The Jewish-Sufi Mystics of Medieval Egypt
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- Опубліковано 14 кві 2022
- As part of a three-part collaboration with Esoterica & Seekers of Unity, this episode explores the life, teachings and movement of Abraham Maimonides, the son of the much more famous Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (d. 1204).
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Sources/Suggested Reading:
Idel, Moshe (1987). "The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia". State University of New York Press
Kraemer, Joel L. (2010). "Maimonides: The Life and World of one of Civilization's Greatest Minds". Doubleday & Co Inc.
Lobel, Diana (2021). "Moses and Abraham Maimonides: Encountering the Divine". Academic Studies Press.
Russ-Fishbane, Elisha (2015). "Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A study of Abraham Maimonides and his times". Oxford University Press
#Judaism #Mysticism #Sufism
Check out the excellent videos by my collaborators!
Esoterica: ua-cam.com/video/i6qclz26OYY/v-deo.html
Seekers of Unity: ua-cam.com/video/8fpQPAMqATk/v-deo.html
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Wonderful working together again, Filip - I'm so blessed to call you both colleague and friend!
Neshama. Malkut. Schlama. 11
So grateful for you guys! Thank you!
This wholesome content
😍
Namista 🙏
thanks so much!! as a descendent of syrian and egyptian jews, this content is verrrrrry much up my alley. really appreciate you highlighting the shared culture between muslims and jews in the arab world.
yes this a beautiful form of mysticism, there are non senses like gigul, misunderstanding the scriptures according to christians visions hidden under an Ashkenazi hasidic optic, etc
Same here but we were Venetian Jews who were heavily exposed to the ideas of Alexandrian and Ottoman Jews.
I believe Abraham & his teachings, Jews & Arabs are cousins, very related, both Semitic & Semitic based faiths. Also some key followers of Muhammad were Jews. We lived all around each other since time immemorial. It seems that the world has forgotten & believes that Jews all came from Europe and we all eat gefilte fish. The largest population of practicing Muslims is in Indonesia. Even pre Islam middle easterners celebrated some Jewish holidays, both peoples are very religious & both have similarities. Completely rational to think & understand. As a Maghrebi Jew I find it quite beautiful & humbling to see this unity.
Beautiful episode Filip. It’s a pleasure to be exploring these great thinkers and moments alongside you. We have much to learn from them. Ramadan Mubarak. Love, Zevi
Malkut. Schlama...
Uninboti nbiin tiboon.👍🏼
After this video I'm coming to both of your channels.
Ramadan Mubarak bit got me! Hope things are good :)
Phillip dropping knowledge like crazy these days
Peripatetic or direct :)?
Fphillip
I love how you are unlocking the mysteries of the Islamic world 🌍
Mysteries of the Islamic world. The world is not a mystery.
@@jacovawernett3077 what are you trying to do?
Would it be possible to explore the early Christian pietists, the Desert Fathers, of the same region? It would be wonderful to see if there was a continuity of practice between the early Christian ascetics to the Sufis to the Jewish-Sufi mystics.
Incredible output this week and timely given It’s both Ramadan and Passover.
Much love!
. . .and Easter
I never understood how some rabbis said that prostration isn’t a Jewish concept it’s all over the TaNaCH, Mishnah and both Talmuds.
My understanding is that prostration bore too much similarity to the services that were performed in the Holy Temple. There are a lot of laws that prohibit performing or appearing to perform these rituals outside of the temple.
Even today when we Jews prostrate ourselves on Yom Kippur, it can’t be done directly on a stone floor, to prevent the appearance of recreating the temple service.
@@iantaylor9586 prostration on stone isn’t allowed because it’s like idolatry not since it’s like the temple service. The law was made when the temple was around.
@@lewiakk5844 If you believe the Torah stories and chronology, the law was made before the temple. It was practiced while the nation of Israel was still wandering the desert before entering the promised land.
