MAIMONIDES’ PHILOSOPHIC MYSTICISM The Exoteric and the Esoteric
Maimonides The period of Judeo-Islamic philosophy is usually
characterized as a convivencia, a symbiotic ecumenical
relationship, which bound Muslims, Jews, and Christians into a
fellowship of students and scholars of philosophy. The topics
raised by Greek science and philosophy in its Arabic
transmission were those discussed across tradition-specific
lines. Philosophers of differing faiths read one another,
sometimes even studied with one another, and addressed common
issues in their writings even as they often differed on how to
interpret those issues. The Islamic context for the study of
science and philosophy was not, however, quite as sanguine as
modern scholars portray it to have been. Philosophy, which
encouraged critical thinking, was often seen by authoritarian
Muslim powers with a very suspicious eye. As Joel Kraemer has
put it: For Islam, as for Judaism, the religious law is
paramount, a comprehensive guide to life in all its aspects.