of the sitter in the eyes of those who see him. Thereupon you will ask: what is the end of his being great in the opinion of those who see him? Thereupon you will receive the answer that it consists in his being feared and regarded with awe. Thereupon you will ask, saying: what is the end of his being feared? Thereupon you will receive the answer that it consists in his orders being obeyed. Thereupon you will demand: what is the end of his orders being obeyed? Thereupon you will receive the answer that it consists in the prevention of harm being done by some people to others. Thereupon you will further demand to know the end of this. Thereupon you will receive the answer that it consists in the permanence of their existence in an orderly fashion. This should be done with regard to every end occurring in time until one finally arrives at His mere will,12 may He be exalted — according to a certain opinion, as shall be made clear so that ultimately the answer will be: God willed it so; or— according to the opinion of others, as I shall make clear — one finally arrives at the decision of His wisdom so that ultimately the answer will be: His wisdom decided it so. Thus according to these two opinions the order of all ends is ultimately due to His will and wisdom, as to which it has been made clear, according to our opinion, that they are identical with His essence: His will and His volition or His wisdom not being things extraneous to His essence. I mean to say that they are not something other than His essence. Consequently He, may He be exalted, is the ultimate end of everything 5 and the end of the universe13 is similarly a seeking to be like unto His perfection as far as is in its capacity. This, as shall be made clear,14 is the meaning of His will, which is His essence. In virtue of this it is said of Him that He is the end of the ends. Thus I have made clear to you in what respect it is said of Him, may He be exalted, that He is an efficient cause, a form, and an end. For this reason the philosophers designated Him as a cause and not only as a maker.15 Know, however, that in some people16 from among the Mutakallimun engaged in speculation, ignorance and presumption reached such a degree that finally they 17 said that if the nonexistence of the Creator were assumed, the nonexistence of the thing that the Creator has brought into existence — they mean18 the world — would not follow necessarily. For it does not necessarily follow that | that which has been effected passes away when the 12. Literally: until the matter finally attains His mere will.
13. Literally: the all. Cf. n. 8, this chap. 14. Cf. Ill 13.
15. The word also means “efficient cause.” Cf. n. 3, this chap.
16. Or: in one individual. 17. Or: he. 18. Or: he means.
gi&] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-70 77/ maker19 has passed away after having effected20 it. Now that which they have mentioned would be correct if He were only the maker21 and if the thing that He effected had no need of Him for its permanence to be lasting, as in the case of the carpenter upon whose death the chest does not pass away for he does not continually endow it with permanence. Now as He, may He be exalted, is also the form of the world, as we have made clear, and as He continually endows the latter with permanence and constant existence, it would be impossible that He who continually endows with permanence should disappear and that which is continually endowed by Him and which has no permanence except in virtue of this endowment should remain. This is the measure of the vain imagining necessitated by the opinion that He is only a maker22 and not an end or a form.
CHAPTER 70 CHAPTER 70 To ride \rakhob]. This word is equivocal. The first instance in which it is used means man’s riding in the usual manner on beasts: He was riding upon his she-ass } Afterwards it is used figuratively to designate domi¬ nation over a thing, for a rider dominates over and rules that which he rides. Thus the dictum: He made him ride on the heights of the earth;2 I will make thee to ride upon the heights of the earth 3 — meaning that you shall dominate the heights of the earth 5 I will make Ephraim ride* — that is I shall make him dominate and rule. In this sense it is said of God, may He be exalted: The rider of the heavens is helping you;5 the interpretation of which is: He who dominates the heavens. Similarly: The rider in the araboth;6 meaning: He who dominates the highest heaven encompassing the uni¬ verse.7 The textual words of the Sages, may their memory be blessed, which are repeated in every relevant passage,8 assert that there are seven heavens and that araboth is | the highest encompassing the universe. Do not think it blameworthy that according to their reckoning there were seven heavens, 19. Or: the efficient cause. 20. Or: made. 21. Or: the efficient cause.