@علي ياسرJews went to a lot more places after the destruction of the temple than 4 middle eastern countries and some also never left Israel. Also just as promised in the tanach G-d has brought us back with both Israel in 1948 and unifying Jerusalem in 1967
Abraham's own son Obadyah wrote the fascinating, deeply Sufistic 'Al-Maqala al-Hawdiyya' or 'The Treatise of the Pool'. An English translation was published by Octagon Press in 1981.
Yes! Very cool book!
Excellent video, I am a doctoral student in Islamic studies and gave a paper at a zoom conference organized by Leiden University this previous summer on this very topic.
Hey, I'm also from Leiden Uni ☺️👋
It’s really touching to see how the Religious Studies community(?) has grown so much over the past several years on UA-cam. It’s rich and in-depth, academic yet accessible, and most importantly: kind and honest. Religion for Breakfast, Esoterica, Let’s Talk Religion, and so many others have made my life infinitely richer. God Bless :)
SAME!
Maybe you've done this already and I've missed it, but a video looking at the overlap between this, Orthodox Christian mysticism - particularly the East Roman Hesychasts with their divine light from Tabor - and the Sufi parallels would be fascinating!
Sufism and Judaism share a lot in common as someone who studies Judaism and is interesting in Sufism (especially the kabbalistic part that focuses on the meaning of things in life)...
all sects that claim to be islamic are a product of jews
As the Video says it was inspired by Islamic sufism he was just inspired and brought into its community
It’s clear from the Talmud, and completely without any form of disagreement that the original way Jews prayed included bowing and prostrating in a very SIMILAR way to the way that Muslims do. It is also clear from the Mishnah Torah that R’ Moses Maimonides beloved that Jews should should continue this ancient practice of theirs and it seems that that was the common practice that he grew up with. That form of bowing was not reintroduced by R’ Abraham due to Islamic influence.
Also we do this in UK school nativity plays lol
Yes. He explains that. Please watch the video
Please don’t mind her. She’s a woman.
Jews had to stop it because the temple was destroyed
I just read an article regarding this. I'm glad I saw your video about this subject.
The level of intellect you provide in this channel is unparalleled I just want to say thank you please more and more and more
You, like Dr. Sledge of Esotericia, are a joy to listen to you! Thank you
Thank you, Filip! This is brilliant, i very much enjoyed your lecture
Be as cool and contrarian as you like! It's fascinating to explore the not so well-known byways of religious thought. Thanks for introducing us to this Maimonides, unjustly overshadowed by his father.
I watched them all and really like the approach. Excellent explanations from all three of you!
I cant help but be astonished by your work. Thank you for your effort in educating me.
Excellent presentation as always.
The background Music is so soothing. You are a great Musician as well. Thank you for all the knowledge you spread. May god bless you.
Thank you for introducing us to Seekers of Unity. I've been searching for something like that channel for a long time.
Appreciate your work,as always 🙏 💗
Thank you so much for your valuable information and professional teaching
Dudes! Seriously so excited to watch this!!!! :) thank you!
This was indeed fascinating! I was gripped throughout the whole video. Thank you very much
Brilliant ! Look forward to more on the subject.
Excellent video thanks for your effort to enlighten the readers.
👍🏼
Thank you for surprising me always by your magnificent videos
This channel keeps surprising me. Excellent.
In love with these detailed videos ♥🌺
I love your content and music so much Filip 🖤 thank you brother
That is very kind of you! Thank you!
Thank You Sir for Your Valuable and Informative Video strengthen Our Thirst.
Really enjoyed this one! Thank you ☺️
Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
This was really interesting, thank you !
