Andalusí T h e o s ophy

A Recon t e x tua liza tion

J. Vahid Brown

Medieval Spain witnessed the birth and fundamental development

of Islamic and Jewish theosophical movements that were largely to
become the defining modes of mysticism for these faiths throughout
their domains and down to modern times: the Kabbalah in Judaism,
and Akbarian or wujúdí Íúfism in Islam.1 Why both of these
movements emerged into the light of history at virtually the same
moment and in the same region is a question that has been almost
entirely neglected by modern scholarship.2 What I will attempt to
accomplish in this paper is a rapprochement of three lines of research
that are relevant to this question but that have hitherto been carried
out in isolation from one another. These are, first, the historiographic
discussion regarding the “symbiosis” and “interconfessionalism”
prevailing in pre-Expulsion Andalusí philosophy; second, the vexed
question of the emergence and early history of the Kabbalah; and
third, the obscure intellectual origins of the Íúfí mystic Ibn al-‘Arabí
and his “school.”3 In the scholarship on the latter two issues, almost
no attempt has been made to situate these developments in relation to
each other, nor have scholars given due attention to the role of
Andalusí interconfessionalism in creating the necessary fertile ground
for the explosion of these revolutionary theosophies. It will not be my
intention to establish lines of “influence” from Íúfism to Kabbalah or
vice versa. Rather, my purpose will be to suggest a recontextualization
of these emergent Jewish and Islamic theosophies or esotericisms,
such that the interconfessional revolution in religious philosophy in
tenth- to thirteenth-century al-Andalus can be seen as the most critical
source for the development of these two movements, an
interconfessionalism that would continue to mark their later
trajectories through history.

Symbiosis: Judeo-Islamic Philosophy in the

“Golden Age”
Throughout the history of Islamicate4 civilization, philosophy has
been a pursuit carried out in interconfessional contexts. The first
flowering in Islamdom of philosophy proper — falsafah — was owing
to the joint efforts of Syriac Christians and Arab and Persian Muslims
working in Baghdád under the aegis of the first ‘Abbásid caliphs
 2 Andalusí Theosophy

during the eight and ninth centuries.5 Their translations of the

intellectual legacies of ancient Greece, India and Persia into Arabic
spurred the ‘Abbásid-era renaissance of science and philosophy,6 and
these legacies presented similar challenges to the Abrahamic religious
traditions. The initial Islamicate encounter with the Hellenistic
heritage developed in two distinct directions, that of the falásafah,
often dubbed the “humanists,”7 and that of the dialectical
theologians, the mutakallimún. In both cases the contexts of
development were inherently interconfessional. Oliver Leaman
described the former as having taken place in “an atmosphere [that]
consisted of the thought of Muslims, Christians, Jews and pagans,
and, perhaps more significantly, of those within a religious group
regardless of doctrinal differences.”8 Beginning in the eighth century,
and in a more reactive tone to the philosophical tenets that challenged
such shared dogmas as the temporal, ex nihilo creation of the universe
and the resurrection of bodies, Jewish and Muslim mutakallimún set
down, often in shared social and cultural contexts, their elaborate
philosophical theologies of these Abrahamic faiths.9
Later, in al-Andalus — Islamicate Spain — the development of
philosophy continued to be marked by Jewish-Muslim
interconfessionalism. In a certain sense, the cultural efflorescence of
medieval al-Andalus was a mirror image of ‘Abbásid Baghdád, an
image that was consciously manipulated as much by the founders of
the independent Andalusí Umayyad caliphate as by the Jewish
leadership associated with that court. The process by which the
Andalusí Umayyads created a foundation myth that drew upon
‘Abbásid symbolism while simultaneously affirming their legitimate
independence from Baghdád has been documented at length by
Janina Safran.10 Equally important for our purposes is the fact that
the Andalusí Jewish community, under the leadership of Óasdai ibn
Shapru† (d. 975), physician and advisor to the court of the first
independent Andalusí Umayyad caliph, ‘Abd al-Ra˙mán al-Náßir (r.
961-976), had simultaneously broken with the yeshivot of Baghdad
and set the Jews of al-Andalus on an independent course that would
lead them to rival the Babylonian centers in the spiritual and
intellectual leadership of world Jewry.11 The fact that both Muslims
and Jews of al-Andalus understood the parallelism of these
developments is evidenced by the literature emanating from both
sides of the confessional divide, in which the link is made explicit.12
The ensuing centuries of Andalusí civilization have often been
hailed as a “Golden Age” of Jewish-Muslim symbiosis, with Jews
attaining unprecedented heights in the state apparatus, and witnessing
a general flowering of poetry, literature, and philosophy that
transcended religious boundaries.13 As there are numerous detailed
studies of this period, I will here only briefly identify the most
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 3

important personalities associated with the “Golden Age” of Andalusí

philosophy, emphasizing the interconfessional aspects of these
thinkers’ lives and works. First, though, a few words must be said
regarding the categorization of this literary output as “philosophy.”
The distinctions made between philosophy and religion, science
and magic, or rationalism and mysticism, often confuse more than
they reveal about the medieval literatures to which they are applied.14
This anachronistic division is at the heart of the problem of the
inadequate contextualizations of Spanish Kabbalah and Andalusí
Íúfism, and I will have more to say about this below. It would be well
to emphasize from the start that for every one of the individuals
mentioned below, the pursuit of philosophy was an explicitly religious
affair, having as much to do with the character and knowability of
God and prophecy as with the nature and properties of “natural”
phenomena. The very few Islamicate philosophers for whom religious
concerns were indifferent to the pursuit of truth — such as Abú Bakr
al-Rází (d. 925) or Ibn al-Ráwandí (d. 910) — are the exceptions that
prove the rule. The distinction made between Neoplatonism and
Aristotelianism, with the former considered more congenial to
religious applications than the latter, is likewise an inadequate one,
not least because one of the single most Neoplatonic texts known to
medieval Islamdom was thought until modern times to have been a
work of Aristotle.15 The strictest Aristotelian known to al-Andalus
was Ibn Rushd, who was however famous throughout the Islamicate
world not as a philosopher, but as a scholar of Islamic law.16 His alter-
identity in the Latin West as Averroes, the enemy of religion, was
predicated upon a rather selective process of translation and
mistranslation such that “the Averroes whom the West first
encountered was not the full man, and . . . the writings the thirteenth
century did not translate could have significantly altered the
perception of him as an irreligious naturalist, and the perception of
Aristotelianism as an implacable foe of organized religion.”17
With this caveat in mind, let us briefly survey the interconfessional
development of philosophy in al-Andalus. Mention should first of all
be made of Isaac Israeli (d. c. 955), the first great Jewish Neoplatonist
who, though not an Andalusí, was to play a significant role in the
interconfessional career of philosophy in al-Andalus.18 Famous to
medieval Muslims, Jews, and Christians primarily for his medical
treatises, his philosophical works left a prominent mark on many
Jewish thinkers of al-Andalus, especially Solomon ibn Gabirol (d.
1054 or 1058), Moses ibn Ezra (c. 1060-1139), Joseph ibn Íaddíq (d.
1149), Abraham ibn Óasdai (fl. 13th cent.), and Shem Tov ibn
Falaquera (d. c. 1295). He may also have been a principle source for
Andalusí knowledge of the so-called long version of the Theology of
Aristotle, a critical source both for Isma’ílí thought and for Jewish
 4 Andalusí Theosophy