22. Or: an efficient cause.
5. Deut. 55:26. 6. Ps. 68:5. The usual meaning of 'araboth is “desert,” “plains.”
7. Literally: the all. 8. Cf. B.T., Hagigah, 12b.
ij2 The Guide of the Perplexed 1-70 [ 92a whereas there are more than that. For sometimes, as is clear to those engaged in speculation on this subject and as I shall make clear further on,9 a sphere is counted as one though there be several heavens contained in it. What is intended here is to call attention to the fact that they constantly indicate that araboth is the highest part of the universe. It is with reference to araboth that it says: The rider of the heavens [shamayim] is helping you. Compare the text of Hagigahf they say: [As to] araboth, the high and sublime One resides upon it. For it is said: Extol the rider in the araboth. How do we know that [1 araboth ] are also called heavens [ shamayim ]? [ Because ] it is written in this passage: the rider in the araboth, while in another [passage] it is written: the rider of the heavens. Thus it is clear that the term refers solely to one heaven: that which encompasses the universe. About that heaven you will hear some information. Consider their saying: resides upon it. They did not say: resides in it. For if they had said, resides in it, this expression would have necessitated the attribution to Him of a place or the notion that He is a force subsisting in a certain place. In such fashion do the sects of the Sabians imagine that God is the spirit of heaven.11 Thus by saying, resides upon it, they have shown that He, may He be exalted, is separate from the heaven and is not a force in it. Know that the expression, the rider of the heavens, is figuratively used of Him, may He be exalted, for the sake of a strange and wondrous likeness. For the rider is more excellent than that upon which he rides, yet cannot be called more excellent except through a certain impropriety of language, for the rider does not belong to the same species as that which is ridden by him. Moreover the rider is he who makes the beast of burden move and go where he wishes; for it is an instrument for him that he uses as he wishes, being at the same time free from any dependence on it and not attached to it, but on the contrary external to it. Similarly the deity, may His name be held sublime, is the mover of the highest heaven, by whose motion everything that is in motion within this heaven12 is moved; at the same time, He, may He be exalted, is separate from this heaven and not a force subsisting within it. Accordingly the Sages interpreting | His speech, may He be exalted, The eternal God is a dwelling place f say in Bereshith Rabbah:1* g. Cf. II 4. 10. B.T., Hagigah, 12b.
11. al-falak (the heavenly sphere). Because of Maimonides’ use of kurra, which means “sphere” as well, falak is translated in this chapter by “heaven.” But the translation “heavenly sphere” used elsewhere is perhaps more appropriate: 12. All the universe encompassed by the highest heaven may be considered as being within this sphere.
13. Deut. 33:27.
14. Genesis Rabbah, LXVTII.
92 b] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-70 ijj He is the dwelling place of His world, [ whereas ] His world is not His dwelling place. And they follow this by saying: The horse is subsidiary to the rider, [ whereas ] the rider is not subsidiary to the horse. In this sense it is written: That Thou dost ride upon Thy horses. 1 5 This is literally what they say. Consider it, and it shall become clear to you how they explained His relation, may He be exalted, to heaven: that it is His instrument by means of which He governs that which is existent. For whenever you find that according to the Sages, may their memory be blessed, there exists one thing in one particular heaven16 and another thing in another, the meaning of the passage is not that in that particular heaven there are to be found bodies other than that heaven, but that the forces generating the particular thing in question and safeguarding its order come from that heaven. A proof of what I have said to you is their saying: Araboth — that in which [exist] righteousness, right-dealing, justice, the treasures of life, the treasures of peace, the treasures of blessing, the soul of the righteous ones, the souls and the spirits that shall be created in the future, and the dew by means of which the Holy One, blessed be He, will revive the dead.11 Now it is clear that not one of all the things that they have enumerated here is a body and therefore to be located in a place. For the dew is not the dew denoted by the word in its external meaning. Consider that they said in this passage: that in which — I mean to say that the things mentioned are in araboth — and they did not say that the things are upon it. Thus they have, as it were, given the infor¬ mation that these things existent in the world only exist because they proceed from forces coming from the araboth of God, may He be exalted, who caused [the araboth] to be their first origin and who situated them in it. To these things belong the treasures of life. In fact it is correct and the absolute truth to say that every life existing in a living being only proceeds from that life,18 as I shall subsequently19 mention.
Reflect also that they enumerated in the list the soul of the righteous ones, and the souls and the spirits that shall be created in the future. How sublime | is this notion to him who has understood it! For the souls that remain after death are not the soul that comes into being in man at the time he is generated. For that which comes into being at the time a man is 15. Hab. 3:8.
16. In this context sama 3 seems to be a synonym of falak, translated in this chapter by “heaven.” Cf. n. 11, this chap. Maimonides probably uses the word sama 3 in this pas¬ sage because of its kinship with the Hebrew word shamayim, employed in the texts to which he alludes.
18. The life to which the expression treasures of life alludes.
i J4 The Guide of the Perplexed 1-70 [ 93a generated20 is merely a faculty consisting in preparedness, whereas the thing that after death is separate from matter is the thing that has become actual and not the soul that also comes into being; the latter is identical with the spirit that comes into being. Because of this the Sages have num¬ bered the souls and spirits among the things that come into being. What is separate is, on the contrary, one thing only. We have already made clear the equivocality of the term spirit.21 We have likewise made clear, in the last portion of the Book of Knowledge,22 the equivocality regarding these terms.