This makes me wonder If there have been Christian Sufi mystics, so excited to watch this episode rn
Francis of Assisi, Ramón Llull, and San Juan de la Cruz, according to some
Sufi is an Arabic word that means serenity of the heart from other than God. This knowledge has no end. In the end, you know yourself and who you are. You are a drop in a sea that has no coast, forming what is called God. You are he and he is you. God and how he appears in infinite forms, and unlike Christianity, God does not limit God to mercy and love, they have 99 attributes of God that include all appearances in the theater of existence, and here you become a Muslim, i.e. surrender to what comes from thoughts and actions, so if you try to steal, you will steal God, and if you try to lie, you will lie to God, Most of their sciences are etiquette, then etiquette, then etiquette in dealing with God, And they say, whoever abused literature was expelled from the door and returned to the policy of the animals. Practically the idea that you live only you and God and then with time is called the shrine of confusion and then you end and only him remains,I advise you to read this book to get to know the idea of Islamic mysticism, as its idea is that a group of birds decide to search for those who created them and call them the simmerga and destroy the whole world and face difficulties and hunters and die many of them and then in the end realize that they themselves are the simmerga, and there are many wisdoms about the art of literature and dealing with God .
www.goodreads.com/ar/book/show/35187179-the-conference-of-the-birds
fundamental requirement would be a belief in God [obviously if communist
it wouldn’t work..basically due to no belief]..but there have been and presently are people of all or a combination of faiths practicing from what I understand..
look into Idries SHAHs work if you want
Islamic and Jewish definition of God and monotheism is closer hence adapts easier.
Meister Echkhart was pretty much a Sufi and rejected Trinity as the highest principle.
Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job
Thank you!
Finally got to finish watching. Eid Mubarak 🙏❤️🤗
Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
What an interesting episode! As important and prolific as Moses Maimonides was I still find Abraham's life and work more interesting. After watching this I am convinced that I need to look into him further.
Thank you so much for another outstanding work. One thing I wasn’t quite clear on: what made Abraham’s Sufi-Judaism non-kabbalistic? Was it the fact that it didn’t use any of the standard kabbalistic terminology in describing its world-view?
It has no connection to the tradition(s) of Kabbalah (their theoretical ideas, terminology etc), which developed primarily in Spain and southern France during the 13th century. That includes both the Zoharic Kabbalah and the Prophetic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia.
The Pietists based their ideas and expressed them in entirely different ways.
Abulafia*
@@LetsTalkReligion isnt the kabbalah old babylonian technology
@@ITSME-xx3oo No that sounds like one of the popular myths about Kabbalah.
Kabbalah is very much an intellectual movement based in 12-13th century Judaism, specifically in Iberia and France.
@@LetsTalkReligion Iberia is Portugal
I seriously feel like I'm learning a historical shiur.
Very very very well done, omG
Amazing! Thank you!!
I happened upon your channel just yesterday and have been captivated since. Amazing stuff! Thank you. I was hoping to learn more about you in the about section of your channel but I see no option for that. Blessings from Florida.🙏🌍🕊🕊
Great video man!
Thanks!
@@LetsTalkReligion should you find yourself in Israel let me and the community know, I live in Safed and I would love to show you around the place!
Free palestine! Free Safed!
Any populations living in close quarters and good order will eventually begin to take ideas from one another, it is one of mankind's many realities.
Really fascinating! Thanks!
I really enjoyed this video (topic) thank you for sharing this.
Sufi mystics remind me of the Catholic monks in Britain that live far away from the population and practice strict regimes and fasts they baptised many pagans using similar methods to the sufis. Interesting similarities
There are some paralells, definitely!
This episode has thrown me into a rabbit hole
Abraham Maimonides book "How to serve God" is basically an instruction manual for achieving prophecy through perfection of the virtues.
3 hard working humans in 3 nations seeking to bring a deeper Understanding to our Soul's Evolvement. This is Sophia embodied. Thank you all. Justin, Zevi. and Fillip/
Great Video thank you very much.