Neoplatonic theology in the Middle Ages, which likely emerged from

a Judeo-Isma’ílí context.19 The Theology was also to play an important
role in both Kabbalah and Andalusí wujúdí Íúfism, being cited by the
Gerona Kabbalists,20 Moses de Leon (the author of the Zohar),21 and
Ibn al-‘Arabí.22 In addition to the Jewish philosophers noted above,
Israeli is also quoted by the 11th century Andalusí Muslim author of
the Gháyat al-˙akím23 (the Picatrix of the Latin alchemical tradition),
attributed to Maslamah ibn A˙mad al-Majri†í (d. 1007), and appears
to have been a source for the Muslim philosopher Ba†alyúsí (d. c.
1127),24 about whom more will be said below.
The next major figure of Andalusí philosophy is Ibn Masarra of
Cordoba (b. 883), often considered in both Muslim and Western
sources to have been the first Íúfí of al-Andalus. Few of his works
have survived, though his views can be extrapolated from quotations
and summaries in later Muslim works, chiefly those of Ibn al-‘Arabí.25
From these sources we learn that Ibn Masarra taught that the Throne
of God governs or rules the cosmos; that human beings can attain the
gift of prophecy; and that given the homology between the universe
and the supernal, divine Book, the key to metaphysical understanding
is the esoteric interpretation of the letters of the alphabet. All three
of these theses were to be discussed by Ibn al-‘Arabí, and he expressly
adopted the last of them.26 The emphasis on the Throne of God
immediately puts one in mind of the “throne mysticism” of Judaism,
whereas the latter two principles were both fundamental to the
Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia, on whom see below. Whatever Ibn
Masarra’s relationship with pseudo-Empedocles, the Hermetic
doctrines associated with the latter were to find many an enthusiast in
later Andalusí centuries.27
Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021-1054 or 1058), generally regarded as
the first Jewish philosopher in Spain,28 carries on the tradition of
Israeli and Ibn Masarra in Neoplatonism and in a cosmology with
strikingly pseudo-Empedoclean features.29 His writings were to be
extremely influential to later Kabbalists, especially his doctrine of the
Divine Will as something of a demiurge, intermediate between the
unknowable Godhead and the creation.30 Ibn Gabirol’s doctrine that
even spiritual entities are composed of matter and form appears to
presage later Íúfí theosophical developments, particularly Ibn al-
‘Arabí. His most famous work, known in Latin translation as the Fons
Vitae, a dialogue in which the characters are given almost full-blown
literary personalities, marks the beginning of a trend toward
narrativization in philosophical writing which would come to
predominate in Andalusí literature.
With Ibn Óazm (d. 1064), we stray somewhat from the course of
Andalusí philosophy. The importance of Ibn Óazm for our purposes
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 5

lies in what his writings reveal about the character of Jewish-Muslim

relations in his time. He was not particularly well-disposed towards his
Jewish compatriots, but nonetheless displays a wide knowledge of
contemporary Jewish literature in his polemical works. Ibn Óazm
knows not only the Bible, but also parts of the Talmud, the Shi’ur
Qomah literature, and even perhaps the writings of the Karajites.31
His polemics against Samuel Ibn Nagrela (d. 1056), the Jewish
commander of the Zirid army of Cordoba and a much-celebrated
literary virtuoso of the court, should probably be read as springing less
from a pious distaste at seeing the exaltation of a non-believer as
from a certain bitterness at their respective fortunes (Ibn Óazm wrote
from exile, having fled first Cordoba and then Seville in the wake of
an auto-de-fé of his works there).32 In any case, Ibn Óazm, by drawing
upon it while reacting to it, reveals the remarkable extent of the
Jewish-Muslim “symbiosis” prevailing in his time.33
If Ibn Óazm turned to Jewish texts for polemical purposes, Ba˙ya
ibn Paqúda (fl. second half of 11th cent.) found in Islamic literature an
inspiration for Jewish pietism. It would probably not be overstating
the case to term Ibn Paqúda the first Jewish Íúfí.34 In his Fará’i∂ al-
qulúb (“Duties of the Hearts”) Ibn Paqúda quotes various Íúfís as well
as Islamic ˙adíth literature, often camouflaging the material by
putting the sayings of Mu˙ammad in the mouths of anonymous
“sages” and replacing Qur’anic quotations with appropriate Biblical
parallels. Like many of the Judeo-Islamic philosophers and
theosophers of al-Andalus, Ibn Paqúda drew inspiration from and
quoted the writings of the Ikhwán al-Íafá , a mysterious group of
10th-century authors, most likely writing in Basra and bearing a close
relationship with the Isma’ílís, whose Rasá’il (“Epistles”) won for
Neoplatonism a far-reaching impact in subsequent Islamic thought.35
Regarding the Hebrew translation of Ibn Paqúda’s Fará’i∂ al-qulúb,
Fenton writes that it “was to have an abiding influence on Jewish
spirituality right down to present times, infusing generations of
Jewish readers with Sufi notions. After having strongly influenced the
Spanish and thereafter the Palestinian Kabbalists, who were
particularly interested in Ba˙ya’s reflections on solitary meditation,
the Duties of the Heart was avidly read in the eighteenth century by
Polish ˙asidim.”36
Ibn Síd al-Ba†alyúsí (d. 1127) is one of the more obscure figures of
the period, perhaps because this Islamic philosopher did not find
much of an audience among Muslims for his philosophical works,
being chiefly known to them as a grammarian.37 His Kitáb al-Hadá’iq
was almost exclusively read in Andalusí Jewish circles, with the
notable exception of the school of Ibn al-‘Arabí; the latter refers to
him approvingly and attributes to him two common tropes in Íúfí and
Kabbalistic literature: that of the divine unicity as distinct from
 6 Andalusí Theosophy

mathematical unity, and underlying all numbers; and that of the point
(= the divine Will or unicity) as the primordial source of line, plane,
and volume.38
The remaining luminaries of Andalusí Judeo-Islamic philosophy are
too well-known to require any introduction. The interconfessional
contexts in which these thinkers lived and wrote has been remarked
upon by many scholars. In the circle of the Jewish poet-philosophers
centering on Judah Halevi (d. 1140),39 Abraham ibn Ezra (d. c. 1164),
and Joseph ibn Íaddíq (1149), we find a tradition in full swing of
conscious and often positive use of Islamic sources, association with
Andalusí courts, and participation in a social class of — most
commonly — physicians, contexts that brought Jewish and Muslim
philosophers into contact with one another. Their Islamic counterparts
— Ibn Bájjah (d. 1138), Ibn ˇufayl (d. 1185), and Ibn Rushd (d. 1198)
— while showing few explicit indications of influence by Jewish
sources, were nonetheless integrated into the same socio-political
networks, and were clearly aware of their Jewish colleagues.40 The
popularity of these Islamic philosophers among Jewish readers was
often far greater than among Muslims, and in some cases it is due to
the efforts of Jews in the preservation and translation of their works
that we know them today.41
Moses Maimonides (d. 1204) stands unparalleled among this
group, exerting an influence which, in its capacity for leaping over
confessional and philosophical boundaries, has no peer among any
thinker of the Western Islamicate world. His profound knowledge of
the whole course of Islamic philosophy made him a peer of such
minds as Ibn Rushd, whom he further parallels in achieving lasting
fame and influence as a scholar of the sacred law. As we will see
below, he was studied in the theosophical movements of both
religions, a fact which is perhaps the most striking evidence of his
importance in the interconfessional atmosphere of al-Andalus.
Maimonides and Ibn al-‘Arabí both resided in Cairo at the same time,
in 1203.42 That they may have met is by no means farfetched, as both
had access to the same philosophical and courtly circles there. Both,
likewise, maintained and continuously asserted their identities as
Andalusís while living the latter halves of their lives in other parts of
the Islamicate world.43

