Abstract:

In this research note, I will argue that Maimonides's book, Mishneh Tora, was influenced by the mukhtaṣar books of Islamic law. In this book, Maimonides summarized the rules of law in a way that has never been seen before in the history of Jewish law, without mentioning the disputations between Jewish ʿulamāʾ. This way of writing law books is known as mukhtaṣar literature in the Islamic tradition. What supports that Maimonides may have been influenced by the Muslims is that he included the basics of faith and educational etiquette at the beginning of the book in question. The fact that there is a similar content in the book of the Islamic jurist Ibn Rushd al-Jadd, a member of the Mālikī school of law, named al-Muqaddamāt, who died very close to the date of Maimonides's birth in the same place in Qurṭuba, suggests that Maimonides may have taken this book as an example.

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