Ibn Abi Usaibias Encyclopedia, Ibn al Quftis (Ibn al Koptis) Encyclopedia about the Wise Men/ Hukama/ Philosophers, Abi Suleiman al Sijistanis Sewan al Hikma/ the Vessel of Wisdom are three of the most important and interesting encyclopedias about medieval biographies in general and especially about the biographies of Philosophers and Scientists.
Thank you for the wise insight into these religion's. Normally UA-cam videos divide these religion's & that courses trouble for these three faith's (divide & rule)
Great lesson!
Fascinating, the same or very similar light and sound meditation was practiced by all of this religious groups in the past. It is all about to get the inner experience and it has nothing to do with outer rites and rituals. Today it is called Surat Shabad Yoga.
Filip, it would be a great topic to compare all these mystical movements and find what is common in them. You will find most of them practiced the inner sound and light meditation. People used to get initiation by their Master, Sheik, so they can get the inner Gnosis, or Baptism.
Another fascinating video. Thank you for sharing your scholarship. Have you ever considered a video on G. I. Gurdjieff and what has come out of his writings and practices?
Salam Shalom 🤲🤲🌙 Muslim Jewish I was surprised to see that our Jewish brother of same family of Abraham wear head caps as a sign of respecting prophets🤲🤲🤲💕 love from Bangladesh 🇧🇩 France 🇫🇷
We do not wear head coverings to respect prophets. To remind us that there is a G-d above us
Very interesting. Thanks.
"Normy"
-Filip Holm of Let's Talk Religion
A really wonderful video of a relatively little known philosopher, the son of the titanic intellectual figure of Moses Maimonides.
Kabbala Gnostic Sufi state is One. Turn Ecstatic. Bring out the Spring of Wisdom from Heart to the Tongue.
Thanks!
Tack så mycket
Glad att du gillar den :)
Jag följer dig och mycket stolt. Är mycket intresserad av ämnet.
Have you ever thought of doing a video on the Shia/Sufi practices of Punjab, (cause there are some really absurd and unique practices here, especially in the past) for e.g the men of my father's tribe up until the 1960's refused to cut their hair and beards, cause they falsely believed the propeth never cut his hair
influence of sikhism?
@@subhanhasan990tsikfm quite the other eay around, Sikhism was likely influenced by Islam, Hindusim and native pubjabi customs and practices
Yogis are not cutting there hairs for spiritual and energetical reasons. The sikhs tell the same and also say they don't want to alter God's creations that is their body.
Interesting !
@@fanouth06 again, northern Jatts used to not cut their hair as part of their tribal customs, even after converting to Islam we kept these traditions but re-contextualized thorough the framework of Islam
@RC Well not all Jats, but my paternal tribe didn't use to cut their hair and beards
Incredible I have never heard of this movement.
There was an additional concern that people would neglect the main occupation of Talmudic and Torah study as opposed to pietism.
Filip, can you talk about women scholars/thinkers in Islam? I bet there is at least one or two
There are 8000 women scholars/ thinkers who are recored in Islamic books, Even there are more than 240 female companions of the Prophet Muhammad and There are more than 2,400 hadiths that were narrated by women companions .
I did a video a while back about women in Sufism. It's on the channel!
@@LetsTalkReligion THanks Filip!
Muslims are all Luna Tics
@@alhashmy1310 Fatima Al-Fihri, arguably, opened the first ever university for learning in Fez, Morocco circa 857-859 and it just so happened that the
Elder Maimonides, Moses, was eventually enrolled there as a student. Fatima, had inherited a huge some of money from her wealthy parents
and decided to put it to good use for humanity. Although it initially started as a center for Islamic education, it eventually
included subjects such as Arabic grammar, Music, Medicine, Astronomy and Sufism. Al Qarawiyyin still stands in Fez today.
I love that you describe Zevi and Justin as "normy" and yourself as "cool and contrarian" in your respective presentations of of Maimonides senior and junior.
Can you link their channels? I can't do a UA-cam search with just those terms, and I don't know these people, but I like these types of channels.
