Duties of the Heart: Bahya ibn Paquda

Bahya ibn Paquda was a rabbinic judge (dayan) in 11th century Muslim Spain who composed, in Arabic, a "guide to inwardness and personal and social ethics" (al-Hidaya ila fara'id al-qulub or The Guide to the Duties of the Heart)--a work that is familiar to traditional Jews to the present day in its Hebrew translation Hovot ha-Levavot. [see Erwin I. J. Rosenthal, Judaism and Islam, 121-128].

"Steeped in Biblical and Rabbinic learning and the philosophy of Saadiah Gaon, Bahya also knows the Greek philosophers and Galen in their Arabic texts. He draws upon kalam and Sufi writers and the Shi'ite group known as the Sincere Brethren of Basra...whose cosmopolitan and humanistic pietism is akin to his own" [Lenn Goodman, "Ibn Paquda, Bahya (fl. early 12th century)" in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 633-636].

Historians of Muslim Spain typically view the late 11th-early 12th century as one of cultural decline, and yet Ibn Paquda's masterpiece is an exemplary work of humanistic prowess--one that draws on a variety of sources (mainly Islamic) and translates them into the author's own religious idiom.

The true genius of humanistic piety lies in its ability to enclose in cosmopolitan embrace wisdom and inspiration wherever it finds them and from whatever source.