Saadia ben Joseph

Saadia ben Joseph

 Arabic Sa'id ibn Yusuf al-Fayyumi

(born 882, Dilaz, in al-Fayyum, Egypt—died September 942, Sura, Babylonia) Egyptian-Babylonian Jewish philosopher and polemicist. He left Egypt c. 905 and eventually settled in Babylonia, where he headed the rabbinic Academy of Sura. He wrote a Hebrew-Arabic dictionary and translated much of the Old Testament into Arabic. In 935 he produced his greatest work, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, the objective of which was the harmonization of revelation and reason. The introduction refutes skepticism and establishes the foundations of human knowledge. The first chapter seeks to establish creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) in order to ascertain the existence of a Creator-God. Saadia then discusses God's uniqueness, justice, revelation, free will, and other doctrines accepted both by Judaism and by the Mu'tazili sect of Islam (see Mu'tazilah). The second part of the book deals with the essence of the soul and eschatological problems and presents guidelines for ethical living.