@@elidrissii ua-cam.com/users/ESOTERICAchannel. That one is for Justin.
@@elidrissii ua-cam.com/users/SeekersofUnity. This is for Zevi.
@@scotzer Thanks mate.
@@elidrissii Glad to oblige.
I had no idea
very good class
Could you do a video on Nasir al Din Tusi? Especially on his doctrines of the hereafter, paradise & hell?
*”thank you for creating this content and sharing it” ✌🏾❤️🙏🏾✡️ - MELL DUNEY 616*
Wow man you got you hair done ✔️ love it
it's quite clear that Abraham was trying to revive Essene minhagim and practices which may be similar to sufism because the two movements were quite similar in terms of practice and ideology in both religions
Moses Maimonedes also was very influential on Christian and Islamic theology.
No, Islamic Theology heavily influenced the works of maimonides ( musa bin maymoon)
Islamic culture and theology influenced Maimonides. The scholar also spoke Arabic fluently. Maimonides shifted from the traditional Old Testament points of view, and became closer in philosophical terms to Islamic ideals of virtue and justice. It is essential to give credit where credit is due--this aspect of history is quite puzzling, where cultural appropriations become commonplace.
Those who want power before anything else tend to sway the good aspects of human civilization in their own favor until the original ideals become gray and irrelevant.
Maimonides himself chose to practice his good ethics and newer understanding of the older Jewish traditions in the diplomatic Court of Saladin rather than the more bigoted court of Richard the Lion Hearted -the physician chose to collaborate with Muslims so that his own Faith practices would not be degraded or made to seem strange.
Islamic Spain actually allowed snd promoted the equal opportunity of intellectual growth for all Faiths. It was the origin of Islam, the Quran, (still is), that talks about the Almighty (we call Allah), as the Great Unifier of humanity. There is no Biblical verse that unites all races as Quran does, as uncomfortable as this is for many extremists of other religions.
Sura 5:49-51, “To thee (Muslims), We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their Vain Desires, (such as Spanish Inquisition), diverging from the Truth that has come to thee. /To EACH among you have We (Allah), prescribed a Law and an OPEN WAY. /If Allah hath so willed, He would have made you a single People, but His PLAN is to TEST you in what He hath given you, (Holy Quran): so STRIVE (jihad towards good works) as in a Race (not to think you are superior), in ALL VIRTUES. The GOAL of you all is to Allah; it is the Truth of the matters in which you dispute.”
This means that one’s virtues should not become a braggadocio or a placard for one’s character which all the Sufis knew from Saadi to Hafiz to Rumi to Iqbal and hundreds and hundreds more. Bihar also has many Sufi thinkers who wrote about Allah and their relationship with their Creator as far back as the 10th and 11th centuries.
In Sufism, one becomes tainted if one harms anyone, for all are creatures of Allah/Divine Source. (Even animals are to be had in due proportion for hunting for entertainment is forbidden in Islam.
Sura 5:35, “We ordained for the Children of Israel that if ANYONE slew a person -unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land -it would be as if he slew the whole People: and if ANYONE SAVED a Life, it would be as if he Saved the Life of the Whole People. Then, although there came to them Our Apostles with Clear Signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit EXCESSES in the land” (such as genocide).
Note the distinction between Quran and Fellow Scriptures -all religions can no longer be lumped together:
Sura 5:48, “We ordained for them: Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal.” (Traditional way of thinking for most people). BUT IF ANYONE forgoes (gives up), the retaliation by Way of Charity, it is an atonement for himself. And if ANYONE fail to judge by the Light of what Allah hath revealed, they are no better than wrongdoers./And in their footsteps, We sent Jesus (Isa), son of Mary/Maryam, confirming the Law that had come before him:”
These guidance and nurturing verses, particularly , remind one to not become brutish or cold or arrogant as warring people. They also inspire one to enter happily service-rendering professions such as doctors, nurses, teachers, and social workers-and in Islamic culture, a scientist -(many Muslim scientists in 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries propelled new peace-loving movements that helped the European Renaissance flourish-has parallels to a dervish or a Sufi thinker who can heal people from themselves, for Allah teaches that “He will not change the condition of a People, until they Strive to change themselves.” Extremist Muslims of today think that Sufis are just some liberal, poetic group, but they are not: they can be strict followers of Quran and Sunnah while being harmonious with all people of varied walks of life.