Consider accordingly that these strange but correct notions attained by the speculation of the most sublime of those who have philosophized are found scattered in the Midrashim. When a man who has knowledge, but is not equitable, studies these texts, he laughs at them at the beginning of his study because he sees that their external meanings diverge so widely from the true realities of existence. The cause of all of this is, as we have told several times, the enigmatic presentation of these things, which is due to the fact that they are too strange to be understood by the vulgar.
I shall return to the remainder of what I have started out to explain. I shall then say that [the Sages], may their memory be blessed, tried by means of the texts of the scriptural verses to furnish proof that the things enumera¬ ted by them were found in araboth, saying: [As for] righteousness and justice, as it is written: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne.2* They similarly furnished proof that those things, which they enumerated as standing in relation to God, may He be exalted, are with Him. Understand this. They said in the Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer:2* The Holy One, blessed be He, has created seven firmaments-, and of all them, He chose as throne of glory for His kingship only araboth. For it is said: Extol the rider in the araboth 25 This is literally what he says. Understand it likewise. Know that a set of beasts that are ridden upon is called chariot 26 This occurs in frequent | repetition: And Joseph made ready his chariot in the second chariot,-28 Pharaoh's chariots.22 A proof that this term is applied to a number of beasts is found in the dictum: And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. 30 This is a proof that the term chariot is applied to four 20. The words translated in this passage by “come into being” and “be generated” are two different forms of the same Arabic verb.
21. Cf. I 40.
22. A section of the Mishneh Torah. Cf. Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah, IV.
23. Ps. 89:13. 24. Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer, XVIII. 25. Ps. 68:3.
26. This is the usual meaning of the Hebrew word merkabah cited by Maimonides.
horses. With regard to this I say that since it is said, in accordance with what is said in Scripture, that the throne of glory was borne by four animals, the Sages, may their memory he blessed, called it a chariot; they thus likened it to a chariot that is made up of four individuals.31 This is the limit to which the speech advances in this chapter. There is no doubt that there are many other intimations with reference to this subject. However, the purpose of this chapter, toward which the argument was repeatedly brought back, is that the dictum, The rider of the heavens?'1 signifies: He who makes the encompassing heaven revolve and who moves it in virtue of His power and His will. A similar interpretation should be given to the rest of the verse: and in His excellency 33 on the skies, meaning that in virtue of His excellency He makes the skies revolve — bringing out the first of them, which is araboth, as we made clear in our discussion of the word riding and explained the remainder of it in our discussion of the word excellency. For all the heavens move as parts in virtue of the movement of the highest heaven, that is, the diurnal movement. And this great power of His is that which moves the whole. Because of this Scripture calls it: excellency. This notion should always be present in your mind with regard to new matters about which I shall speak. For it is the greatest proof through which one can know the existence of the deity — I mean the revolution of the heaven — as I shall demonstrate. Understand this. | CHAPTER 71 Know that the many sciences devoted to establishing the truth regarding . these matters that have existed in our religious community have perished because of the length of the time that has passed, because of our being dominated by the pagan nations, and because, as we have made clear,1 it is not permitted to divulge these matters to all people. For the only thing it is permitted to divulge to all people are the texts of the books. You already know that even the legalistic science of law was not put down in writing in the olden times because of the precept,2 which is widely 33. The usual meaning of the Hebrew word is “pride.”
1. Cf. I 34.
2. Literally: matter, thing. This translation seems to be more in harmony with Maimo- nides’ use of the Arabic word than the meaning “command,” which is also denoted by amr.
ij6 The Guide of the Perplexed 1-71 [ 94a known in the nation: Words that I have communicated to you orally, you are not allowed to put down in writing} This precept shows extreme wisdom with regard to+ the Law. For it was meant to prevent what has ultimately come about in this respect: I mean the multiplicity of opinions, the variety of schools, the confusions occurring in the expression of what is put down in writing, the negligence that accompanies what is written down, the divisions of the people, who are separated into sects, and the production of confusion with regard to actions. All these matters should be within the authority of the Great Court of Law, as we have made clear in our juridical compilations5 and as the text of the Torah shows.6 Now if there was in¬ sistence that the legalistic science of law should not, in view of the harm that would be caused by such a procedure, be perpetuated in a written compilation accessible to all the people, all the more could none of the mysteries of the Torah have been set down in writing and be made accessible to the people. On the contrary they were transmitted by a few men belonging to the elite to a few of the same kind, just as I made clear to you7 from their saying: The mysteries of the Torah may only be transmitted to a counsellor, wise in crafts, and so on} This was the cause that necessitated the dis¬ appearance | of these great roots of knowledge from the nation. For you will not find with regard to them anything except slight indications and pointers occurring in the Talmud and the Midrashim. These are, as it were, a few grains belonging to the core, which are overlaid by many layers of rind, so that people were occupied with these layers of rind and thought that beneath them there was no core whatever.