Jewish Theosophy: Kabbalah and the Andalusí Context

Steven Wasserstrom has already noted that, given that the field of
Jewish-Islamic studies is still in its infancy, no “unproblematic story”
can be told of the history that we are here concerned with.44 It will
thus not be my intention to present an alternative history of the
emergence of Kabbalah, integrating it into the interconfessional
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 7

history of Andalusí thought. Rather I hope simply to point out that

the need for such a recontextualization is suggested by the evidence,
of which I will discuss here only four areas: the Gerona school of
Kabbalists, Isaac ibn La†if, Abraham Abulafia, and the so-called
“Jewish Íúfís” that emerged under the leadership of the Maimonidean
dynasty in Egypt. First, though, some remarks on the prevailing trends
in the historiography of the Kabbalah must be made.
No scholar did more to establish Kabbalah studies as an academic
discipline in its own right than Gershom Scholem (d. 1982), the
undisputed master of the field. No twentieth century historian of
Jewish spirituality has been able to dispense with his insights, and the
historiography of Kabbalah has largely followed the lines of research
that he initiated. When it comes to the origins of Kabbalah, however,
Scholem showed little interest in considering the context of Spain and
the currents of Andalusí philosophy, much less of the latter’s
interconfessional character, and posited instead a re-emergence of
“subterranean” gnosticism latent in Jewish thought as the key to
understanding the emergence of Kabbalah.45 He took this stance in
reaction to the approaches of 19th-century Wissenschaft des
Judentums scholars, who tended to denigrate Kabbalah as an anti-
rational reaction to the glories of Spanish-Jewish philosophy.
Scholem’s much more sympathetic view of Kabbalah’s place in the
history of Judaism led him to divorce the early history of Kabbalah
from its relation to this immediate, philosophical context.46 Scholem’s
“counter-history,”47 while it has been questioned and criticized with
reference to a number of particular issues, has not been superceded by
alternative narratives sensitive to the historical context that I am
suggesting here.48 When Scholem did offer suggestions for immediate
historical antecedents, they were generally not from the direction of
al-Andalus, and subsequent research has often shown up their
weakness.49 Eliot Wolfson has noted that, “[d]espite the fact that
Scholem was keenly aware of the textual, philological, and historical
influence of philosophical authors on Jewish mystics in the Middle
Ages, he dichotomized the intellectual currents of mysticism and
philosophy in too simplistic a fashion.”50
The Gerona school of Kabbalists, whose works constitute the most
important body of pre-Zohar Kabbalistic literature, shows just how
inadequate this dichotomy is. This circle of Kabbalists was active in
Spain roughly between the years 1210 and 1260, and includes among
its members the well-known Biblical exegete Na˙manides (d. 1270)
and his contemporaries Ezra ben Solomon, ‘Azriel, and Jacob ben
Sheshet.51 Though living in Christian Spain, the continuity of their
thought with Andalusí Judeo-Islamic philosophy is proven by the
sources which provided much of their inspiration: Ibn Gabirol, the
direct source for Azriel’s doctrine of the primal Will; Judah Halevi52,
 8 Andalusí Theosophy

Abraham ibn Ezra,53 and Maimonides.54 As Idel has shown, Jacob ben
Sheshet knew and employed the cosmological scheme of the long
version of the Theology of Aristotle,55 and explicitly utilized
Maimonides’ Guide as a source for Platonic material, albeit material
which Maimonides had only quoted in order to refute.56 A particularly
interesting document originating from this circle is the Sefer ha-
Temunah, which crystallizes certain speculations about cosmic cycles
earlier elaborated by Abraham bar Óiyya, writing in Aragon around
1125. Contrary to Scholem’s suggestion of Joachimite influence,
Wilensky has shown the remarkable consistency between the Sefer ha-
Temunah and Isma’ílí schema of cosmic cycles. Setting forth the
theory as the “teachings of certain philosophers,” bar Óiyya wrote:
After all the creatures have passed from potentiality to
actuality, God once again returns them to potentiality as in
the beginning and then brings them back to actuality a
second and third time, and thus without end . . . Others say
that the days of the world are 40,000 years and that each of
the seven planets reigns 7,000 years in the world. When at
the end of 49,000 years they have completed their reign,
God destroys His world, leaves it for 1,000 years in a state of
tohu, and at the end of the fiftieth millennium He renews it
as in the beginning.57
What is truly remarkable about this theory is that it appears again,
almost contemporaneously with the Sefer ha-Temunah, in a work by
‘Azíz Nasafí, an Iranian Muslim follower of the Murcian school of
Íúfism to be considered below.58 In Nasafí’s words, written in the
latter half of the 13th century:
Know thou that the Transmigrationists say that there is a
cycle every thousand years and at the end of a cycle there is a
resurrection, a lesser resurrection. And there is a cycle every
seven thousand years, and at the end of each seven thousand
years there is another resurrection, a greater resurrection.
And there is a cycle every forty-nine thousand years, and at
the end of each forty-nine thousand years there is another
resurrection, a supreme resurrection. Since you have
understood this introduction now know that one of the
seven thousand years is the cycle of Saturn . . . Another seven
thousand years is the cycle of Jupiter . . . [And so on with the
seven planets.] With the supreme resurrection [after 49,000
years] the earth is completely flooded, and water covers the
entire land.59
This is an exact parallel, in every particular, of the doctrine set
forth by the Gerona Kabbalists. In addition, the Sefer ha-Temunah is
the first Kabbalistic text to use the term gilgul for transmigration of
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 9

the soul,60 and it is to the Transmigrationists (ahl al-tanasukh) that

Nasafí attributes the belief. This is certainly one of the most
compelling pieces of evidence arguing for an interconfessional
recontextualization of these literatures.61
Another important Spanish Kabbalist demonstrating continuity
with the Andalusí interconfessional context is Isaac Ibn La†if, to
whom Sara Wilensky has devoted a number of important studies. As
she has shown, Ibn La†if declared himself to be a disciple of
Maimonides,62 and draws at length upon the Andalusí Neoplatonists
discussed above, particularly Solomon Ibn Gabirol.63 He even went
“behind” Maimonides, so to speak, directly citing al-Fárábí in
elaborating his theory of prophecy rather than simply utilizing
Maimonides, who likewise was indebted to al-Fárábí on this issue.64
He then parted company with both al-Fárábí and Maimonides on the
issue of psychology, drawing instead upon Ba†alyúsí in enumerating
the five-fold division of vegetative, animal, rational, philosophical
and prophetic souls.65 He continues the doctrine of the cosmic cycles
held by the Gerona school, and Wilensky has posited direct
dependence on Isma’ílí sources in this regard.66 She has also
demonstrated such dependence in Ibn La†if’s negative theology,
wherein the Divine Will is a demiurgic “first created being” (al-
mubda` al-awwal ), from which the cosmos is emanated.67 I quote at
length one passage from Wilensky’s article on this doctrine, as it
admirably illustrates how intertwined the earliest Kabbalah was with
the Andalusí interconfessional context:
His [Ibn La†if’s] reply to the question: how can a link exist
between infinite God and finite and material man (a question
posed by Judah Hallevi through the Khazar), is that there is
no relationship between the transcendent, infinite God and
finite man, and that the infinite God cannot be grasped by
human thought. He quotes Plotinus, as formulated by Ibn
Gabirol in Fons Vitae, and adds: “I say that the limit of
cognition is when the intellectually cognized subject is able
to encompass the object of cognition; and He who is infinite
cannot be encompassed by the finite intellect.” He maintains
that the source of prophecy is not the transcendent, infinite,
hidden God, but the First Created Being. The paradox can be
solved by positing a link between the First Created Being and
the prophetic soul (the intuitive soul). The latter term was
adopted from the Kitáb al-Hada’ik [sic] of the Andalusian
philosopher al-Batalyawsi68 (1052-1127), who in turn
borrowed it from the Epistles of the Sincere Brethren
(Ikhwan al-Safa), Neoplatonic texts closely connected to the
Isma’ilia.69
 10 Andalusí Theosophy

