BAHYA BEN JOSEPH IBN PAKUDA

flourished 11th century dayyani.e., judge of a rabbinical courtin Muslim Spain and author of a highly influential and popular work of ethical guidance. About 1080 Bahya wrote, in Arabic, Al-Hidayah ila-fara' id al-qulub (Duties of the Heart). In a rather inaccurate 12th-century translation into Hebrew by Judah ben Joseph ibn Tibbon, Hovot ha-levavot, it became a widely read classic of Jewish philosophic and devotional literature. An English translation, Duties of the Heart (192547; reprinted 1962), was completed by Moses Hyamson. Via the Islamic mystics, known as Sufis, Bahya was influenced by Neoplatonism as to the nature of God and the soul's quest for him. From the Islamic system of dialectical theology called kalam he borrowed proofs for the existence of God. Critical of his predecessors who, of the two requirements of religion, had emphasized the duties of the body to the neglect of the duties of the heart, Bahya wrote his book to restore the proper balance. The duties of the body are obligatory outward actionsreligious ritual and ethical practicewhile the duties of the heart are the attitudes and intentions that determine the state of a person's soul and alone give value to his acts.