Faith and Trust

Study Overview

This broad-ranging study, the first full-length investigation of conceptions of faith and trust in the Judeo-Arabic tradition, explores a family of related concepts—faith (imān, emunah), conviction (i‘tiqād), and trust/reliance (tawakkul/ittikāl)—in Saadya, Baḥya, Halevi, Maimonides, Abraham Maimonides, and the Egyptian pietist circle of Abraham he-Ḥasid. The work points to a rich spectrum of conceptions of faith and trust—from the purely cognitive to the experiential and affective. The themes of faithfulness, loyalty, experiential certainty, and trustworthiness are expressed in devotion to a way of life that embodies these ideals. The virtue of trust expresses steadfast commitment to the truth.

This study vividly illustrates the “Jewish-Arab symbiosis,” highlighting the shared spiritual language and rich, intertwined worlds of Islamic and Jewish philosophy, theology, and mysticism.