With regard to Abraham Abulafia (d. c. 1291), another Spanish

Kabbalist of the thirteenth century, we have a number of studies by
the eminent historian of Kabbalah, Moshe Idel, who has shown
Abulafia’s intimate continuity with Andalusí philosophy and provided
evidence of the influence of Íúfism on various elements of Abulafia’s
thought.70 Considered the progenitor of an ecstatic or prophetic
version of Kabbalah — as distinct from the theosophical mode which
centered on the theory of the sefirot and the mystical meanings of the
commandments71 — Abulafia, like many of the earliest Spanish
Kabbalists, studied Andalusí philosophy prior to becoming a
Kabbalist.72 He was one of the first people to write a commentary on
Maimonides’ Guide, and no one since him wrote as many
commentaries of this work.73 And once again, Ba†alyúsí’s Kitáb al-
Hadá’iq appears as an important source.74 Idel summarizes the
importance of the Andalusí interconfessional philosophical tradition
thus:
In other words, Abulafia read Maimonides in Avicennian and
Averroistic keys, decoded his own spiritual adventures
according to Maimonides’ teaching in the Guide, and added
philosophical conceptions out of Arabic philosophy.75
Perhaps more important for our purposes than Abulafia’s
continuity with Andalusí Judeo-Islamic philosophy is the fact that he
represents the beginning of a trend toward direct engagement of
Íúfism in Kabbalah, rather than the mediated influence via earlier
authors like Ibn Paqúda or Ghazálí-in-translation such as can be
identified in many theosophical Kabbalistic works. There are traces of
Íúfism throughout Abulafia, both in matters of doctrine and in terms
of the innovation of ecstatic techniques modeled after Íúfí
practices.76 In his circle of followers, many of whom dwelt in
Palestine, this becomes a much more marked tendency, extending to
the adoption of cosmological schemas and even terminology from
Íúfism, and, most notably, from the school of Ibn al-‘Arabí.77 To give
but one example of the many adduced by Idel, we find in a
Kabbalistic compilation made by Rabbi Isaac of Acre78, one of the
foremost Kabbalists of the fourteenth century and a leading figure of
the Abulafian tradition, the following five-world hierarchy: the
World of Divinity, the World of the Intellect, the World of the
Souls, the Imaginal World, and the World of the Senses.79 While this
schema baffled Scholem, who saw it as an odd departure from the
dominant Kabbalistic cosmologies based on Neoplatonic schema, it
exactly corresponds with the Íúfí five-world hierarchy that first
appears in the writings of Ibn al-‘Arabí’s disciples.80 The specific
attributes of the Imaginal World are exactly the same in both cases, as
Idel has shown in a point-by-point analysis, showing that this Íúfí-
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 11

Kabbalistic parallel “is not only one of terminology, but also of

conceptual content.”81
The trend of explicit adoption of Íúfí material as represented by
the Abulafian Kabbalistic tradition finds its most radical expression in
the so-called “Jewish Íúfís,” who have been the subject of several
ground-breaking studies by Paul Fenton. Utilizing material from the
Cairo Geniza, he has greatly enriched our picture of this remarkable
Jewish pietist movement in 13th century Egypt, led by the descendents
of Maimonides, which explicitly drew its inspiration from Islamic
mysticism and attempted an Islamicization of Jewish worship. The
beginnings of this movement lie at least during the tenure of Moses
Maimonides as ra’ís al-yahúd (president of the Jewish community) in
Cairo during the last decades of the twelfth century. The first
historical personality definitely associated with this movement was a
younger contemporary of Moses Maimonides, Rabbi Abraham ha-
˙asíd (d. 1223) 82, of whose extant works Fenton writes that, while
“they are thoroughly permeated with the Sufi terminology and tenets
which typify the [Jewish Íúfí] Pietist writings, they voice an original
and specifically Jewish doctrine whose underlying inspiration was
Yehúdáh ha-Levi’s Kuzarí and Moses Maimonides Guide for the
Perplexed, tempered by Sufi ideology.”83 One of Rabbi Abraham’s
disciples was Moses Maimonides’ son, Abraham Maimonides (d.
1237), whose Kifáyat al-‘Abidín is one of the classics of Jewish
Íúfism. Samuel Rosenblatt, in his edition and translation of a portion
of that work, noted as early as 1927 that Abraham Maimonides:
. . . not only openly shows his admiration for the Sufis by
praising their way of life, calling them the real lineal
descendents of the prophets, and regretting that the Jews do
not imitate their example84, but his whole ethical system as
outlined in the portion of the ‫ כפאיה‬85 with which we are
concerned appears to be Sufic from beginning to end in
terminology and ideology, or at least based on some Sufic
prototype.86
Subsequent studies of this text have confirmed these assertions, and
have further revealed that Abraham stood at the head of a line of
Íúfí-inclined Maimonides, from his son down to his great-great-
grandson, who followed him not only in leading the Egyptian Jewish
community, but also in composing Jewish-Íúfí tracts and pressing
vigorously for Islamic-inspired modifications to the daily rituals of
Jewish life.87 From ‘Obaydah Maimonides, son of Abraham, we have
the deeply Íúfí work translated by Fenton as The Treatise of the Pool,
which follows the lead of the Kifáya in valorizing Íúfism as the
inheritor of the spiritual praxis of the ancient Israelite prophets and in
setting forth a mystical program cast in a Íúfí idiom. Three
 12 Andalusí Theosophy

generations later, with David Maimonides’ (d. 1415), we find the

Jewish-Íúfí pietist tradition still going strong. His Murshíd ilá al-
tafarrud (“The Guide to Detachment”) is remarkable for two reasons.
First of all, the range of Íúfí sources is much broader than was the
case for any previous Jewish-Íúfí, encompassing such luminaries as
Dhu’l-Nún al-Mißrí, Abú Tálib al-Makkí, al-Sarráj, Suhrawardí
Maqtúl, Ghazálí, the Andalusí Ibn al-‘Aríf, al-Qushayrí, and al-
Halláj.88 Secondly, this work also quotes writings of the early
Kabbalists, marking a significant attempt at dove-tailing the two
predominant phenomena of Spanish-born Jewish mysticism.
While this last example has described events and personalities
outside of al-Andalus, it is clear that such a movement as the Egyptian
Jewish-Íúfís could not have come into being were it not for the prior
interconfessional developments in Iberia. While Moses Maimonides,
the interconfessional Andalusí par excellence, does not appear to have
shown any direct affinity for Íúfism, it could be argued that his
attitude toward Greek and Islamic philosophy prepared the way for his
son’s approach toward Islamic mysticism. Moses Maimonides felt that
the mysteries of creation and of the divine chariot (ma’aseh bereshit
and ma’aseh merkaveh ), as found in the Torah, had been opaque to
Jews since Tannaitic times, the keys to their secrets having somehow
how been lost.89 His claim to have rediscovered them among the
wisdom of the “Gentiles,” in the Neoaristotelean corpus that would
provide the basis for his own philosophy and theology, is reflected in
his son’s claim to have found in the Íúfís the lost piety of the
prophets of Israel.

