Most Maimonides: A Study of how Islamic Society Helped to Produce Judaism’s Most Influential Philosopher of the Middle Ages

Authors

James Duncan Gilchrist, Brigham Young University
Dr. Glen Cooper, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Maimonides, Islamic society, Judaism, Israelites, poems

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

History

Abstract

Mahmood Darwiish, a contemporary Palestinian poet, described what Al-Andalus (an area of Muslim Spain, now called Andalusia) meant to its last inhabitants before the Spanish reconquista, in his poem, In the Last Night upon this Land. He describes it as a beautiful country of mountains and clouds, on the brink of occupation by invaders from afar. Although a long siege had been fought, fate ultimately transferred ownership to the invaders. Unprepared to depart, yet forced to by circumstances, Darwish offers a strange hospitality to the invaders as if he himself was a resident at the time. He invites them to partake of the fresh nuts he once shared with his Andalusian brothers, to sleep in their beds of green cedar wood, and to drink, as it were, the flowing, intoxicating poetry that they wrote of their home. He reminds them that the sheets and the perfumes on the door are ready, and that the women are plentiful. “Enter that we may utterly depart,” he invites them, seemingly weeping. The land was so beautiful that those who now flee believe they will ask themselves in a future time, if Al-Andalus had ever really existed, or if it had all been just a dream.

Recommended Citation

Gilchrist, James Duncan and Cooper, Dr. Glen (2013) "Most Maimonides: A Study of how Islamic Society Helped to Produce Judaism’s Most Influential Philosopher of the Middle Ages," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 288.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/288