An open library of thought
Understand the Law without betraying reason.
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
These records cover the Guide of the Perplexed, the Mishneh Torah and the Eight Chapters. The rest of the Commentary on the Mishnah, the Book of Commandments, the epistles, responsa and medical writings are not yet indexed; this is a selection, not a complete bibliography.
011185–1190
Composed in Judeo-Arabic around 1190 and dedicated to Joseph ben Judah, the work was translated into Hebrew by Samuel ibn Tibbon and soon afterwards into Latin. Its introduction announces deliberate contradictions, so how much it conceals remains debated.
021168–1178
Completed around 1178 in Fustat, the code was admired and contested from the start; critics such as Abraham ben David of Posquières objected to its omission of sources. It nonetheless became a foundation for later codification and commentary.
031168
Written in Arabic as the preface to Avot within the Commentary on the Mishnah, completed in 1168, it draws on Aristotle and al-Farabi without naming them. Samuel ibn Tibbon’s Hebrew translation gave it its familiar title.