Islamic Theosophy: The Murcia School and Its

Interconfessional Conte xt
The figures that I will be concerned with here were all Íúfís born
in Murcia in south-eastern al-Andalus, sometimes referred to as
wujúdí Íúfís. Much like the Jewish theosophies considered above, the
Murcia school presents striking evidence of an interconfessional
context.
By far the most important figure of this school is Mu˙yí al-Dín
Ibn al-‘Arabí (d. 1240), the most influential theosopher of Islamic
history. In more than 400 books — the longest of which would cover
37 volumes in its projected critical edition — he presented an
astonishing synthesis of Islamic knowledge and spiritual reflection
into a grand mythological picture of the cosmos. Research into the
sources of his thought has been tentative at best, and like the
Kabbalah, has been at times subject to the whims of counter-history.90
As was the case with Scholem and Kabbalah, the occasional attempts
at tracing the history of his thought that have been made have paid
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 13

too little attention to the Andalusí context. For example, in the sole
monograph on the important doctrine of the “perfect man” in Ibn al-
‘Arabí, the author surveys Augustine and Ghazálí before concluding
that Ibn al-‘Arabí has the patent on the concept.91 More proximate
sources of possible precendents to Ibn al-‘Arabí’s usage is neglected,
and no attention is given to the fact that Maimonides uses the precise
terminology (al-insán al-kámil ) throughout the Guide, developing the
earlier usage of the term by the great Islamic philosopher, al-Fárábí.92
Ibn al-‘Arabí’s work is indeed of such a grandeur and profundity
that no intellectual history could “explain” it simply by identifying
sources and influences. However, his thought does not exist in a
vacuum, and the attribution of novelty to his formulation of Islamic
spirituality rings hollow when no attempt is made to mark off what is
truly new with him from what is drawn from his milieu. Again, I am
not going to attempt here to reconstruct the history of his thought,
but only to point out certain facts which place him in the context of
the Andalusí Judeo-Islamic symbiosis, a context in light of which the
history of Ibn al-‘Arabí and his influence needs to be rewritten.
Despite the vastness of his output, Ibn al-‘Arabí very rarely refers
to philosophical predecessors. Of the contacts with his
contemporaries, he refers several times to his meetings with Ibn
Rushd, but his judgment of the latter is a complex issue.93 He refers
in his magnum opus, the Futú˙át al-Makkiyya, to a discussion he had
with a Rabbi about the mystical significance of the letter “B,” (Arabic
bá`, Hebrew bet), with which both the Torah and the Qur’an begin.
In a number of places, he refers to the Torah, but these appear to be
very general allusions. And while his works lack any direct reference
to most of the towering figures of Islamic philosophy — al-Kindí, al-
Fárábí, Ibn Síná, Ibn Tufayl — he does refer at least twice to
Ba†alyúsí, which underlines the commonality of sources between he
and the Spanish Kabbalists. In a highly significant passage in the
Futú˙át, where Ibn al-‘Arabí describes his encounter with the
mysterious “Youth” around the Ka’aba, he quotes from the Theology
of Aristotle.94 Once again, Ibn al-‘Arabí shares the same critical
source-texts as the Judeo-Islamic philosophers and the Kabbalists.95
It is with two of Ibn al-‘Arabí’s Murcian compatriots, however,
that we find the most direct evidence of the interconfessional context
for this theosophy. ‘Abd al-Óaqq Ibn Sab’ín (d. 1270), a younger
contemporary of Ibn al-‘Arabí, propounded a radically pantheistic
doctrine, known in Islamic sources as wa˙dat al-wujúd, and insisted
fiercely on the independence of his thought.96 Thus, he directly
criticized Ibn Masarra and Ibn al-‘Arabí, his Andalusí predecessors,
while at the same time developing his system using their terminology.
The strikingly Hermetic character of Ibn Sab’ín and his school —
Hermes is included in the Sab’íniyyún silsilah - links it with Kabbalah,
 14 Andalusí Theosophy

which also found Hermeticism a fertile source for contemplation.97

Most importantly, though, Ibn Sab’ín found inspiration in Jewish
sources, citing Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed in his Risála
Núriyya98 and including the Jewish angels Yahoel and Metatron in an
invocation found in his treatise on the letter qáf.99 His philosophical
correspondence with Emperor Frederick II further displays his
knowledge of Maimonidean thought.100 A later follower of both Ibn
Sab’ín and Ibn al-‘Arabí, the thirteenth-century Egyptian magician al-
Búní, also “included Metatron in his repertoire, along with other
Jewish motifs.”101
This interconfessionalism becomes even more pronounced when
we consider the career of Ibn Sab’ín’s disciple, the fellow-Murcian Ibn
Húd (d. 1300), who worked as a physician and mystical guide in
Damascus, finding clients among both Muslims and Jews. He is said
to have proclaimed his readiness to guide any aspirant in any of the
three ways — Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Following Ibn Sab’ín’s
interest in Maimonides, Ibn Húd is known to have taught the Guide
of the Perplexed to Damascene Jews. One source calls him the
“Shaykh of the Jews,” and Kraemer suggests that there may have been
some connection between Ibn Húd’s circle in Damascus and the
“Jewish Súfís” of Cairo.102 Obviously, while the school of Murcia may
have been concerned first and foremost with the inner meaning of the
Qur’an, their contributions to the history of Islamicate thought
cannot be understood without placing them in the context of
Andalusí interconfessionalism.

Conclusion
It should be clear by now how limited such historiographical
distinctions as those between philosophy and mysticism, or even
between Muslim and Jew, ultimately are in aiding our understanding
of the movements considered above. It can also be unequivocally
stated that any explanation of the Judeo-Islamic symbiosis in al-
Andalus that rests on the assumption that “the high culture of the
[Muslims] was to a great degree secular”103 is absurd. What we find in
these events and personalities is not simply thinkers who were
incidentally Jewish interacting creatively with counterparts who were
incidentally Muslim. On the contrary, we find here an
interpenetration and crosspollination of values, of precisely religious
ideas and ideals. The ever-eloquent Lenn Goodman wrote, referring to
the medieval Judeo-Islamic philosophical “conversation”:
What we learn from these conversations, as we cock our ears
to listen, is first to doubt and then to deny the stereotypic
notions of nineteenth-century scholarship that would assign
to each race and nation a particular genius or spirit of its
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 15

own, uncommunicable and inscrutable to any other,

incapable of mixture without adulteration of each distinctive
and pristine essence, but transparent, invisible,
unexchangeable and uncriticisible by those who share it or
those who live within its thrall.104
In these words lies a compelling critique of the whole
historiographic debate over convivencia, which sees in medieval Spain
an experience of human “togetherness” only through the lens of
reified differences, naturalized ideological divides. Obviously, such
lines were not drawn on the landscape. In terms of what this suggests
for how we approach the history of mysticism, consider this
influential declaration by Gershom Scholem:
There is no mysticism as such, there is only the mysticism of
a particular religious system, Christian, Islamic, Jewish
mysticism and so on.105
This historian’s appeal itself begs the question of historicity, for what,
indeed, is a religious system “as such?”
The recontextualization that I have argued for here challenges not
only the prevailing historiographical approaches to the beginnings of
the Jewish and Islamic philosophical mysticisms of the Middle Ages; it
also questions the common Western view of medieval Islam as a
civilization “intermediate” between the Hellenistic Age and the
Renaissance,106 whose sole purpose in the grand telos of history was to
rescue the torch of Greek enlightenment that it might duly be passed
to Europe, its rightful inheritor.107 The importance of the Andalusí
“Golden Age” in the development of Western civilization cannot be
gainsaid, but nor should this symbiotic achievement be seen as having
been without issue for the Islamicate world. Far from being simply
passed on, the torch held aloft in al-Andalus fired not only the
scientific revolutions of Europe; it also flooded with its lights the
minds of the Jewish and Muslim mystics of the East.

