ibn Tibbon and Yehuda Alharizi, albeit independently of each other, abound in university and state libraries.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "MOSES BEN MAIMON (RaMBaM; usually called MAIMONIDES)". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
