"Mishneh Tora" ("the second Torah") is a practical guide to the halacha, the Jewish Law. In a way it is a reference book, compilation of the rulings from Mishnah, Talmud, rabbinic responsa and, may be, from elsewhere: there is no indication of sources for the rulings - a complete innovation in the Jewish religious literature. Another innovation is omission of any material of no practical use at the time of writing: the order of sacrifices in the Temple, regulations for the High Priest, etc. The book is meant for the general public and contains no complicated material, the idea was to bring the basics of religious law to the less educated masses.
"The Guide for the Perplexed" too has educational aims, it deals with theological questions, the nature of God, universe, free will, and so on. Being a book for the highly educated, intellectual reader, it contains plenty of philosophical discourses without a hint of simplification. Considering the possibility that common people too might read it, Maimonides himself claims that he has concealed the opinions which could confuse and be harmful to someone not capable of proper understanding. It is up to the more sophisticated reader to see the meaning behind the words. Both books became cornerstones of Judaism, together with "The 13 Principles of Faith", an extract from the "Commentary on the Mishnah", chapter Heleq of tractate Sanhedrin. The 13 Principles are not a separate tractate, but they are a complete piece, often taken on its own. Today they are included in the majority of books and booklets introducing Judaism.
At the time of writing, and for a long time in history, the Principles were not easily accepted; their name, importance, form, content all were challenged. They were an innovation, as Mishneh Torah was too. Both the Principles and Mishneh Torah were directed to the masses as educational material. Without intention to draw any parallels, it can be noted that these writings remind that apart from being a philosopher and a court physician, Maimonides was a rabbi, Head of the Jewish community of Fustat. In this role he came in touch with the common Jews and carried responsibility for their relationship with religion.
It is hard to say why any book is written, even when the author claims certain reasons, they are not necessarily the correct ones. It is especially hard to talk about thoughts of a person who is, probably, more intelligent than any researcher writing about him. There are various scholarly opinions on the reasons for formulating the principles, but several of them could be equally correct, because there is usually a combination of circumstances which leads to a result.
The reasons proposed include desire of political unity among the Jews; sincere belief that by correct indoctrination he could bring them to salvation; using scientific methods in religion; copying Christian/Muslim doctrines; using simple religious statements as pedagogical devices. The most plausible explanations for writing out the principles appear to be the purposes of teaching the masses and the external influences.
While it is clear enough that teaching the religion was important to Maimonides, and putting together the information usually scattered across a tractate is a perfect pedagogical device, the whole set of other questions arises. For example, regarding the need for codification of belief as opposed to continuing to stress the importance of observances. Judaism is still very much religion of practice, not faith, giving such importance to belief suspiciously resembles Christianity and Islam.
Maimonides himself explains that the world to come could only be obtained by holding the correct belief. The 13 principles set out what is the correct belief. He even claims that doubting a single one of the articles he considered the most fundamental removes one from the fold of Judaism, such one is a heretic, he would be punished by extinction.
Religious observances too are futile without the faith, which is a prerequisite of God's acceptance of actions. This is why it was especially important to ensure that people hold the right beliefs. At the same time, Maimonides observed that the masses were persistent in the incorrect ideas with which they were brought up. According to Kellner "Maimonides posited his principles because he thought that the masses ought not to be permitted to persist in false beliefs, especially false beliefs concerning God." (p.41)
The particular problems arose with the articles discussing the nature of God: his oneness and his incorporeality. Corporeality versus incorporeality was actually a polemical question. The parts of God's body (eyes, hands, voice) are mentioned a lot in the Torah. Usually they were understood literally. May be, if not for Maimonides' insistence on the doctrine of incorporeality, the literal understanding would have prevailed, God would be imagined to have a body, as if human was created in his image phisically. Maimonides defined such a thought as heresy.
"Maimonides held that perfected halakhic observance depends upon the holding of true doctrines concerning God since holding false doctrines about God is idolatry; thus it is impossible to observe the halakhah, Maimonides held, without accepting the first five principles at least. I think it is fair to restate this point in stronger terms: one who conscientiously observes the halakhah while believing in the corporeality of God is, in effect, performing idolatry." (Kellner, 1986, p.41)
Principle five is likely to be countering the practice of saint-worship, always very popular and widespread in Egypt, Morocco and Palestine, the countries Maimonides knew best. In all these countries some saints' graves were even shared as places of worship between Jews and Muslims. In both religions worshipping anything except God is an equally grave sin. Knowing how much grave-worshipping was attacked by the Muslim orthodoxy, it is not surprising to see attempts of the same purification from the Jewish side. Considering that Muslims commonly accused the Jews of allowing the folk practice of praying at the graves for the saint's intercession, pretending they did not do it themselves, this was a good reason to become concerned about this particular popular deviation from the teachings of the Torah.
However straightforward might seem Maimonides' concern for the correct belief of the Jewish masses, there are interesting signs of Islamic ideas in his writings. There can be many reasons for seeming or true similarities between Maimonides' ideas and notions and Islamic material. Kellner suggests influence of the general culture and the major religion on the minorities. Minority religions often begin to understand their own ideas through the notions of the dominant religion. Kellner's example is the use of the Christian term D Esalvation D Ein the contemporary Jewish writings.