NOTES
1
The vast influence exerted upon the history of Islamic thought by the
figure at the center of the Akbarian movement, Mu˙yí al-dín Ibn al-
‘Arabí (known as the Shaykh al-Akbar (“Doctor Maximus”), whence
the term “Akbarian”), has been demonstrated in a large number of
studies, but see the concise presentation in Chodkiewicz,
“Diffusion.” The persistence of Kabbalah into our own times is well
known and it has even entered into popular culture, but critical
historiography of Kabbalah in the modern period is lacking, for
reasons discussed by Idel in Kabbalah: New Perspectives, pp. 25f.
 16 Andalusí Theosophy

2
Wasserstrom and Kiener are the significant exceptions, and their
relevant studies will be cited throughout what follows.
3
As will be explained below, I refer here not to the “school of Ibn al-
‘Arabí” that extends via his disciple and son-in-law Íadr al-Dín al-
Qúnáwí, but rather with the so-called “Murcian school” that includes
Ibn Sab’ín and Ibn Húd.
4
I borrow this term from Marshall Hodgson, who introduced and
defended its usage in his Venture of Islam, vol. 1, pp. 57-60.
“Islamicate” refers to the “culture, centered on a lettered tradition,
which has been historically distinctive of Islamdom the society, and
which has been naturally shared in by both Muslims and non-Muslims
who participate at all fully in the society of Islamdom” (ibid., p. 58,
with Hodgson’s emphases).
5
For a synopsis of these developments, see Fakhry, Short Introduction,
chap. 1.
6
On which see Hodgson, op. cit., chap. 5.
7
On the early Islamicate “humanists” see Kraemer, Humanism, and
Leaman, “Islamic Humanism.”
8
Leaman, op. cit., p. 156.
9
The still-standard work on this issue is Wolfson’s Philosophy of the
Kalám. For more on the interconfessional contexts of both of these
early developments, see Ben-Shammai, “Jewish Thought,” passim.
10
Safran, The Second Umayyad Caliphate.
11
Cohen’s “The Story of the Four Captives” is an excellent study of the
mythohistorical underpinnings given to this unprecedented break
with Baghdad by Abraham ibn Da’úd in his Sefer ha-Qabbalah. See also
Ben-Sasson’s “The Emergence of the Qayrawán Jewish Community”
for a study of a parallel development of independence from Baghdad
on the part of the Jewish community under the Ifriqí Aghlabids.
12
From the Jewish side, see Abraham ibn Da’úd’s comments in his Sefer
ha-Qabbalah, translated in Cohen, op. cit., p. 159. For the Muslim
side, see Íá’id al-Andalusí’s glowing report of Ibn Shapru†’s
establishment of the Andalusí Jewish community’s independence
from Baghdád in his †abaqát al-Umam, translated by Norman Stillman
in Jews of Arab Lands, p. 210.
13
The literature on the “Golden Age” is vast and charged with polemic.
Stillman (op. cit., pp. 53-63) and Mark Cohen, Under Crescent and
Cross, present both the details of the symbiosis and surveys of the
polemical arguments. See also Wasserstrom, Between Muslim and Jew,
chap. six, for insightful reflections on the study of Jewish-Muslim
symbiosis.
14
For a recent and provocative challenge to this anachonistic
dichotomization of pre-modern philosophy, see Hadot, What is
Ancient Philosophy?
15
I refer of course to the so-called Theology of Aristotle , which was
essentially a compilation of paraphrased extracts from Plotinus’
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 17

Enneads with commentaries by Proclus. See Kraye et al, Pseudo-

Aristotle.
16
On account of his Bidáyat al-Mujtahid, recently translated by Imran
Ahsan Khan Nyazee as The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer (Reading, UK:
Garnett Publishing, 1999).
17
Ivry, “Averroes and the West,” p. 143.
18
On Israeli, see Altmann and Stern’s excellent monograph, Isaac Israeli,
with translations of most of his extent works.
19
On the long version of the Theology of Aristotle, see Fenton, “The
Arabic and Hebrew Versions.” On Israeli’s role in its transmission,
see Altmann and Stern, Isaac Israeli, pp. 95ff; Zimmerman, “Origin,”
pp. 190-4; and d’Alverny, “Pseudo-Aristotle,” passim. On the
suggestion of a Judeo-Isma’ílí matrix for the development of the long
version, see Wasserstrom, “Islamic Social and Cultural Context,” p.
100.
20
Altmann and Stern, op. cit., pp. 130-2.
21
Altmann, “Delphic Maxim,” p. 33 and n. 151. In refering to de Leon as
the “author of the Zohar,” I am purposefully sidestepping the
ongoing debate about this issue. Suffice it to point out that, ever
since Scholem’s detailed investigations into the matter of the Zohar’s
authorship (Major Trends, pp. 156-204) it has been recognized by
historians that Moses de Leon played a central — if not sole — role in
its composition. More recent debates have tended to center on
whether distinctions can be made between different strata of the
Zoharic text, some of which may not have been written by de Leon.
On this whole issue see Liebes, Studies, chap. 2.
22
Fenton, op. cit., p. 260n 2.
23
Altmann and Stern, op. cit., pp. xiii and 8. The Gháyat al-˙akím is itself
a fascinating milestone in medieval interconfessionalism, lying as it
does at the nexus of the parallel traditions of the magical generation
of an artificial anthropoid (the golem, homonculus) in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. See O’Connor, Alchemical Creation , p. 189n
23 and 24.
24
This is argued by d’Alverny, op. cit., p. 69. See also Altmann, “Delphic
Maxim,” p. 33.
25
The most extensive treatment of Ibn Masarra’s life and thought is Asín
Palacion, The Mystical Philosophy, a work which has been consistently
criticized for making over-much of a pseudo-Empedoclean source for
Ibn Masarra’s doctrine. More recent treatments of Ibn Masarra can
be found in Goodman, “Ibn Masarrah,” and Addas, “Andalusí
Mysticism,” pp. 911-20. Two of Ibn Masarra’s surviving works are
printed in M. Kamal Ibrahim Ja’far, Min qadaya’l-fikr al-islami (Cairo:
Dar al-‘ulum, 1978); note that these works were unknown to Asin and
have been almost completely neglected even in more recent
scholarship; the above-cited article by Goodman, for instance, though
noting Ja’far’s book in his bibliography, states erroneously in the
article itself that none of Ibn Masarra’s works survive.
 18 Andalusí Theosophy

26
See Addas, Quest, pp. 58f. She quotes Ibn al-‘Arabí’s Kitáb al-Mím wa
l-wáw wa l-nún (Book of (the letters) M, W, and N), where he states
that his approach to the secrets of these letters is “in the manner of
Ibn Masarra.” Note that the theses regarding the Throne attributed
to Ibn Masarra by Ibn al-‘Arabí — and much discussed by Asin
Palacios — do not appear in either of Ibn Masarra’s surviving works,
nor does one find in those texts any extended discussion of the
Throne at all.
27
Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera translated pseudo-Empedocles’ Book of Five
Substances into Hebrew, and asserted that it had been a major
influence on Ibn Gabirol. See Jospe, Torah and Sophia, p. 74. The
pseudo-Empedoclean doctrine of the vegetative soul seems to have
been generally known and often affirmed in Andalusí philosophical
literature.
28
According to Urvoy, Ibn Rushd, p. 5, his was “the first true
‘philosophical system’ to be developed in al-Andalus,” Jewish or
otherwise.
29
On Ibn Gabirol, see Lancaster, “Ibn Gabirol,” and Sirat, History, pp.
68-81. Altmann, “Delphic Maxim,” p. 35, states that the “influence of
the Pseudo-Empedocles Fragments on Solomon ibn Gabirol cannot
be gainsaid.” See his references in ibid., n. 157.
30
This promotion of the Will to a cosmological priority over the First
Intellect is a departure from classical Neoplatonism traceable to the
long version of the Theology of Aristotle . See the extracts and
discussion in Zimmerman, “Origins,” p. 192f.
31
Pulcini, Exegesis as Polemical Discourse, chap. 3. The Shi’ur Qomah (lit.
“measure of the body”) describes the proportions and mystical
significances of the Divine Body, much utilized in Kabbalistic
literatures. See Scholem, Kabbalah, Index, sv. “Shi’ur Komah.”
32
Pulcini, op. cit., p. 142n 14, writes that “Ibn Nagrela’s political,
military, religious, and literary successes were a source of
embitterment to the disillusioned Ibn Óazm during his reclusive years
in Mont Lisham.” It is interesting to note also that the anti-Qur’anic
work which Ibn Óazm attacks in this polemic, and which he attributed
to Ibn Nagrela, was in fact not by Ibn Nagrela but rather Ibn al-
Ráwandí, the notorious 9th century Muslim “free-thinker.” See
Stroumsa, “Jewish Polemics,” p. 245.
33
Some have argued, following Goldziher, that Ibn al-‘Arabí followed the
áhirí legal madhhab of Ibn Óazm, but this is open to question. See
al-Ghorab, “Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabí.”
34
Fenton, “Judaism and Sufism,” p. 756f.
35
Sirat, History, p. 82, and Altmann, “The Delphic Maxim,” pp. 24f. and
36f. On the Ikhwán al-Íafá in general, see Netton, Muslim
Neoplatonists.
36
Fenton, “Judaism and Sufism,” p. 757.
37
Corbin, History, p. 236.
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 19