May I ask you what confession do you have? And if you have one do you practicise?
i've read somewhere that Aleister Crowley said on his death bed "i'm perplexed"... what's the story behind the Thelma religion ? is there a video about it?
"The faithful cannot be kept within the veil."
Do you also connect it to christian monahism which was earlier and a lot of it is found in sufis...
Please do a video about rumi.
The Samaritans (Cutheans)
By
Yosef Eisen
This is fascinating, thanks for presenting this, as you said, understudied bit of history.
I just want to make one note, ides, in Miamonides, means "the son of" so Moshe was Moshe Miamonides because his father was Miamon. It does make sense to call Avraham "Miamonides" because he was Miamon's grandson. In Hebrew Moshe is Moshe Ben Miamon, and Avraham is Avraham Ben Moshe
They're all called "Maimuni"
yeah but when you have an ancestor with a prominent surname/moniker you're gonna wanna keep it even if your actual hebrew name would be Avraham ben Moshe
do you have any videos on Asatru or Rökkatru?
Can you please make a video on Wahdat-al-Shuhud of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
'In every religion there is love, yet love has no religion' (Rumi)..
Find and follow the mystic path of your religion..
The beginning of the mystic path is law (Jew) - wilderness (follow Jesus) - pilgrimage to Mecca (Muslim) - asceticism (Buddhish), until you reach love..
Where all is one.
Gosh how wonderful is your analogy or explanation. It goes from the religious binding law to the spiritual freedom of love and life..
I love love, divine love of Allah. But I doubt Rumi actually said this. Just seems like another one of Nicholson's falsified translations.
@@zoolakes17 Every religion has an underlying esoteric path to Allah (God, Jehovah, Nirvana)..
For the Muslim:
1st step is mystic journey (of understanding) to Mecca (led by law)..
2nd step is to leave Mecca (law) behind and journey to Medina (led by love)..
3rd step is to leave Medina (love) behind and journey to the furthest mosque Al Aqsa Jerusalem (heaven)..
'For those who have ears to hear'.
@@davidlissowski5030 except buddhism has no concept of god. Don't mix falsehood with truth just because it looks attractive.
The Buddha taught a Middle Way between asceticism and self-indulgence. And Nirvana is not the same as Allah.
I would love to know the sources of the Islamic artwork.
Decades ago I found some deteriorating folios with very similar prints. But have never been able to discern the source.
The print at 11:35 looks very similar.
I honestly just want peace among the ahlul kitab, fairness , understanding a mutual communion! No more hate! No more fear to pray in places of worship, no one is placed higher or lower in fair treatment.
At this point I don't know whether Justin sent me to Philip or vice versa. I just keep going back and forth.
"the soul will percieve a grandeur which will dazzle . . . . . "
Seek and you will find, find and you will marvel, marvel and you will rest.
One of the various versions of the most attested saying of Yeshua of Nazara.
The intro reminds me very much of xkcd 2501 wherein geochemicsts attempt to accout for how little a lay person is familiar with their field of expertese and fail to do so sufficently.
Very good video again! It shows just how influential and positive of an impact Islamic culture and civilization has had on other societies.
Perfect!
In his Mishne Torah Maimonides writes that prayer is to include prostration and sitting in rows facing the ark of the Torah. Both practices were abandoned by Sephardic communities. Maybe it happed just because of the similarity to Moslem forms of prayer.
This dialogue focus is interesting. Karaite Jewish practice possibly was a major influence as well.