Another factor of influence was the similarity of the basics of the two religions (Islam and Judaism), which meant that any differences became important and lead to the accusations of defiling the purity of faith. One such issue was the Jewish view on God's corporeality. In Islam descriptions of God as having a body were interpreted as no more than symbols, literal understanding of these expressions was treated as blasphemy. Jewish ideas on the question were taken up as a symbol of incompetence of Judaism, to the point of accusing the Jews of idolatry. Well acquainted with Islamic theology and religious philosophy, Maimonides, who was, undoubtedly, sincere believer in God's incorporeality, brought Jewish belief in line with the Islamic ideals:
"We are to believe that He is incorporeal, that His unity is physical neither potentially nor actually. None of the attributes of matter can be predicated of Him, neither motion, nor rest, for example. They cannot refer to him accidentally or essentially." (Third principle). Thus he destroyed the basis of a significant charge against Judaism.
One more charge often heard from the Muslims was superiority of Muhammad and his messsage to all the other prophets. The seventh principle, on the contrary, asserts the superiority of Moses, because he was the only prophet who communicated with God directly, he was the only one too who was not overwhelmed by it and even had unlimited access to God. Maimonides uses examples of other Biblical prophets who received the words of God through angel (Gabriil) and who experienced trance-like condition upon receiving the message. Even though he ascribes such "inferior" ways of receiving the call of God to the names from the Torah, for any person acquainted with Muslim descriptions of Muhammad's prophetic behaviour the parallels are absolutely clear. Interestingly however, if the apparent parallel with the fifth and sixth principles is indeed genuine, it could be understood that Maimonides actually includes Muhammad among the prophets, meaning that he accepts him as such.
The eighths and ninth principles too deal with an issue related to the Islamic views of Judaism. Islam recognises all the biblical prophets as such and accepts both Testaments as revelations from God. But, according to the mainstream Islamic theology, the existent text of these books is a corruption of the original message, the religions based on the texts have greatly deviated from what was taught by God through the prophets, and on top of that, all the earlier religions, prophesies and revelations are abrogated by Islam. These heavy charges could have influenced the Jews. Whether Torah is the direct word of God or not can be irrelevant to the observance of halacha. Even today the belief that Torah is inspired, rather than dictated by God is accepted as orthodox, while the Muslims are exceptionally sensitive to questioning the Quran as an exact word of God.
Maimonides demands of the Jews the same attitude to Torah as Muslims have to the Quran. No thought that it has been rewritten and changed in the course of time is acceptable. To be confident about their religion, the Jews have to be confident about the text on which they build it. At the same time, he places within Judaism a Holy Scripture with the same qualities as in the Islamic model.
The most important step in shaping Judaism was the creation of the religious dogma. This too can be seen as a result of Islamic influence. Because by the time of Maimonides Islam had firmly established the list of fundamental beliefs, it was important to show that Judaism too had a doctrine. The fact that Judaism did not have a defined dogma had concerned some before Maimonides, attempts were made to define the more important beliefs in accessible ways, which illustrates importance of the issue in the Muslim-dominated societies.
On the higher grounds, it undermined the esteem of Jewish theology and religious philosophy. Maimonides has done a great deal to raise these subjects to the hights achieved by the Islamic counterparts. Not only by his standing, but by his philosophical ideas and methods too, he belongs to the constellation of great minds of medieval Islamic culture, such as Ibn Sina, al-Farabi and others.
The choice of points which Maimonides chose to elevate from the many beliefs prescribed by Torah to the level of the fundamental principles generally corresponds to the most important articles of faith in Islam. After certain name changes the 13 principles could actually suit as a description of Islamic belief.
Not only were the essential beliefs defined in Islam, the question of an individual belonging to the community of Muslims depended more on profession of the creed than religious practice. Maimonides introduced the same criteria into Judaism. Seemingly, it should have led to exclusion of individuals from the fold of orthodox Judaism. But Kellner asserts that the choice of the dogmats which he presented as vital consisted of the most popular beliefs, shared by majority already. It gave opportunity to define one as a Jew according to his faith, which was especially important at the times of persecutions and forced conversions. Maimonides himself had lived through such times and had defended those who were ostracised for giving in and converting to Islam at least outwardly. An opportunity to remain Jews because of their beliefs could have been a relief to such people.
With the views Maimonides held about the different levels of religious understanding according to one's intellect and education, it is quite possible that he did not share the beliefs he claimed to be essential, because the principles were directed to the masses. It has been noted that "The knowledge required by Maimonides of the Masses possesses no intrinsic value." (Kellner, p.37)
He was actually indoctrinating the public, which is clear from the commentary after the list of principles, inviting the reader to learn them by heart, reflect on their meaning, put efforts into complete understanding. Thus he elevated belief to much higher status then before, but his insistence on the reader's attention might be a sign that he is actually introducing not widely accepted principles, but the less familiar material, in the new form and with a new importance. It is to Maimonides that Judaism owes its dogma, which by itself, without everything else he has done would be enough to include him among the founding fathers of the religion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. M. Kellner, "Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought", OUP, 1986
2. M. Kohen, "Under Crescent and Cross", Princeton, 1984
3. H Davidson, "Maimonides' Secret Position on Creation"
and S. Pines,
"The Limitations of Human Knowledge according to Al-Farabi, ibn Bajja, and Maimonides"
in
"Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature",
ed. I. Twersky, Harvard University Press, 1979
4. S. D. Goitein, "Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through the Ages", New York, 1974
5. B. Lewis, "The Jews of Islam", London, 1984