38
See Addas, Quest, p. 108. On the use of these symbols of the emanative
process in early Kabbalistic literature, and the suggestion of
Ba†alyúsí as the source, see Wilensky, “First Created Being,” p. 75n
18.
39
There are a number of studies revealing Judah Halevi’s remarkable
integration into an interconfessional environment. One recent work,
which surveys the history of this research while at the same time
adding new insights into the depth of the penetration of Íúfí
concepts into Halevi’s thinking, is Lobel, Between Mysticism and
Philosophy.
40
On these networks, and the common thread of medical profession
linking many of these Jewish and Muslim philosophers, see Glick,
Islamic and Christian Spain, p. 256, and Wasserstom, “Islamic Social
and Cultural Context,” p. 99: “Jewish and Muslim philosopher-
physicians thus met with and learned from each other. Their
occasional friendships could develop such intensity that ibn al-Qif†í
(d. 1248) and ibn ‘Aqnín (an Andalusí, pupil of Maimonides) (d. early
thirteenth century) were said to have vowed ‘that whoever preceded
the other in death would have to send reports from eternity to the
survivor.’”
41
Wasserstrom, “Islamic Social and Cultural Context,” p. 96, observes
that “some of the sweetest fruits of Islamic philosophy — al-Fárábí
(870-950), ibn Bájja (d. 1138), ibn †ufayl (d. 1185) — were preserved,
translated, transmitted, and reverently studied by Jews.” Dominique
Urvoy, in Ibn Rushd, p. 109, writes of “the fact that Ibn Rushd has no
important followers in the Muslim circles, that his work only survived
thanks to his influence on a certain Jewish bourgeoisie.”
42
Wasserstrom, “Jewish-Muslim Relations,” p. 75, where it is noted that
they were both resident in Cairo again in 1206, though it’s unclear
what is meant here, given that Maimonides died in 1204.
43
Ibn al-‘Arabí’s famous biographical account of the Íúfís of al-Andalús,
the Rú˙ al-Quds, was, according to Ibn al-‘Arabí himself, inspired by
the chauvanism and anti-Andalusí prejudice that he met among the
Íúfís of Egypt. For Maimonides’ pining for al-Andalus, see (but be
warned of the Derrida-inspired prose), Anidjar, “Our Place in Al-
Andalus.” Wasserstrom notes several additional studies focusing on
Maimonides’ self-conception as an Andalusí throughout his life in
“Jewish-Muslim Relations,” p. 78n 1.
44
“The Islamic Social and Cultural Context,” p. 105n 1.
45
Origins, p. 45, but stated and restated in many other instances
throughout his oeuvre . Joseph Dan, one of Scholem’s former students
and the current occupant of the Gershom Scholem Chair of Kabbalah
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has noted in several instances
that decades of scholarship have turned up absolutely no evidence to
support Scholem’s thesis of Gnostic influence; see Dan, Early
Kabbalah, pp. 5-7, and idem, Heart and the Fountain , p. 29.
46
In situating his approach as against his 19th-century predecessors,
Scholem wrote that “the kabbalistic movement cannot be described
 20 Andalusí Theosophy

adequately according to the categories of the history of philosophy; it

can only be explained in terms of the history of religions . . .”
(Origins, p. 11). Cf. Eliade: “But if we are to avoid sinking back into
an obsolete ‘reductionism,’ this history of religious meanings must
always be regarded as forming part of the history of the human spirit”
(Quest, p. 9). For Eliade as well as for Scholem, there is a double
meaning to the term “history” here: it is not only religious meaning
as the object of historircal enquiry, but also the historian of these
meanings, that forms a part of and plays a role in the “history of the
human spirit.”
47
See Biale, Gershom Scholem, passim, and Wasserstrom, Religion after
Religion, esp. pages 159-61.
48
I would strongly qualify this, though, with reference to the work of
Moshe Idel, who has consistently proposed alternative avenues of
approach to the historiography of Kabbalah. Nonetheless, a post-
Scholem comprehensive history of the early Kabbalah is yet to
appear, though Yizhak Baer’s work could be considered as a
framework for such an alternative. Idel seems to see Baer’s work in
this way, in Kabbalah: New Perspectives, p. 13.
49
Scholem considered the Catharist movement as an influence in the
emergence of Kabbalah, but see Idel, Studies in Ecstatic, pp. 33-44.
Likewise he considered certain characteristics of the Gerona
Kabbalists to have perhaps derived from Joachim of Fiore, whereas
Willensky’s research has shown an Islamic provenance to these
characteristics to be much more likely. See below.
50
“Jewish Mysticism,” p. 452.
51
According to Scholem, Origins, p. 369, a total of twelve members of
this circle are known by name.
52
Ibid., p. 410f.
53
Ibid., p. 411.
54
Ibid., p. 413.
55
“Neoplatonism,” p. 326f.
56
Ibid., p. 320.
57
Translated in Scholem, Origins, p. 462.
58
On Nasafí as a member of this school, see Chittick, “The School of Ibn
‘Arabí,” p. 519, and Ridgeon, Persian Metaphysics, pp. 19f.
59
Ridgeon, Persian Metaphysics, pp. 237f.
60
Scholem, Origins, p. 467n 239.
61
Alexander Altmann has produced a series of studies tracing various
symbols and motifs through the Andalusí philosophical milieu and
into the theosophies of Ibn al-‘Arabí and the Gerona Kabbalists. I
cannot here recapitulate the extensive evidence adduced by Altmann,
and instead refer the reader to his “Delphic Maxim,” “‘Ladder of
Ascension’,” and “Motif of the ‘Shells’.” These studies are treasure-
troves of the kinds of thematic continuities that could be fruitfully
pursued along the lines of the recontextualization suggested here.
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 21