As for that scanty bit of argument9 regarding the notion of the unity of God and regarding what depends on this notion, which you will find in the writings of some Gaonim and in those of the Qaraites, it should be noted that the subject matter of this argument was taken over by them from the Mutakallimun of Islam and that this bit is very scanty indeed if compared to what Islam has compiled on this subject. Also it. has so happened that Islam first began to take this road owing to a certain sect, namely, the Muctazila,10 from whom our coreligionists11 took over certain things 3. B.T., Gittin, 6ob. 4. Or: on the part of.
5. Cf. Mishneh Torah, Introduction. 6. Cf. Deut. 17:8—12.
9. Or: of kalam. The word “argument” is used here to translate kaldrti.
1 o. A Moslem sect whose beginnings go back to the eighth century. The earliest comprehen¬ sive and rationalized system of Moslem theology was worked out by the Mu'tazilites.
1 1. Literally: companions.
94&] The Guide of the Perplexed I - 71 777 walking upon the road the Muctazila had taken. After a certain time another sect arose in Islam, namely, the Ashcariyya,12 among whom other opinions arose. You will not find any of these latter opinions among our coreligionists. This was not because they preferred the first opinion13 to the second, but because it so happened that they had taken over and adopted the first opinion and considered it a matter proven by demonstration.
As for the Andalusians 14 among the people of our nation, all of them cling to the affirmations of the philosophers and incline to their opinions, in so far as these do not ruin the foundation of the Law. You will not find them in any way taking the paths of the Mutakallimun. In many things concerning the scanty matter of which the later ones among them had knowledge,15 they have therefore approximately the same doctrine that we set forth in this Treatise.
Know also that all the statements that the men of Islam — both the MuTazila and the Ashcariyya — have made concerning these notions are all of them opinions | founded upon premises that are taken over from the books of the Greeks and the Syrians who wished to disagree with the opinions of the philosophers and to reject their statements. The reason for this was that: inasmuch as the Christian community came to include those communities,16 the Christian preaching being what it is known to be, and inasmuch as the opinions of the philosophers were widely accepted in those communities in which philosophy had first risen, and inasmuch as kings rose who protected religion — the learned of those periods from among the Greeks and the Syrians saw that those preachings are greatly and clearly opposed to the philosophic opinions. Thus there arose among them this science of kalam. They started to establish premises that would be useful to them with regard to their belief and to refute those opinions that ruined the foundations of their Law. When thereupon the community of Islam arrived and the books of the philosophers were transmitted to it, then were also transmitted to it those refutations composed against the books of the philosophers. Thus they found the kalam17 of John Philoponus,18 of Ibn 12. The disciples of Abu’l-Hasan 'All al-Ash'ari (d. 940) who propounded the principles of the doctrine that by and large was adopted as the official theology of Sunnite Islam.
13. That of the Mu'tazila. 14. Or: the Spaniards.
15. Literally: the scanty matters found among the later ones of them. This apparently refers to the passages of the Talmud and the Midrashim that, as Maimonides states in the beginning of this chapter, belong to the old esoteric tradition.
16. I.e., the Greeks and the Syrians. 17. Or: the argumentation.
18. In Arabic, Yahya al-Nahwi; i.e., John the Grammarian, a translation of a Greek cogno¬ men of this philosopher.
ij8 The Guide of the Perplexed I • 71 [95a cAdI,19 and of others with regard to these notions, held on to it, and were victorious in their own opinion in a great task that they sought to accomplish. They also selected from among the opinions of the earlier philosophers everything that the one who selected considered useful for him, even if the later philosophers had already demonstrated the falseness of these opinions — as for instance that affirming the existence of atoms and the vacuum. And they considered that these were conceptions common to all and premises that everyone who accepts a Law is obliged to admit. Afterwards the kalam became wider in scope, and these people descended to other strange roads that had never been taken by the Mutakallimun from among the Greeks and others, for these were near to the philosophers. Then there arose in Islam assertions of the Law that were particular to the members of that community and that | they necessarily had need to defend. Further¬ more, differences of opinion between them with regard to these questions made their appearance, so that every sect among them established premises useful to it in the defense of its opinions. There is no doubt that there are things that are common to all three of us, I mean the Jews, the Christians, and the Moslems: namely, the affirmation of the temporal creation of the world, the validity of which entails the validity of miracles and other things of that kind. As for the other matters that these two communities took the trouble to treat and were engrossed in — for instance, the study of the notion of trinity into which the Christians plunged and the study of the kalam into which certain sects of the Moslems plunged — so that they found it requisite to establish premises and to establish, by means of these premises that they had chosen, the conceptions into the study of which they had plunged and the notions that are peculiar to each of the two communities, having been established in it: these are things that we do not require in any respect whatever.