62
“Guide and the Gate,” pp. 267f.
63
Wilensky, “Isaac ibn La†if,” passim.
64
Idem, “Guide and the Gate,” pp. 272f
65
Idem, “Guide and the Gate,” pp. 273f; “First Created Being,” pp. 69f.
66
Idem, “First Created Being,” p. 76n 32; “Guide and the Gate,” p. 272n 22.
67
Idem, “First Created Being,” pp. 72ff.
68
This transliteration is often met with in the secondary sources, but
“Ba†alyúsí” more accurately reflects how this name is pronounced.
The name literally means “from Badajoz.”
69
Ibid., p. 69f. Ibn La†if’s doctrine of the First Created Being is
strikingly similar to the idea of the “Mu˙ammadan Reality,” the “third
thing” in Ibn al-‘Arabí’s system. I cannot explore this parallel here,
but it is by no means the only such correspondence between the two
Spanish theosophies. These correspondences are but one of the many
areas of research that my suggested recontexualization would
fruitfully open up for inquiry.
70
On Abulafia and Andalusí philosophy, see Idel, Studies in Ecstatic,
chap. 1; idem., “Maimonides and Kabbalah,” pp. 54-79; on Abulafia
and Íufism, see Studies in Ecstatic, chaps. 5-7, and idem., Mystical
Experience, index, sv. “Sufism.”
71
On these two major forms of early Kabbalah, see Idel, “Defining
Kabbalah,” passim. Idel responds to what he sees as an over-emphasis
on the theosophical or speculative elements in Kabbalah in Scholem’s
and most subsequent scholarship, and shows that there is also a
significant theurgical and ecstatic trend, represented first and
foremost by Abulafia and his school. Recently, Eliot Wolfson has
challenged the adequacy of this speculative/ecstatic dichotomy,
highlighting the experiential elements in the former and thus
questioning the very basis for this phenomenological distinction. See
his “Jewish Mysticism,” esp. p. 483.
72
According to Idel (“Maimonides and Kabbalah,” p. 55, and Studies in
Ecstatic, p. 2), Isaac Ibn La†if, Moses de Leon, and Joseph Gikatilla
were among Abulafia’s Kabbalistic contemporaries whose lives traced
a similar trajectory in beginning with philosophical studies before
authoring what would become central Kabbalistic texts.
73
Abulafia wrote three. See Idel, “Maimonides and Kabbalah,” p. 58. It
would appear that his contemporary, Joseph Gikatllla, was the only
other author to write a Kabbalistic commentary to the Guide. Ibid.,
p. 62. It should also be noted that two of Abulafia’s Guide
commentaries were translated into Latin, and it was on the basis of
these that many of the key elements of ecstatic Kabbalah made their
way into Christian Kabbalah, along with the view, promulgated by
Pico della Mirandola, that Maimonides was a Kabbalist. See ibid., p. 70.
74
Wasserstrom, “Jewish-Muslim Relations,” p. 75; Idel, Studies in
Ecstatic, p. 23n 34.
75
Studies in Ecstatic, p. 16.
 22 Andalusí Theosophy

76
Idel, Studies in Ecstatic, esp. chap. 7. There, on p. 111, Idel writes that
Abulafia’s connection with Íúfism was “a relationship acknowledge
by the Kabbalists themselves.” Unfortunately, no sources are
indicated for this.
77
I have noted a great many similarities between the Abulafian
Kabbalistic texts and the writings of Ibn al-‘Arabí, and this deserves
closer study. One issue that I have not seen touched on in any of the
secondary literature is the remarkable similarity between the central
Abulafian exegetical/theurgical technique of Ωeruf (letter
permutation) and the Akbarian notion of taßarruf (free disposal,
magical power, grammatical inflection, transformation,
permutation). These two words derive from the same Semitic tri-
literal root (Ω-r-f = ß-r-f ), and the contexts of their deployment in the
two respective mystical traditions are often identical.
78
Íúfí influences on Isaac of Acre had been noted as early as 1852, by
Adolph Jellinek. See Fenton, in ‘O. Maimonides, Treatise of the Pool,
p. 63n 94 for an extensive outline of Isaac’s appropriation of Íúfí
materials.
79
Idel, Studies in Ecstatic, chap. 5, at p. 73.
80
For this hierarchy in the school of Ibn al-‘Arabí, see the masterful
survey in Chittick, “Five Divine Presences,” passim.
81
Studies in Ecstatic, p. 75.
82
There is, however, ample evidence to suggest that this Cairene pietist
movement — in some form — predates both Maimonides and
Abraham ha-˙asíd. See Cohen, “Soteriology,” p. 209.
83
In ‘O. Maimonides, Treatise of the Pool, p. 7.
84
See Fenton, in ibid., p. 8, for the translations of the passages in which
these sentiments are expressed.
85
This is Judeo-Arabic, a tranliteration of kifáya, i.e., the Kitáb Kifáyat
al-‘ bidín of Abraham Maimonides, which Rosenblatt translates as
“The Comprensive Guide for the Servants of God.”
86
In A. Maimonides, High Ways, p. 50.
87
On the attempted reforms of Jewish ritual, such as the introduction of
Islamic-style ablutions, genuflections, prostrations, and serried-rank
congregational prayer, see Goitein, “Abraham Maimonides,” p. 147f.
and Fenton in ‘O. Maimonides, op. cit., pp. 13ff.
88
These are identified en passant throughout Rosenthal’s study of the
text, “A Judaeo-Arabic Work under Sufic Influence.” Rosenthal was
unable to identify the author, which lacuna was filled in by Fenton,
“Judaism and Sufism,” p. 763.
89
See Idel, “Maimonides and Kabbalah,” p. 34, and Altmann,
“Maimonides’s Attitude,” passim.
90
See my “Counter-History of Islam.”
91
Takeshita, Ibn ‘Arabí’s Theory, passim, and p. 49.
92
On Maimonides’ concept of the “perfect man” and its possibly
relationship to Ibn al-‘Arabí, see Kiener, “Ibn al-‘Arabí and the
 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Seven 23

Qabbalah,” 38-44. On the “perfect man” in al-Fárábí, the source for

Maimonides’ development of the concept, see Strauss, Persecution,
p. 15.
93
See Rosenthal, “Ibn ‘Arabí,” passim.
94
See Corbin, Creative Imagination , p. 385.
95
The number of similarities that Ibn al-‘Arabí’s works share with those
of his Spanish-Jewish theosophical counterparts is vast, and cannot
be detailed here. Some have already been mentioned above in
connection with Abulafian Kabbalah. For a number of further
parallels, see Wasserstrom, “Jewish-Muslim Relations,” pp. 75f.
96
Despite the fact that the doctrine of wa˙dat al-wujúd is commonly
fathered on Ibn al-‘Arabí in both Islamic and Western literatures, he
himself never used this precise term in his known writings. According
to William Chittick, the Western authority on this school, Ibn Sab’ín
was the first to use the term in its technical sense. See his “Rúmí and
wa˙dat al-wujud,” p. 82.
97
As Wasserstrom notes, “Jewish-Muslim Relations,” p. 73: “The first
Jewish philosophers to claim this (Hermetic) spiritual genealogy,
Moses ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, and Abraham ibn Ezra, were twelfth-
century Spanish members of the same circle. ...In this way, the figure of
Hermes stood for a transconfessional wisdom, a universal revelation,
which doctrine further endorsed Muslim study of Jewish works.”
98
Ibid., pp. 72 and 74.
99
Vincent Cornell, personal communication with the present author,
dated 5/29/2003. For more on Ibn Sab’ín and Hermeticism, see
Cornell’s “Way of the Axial Intellect.”
100
Wasserstrom, “Jewish-Muslim Relations,” p. 74.
101
Ibid., p. 76.
102
Kraemer, “Andalusian Mystic,” p. 72. For a survey of Ibn Húd’s career
and his interconfessional activities, see ibid., pp. 66-73.
103
Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain , p. 174f. Glick continues this
thought by attributing the comparative absence of Jewish integration
into the intellectual movements in Christian cultural spheres to the
fact that the Jews’ “secular culture was incongruent with the
religiously oriented high culture of the Christians.”
104
Jewish and Islamic, pp. viii-ix.
105
Major Trends, p. 6.
106
The classical presentation of this view being Goitein, “Between
Hellenism and Renaissance.” See Wasserstrom’s critical comments on
such a characterization in Between Muslim and Jew, pp. 225ff.
107
The obvious implication of this narrative is that philosophy, once
transmitted to Europe, ceased to exist in any real sense in Islamdom.
With notable exceptions, such as Corbin’s History of Islamic
Philosophy, this view has had a rather surprising currency among
twentieth-century historians. Such an otherwise keen and careful
scholar as Harry Wolfson, for instance, could write seriously of “the
 24 Andalusí Theosophy

abrupt disappearance of philosophic activity among the Arabic-

speaking peoples, which synchronizes with the death of Averroes”
(“Revised Plan,” p. 88).

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