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How not to read the guide of the perplexed

The Institute of Asian and African Studies The Max Schloessinger Memorial B Foundation O print from JERUSALEM STUDIES IN ARABIC AND ISLAM Joel L Kraemer HOW NOT TO READ THE GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES CJSAI THE GHUOIDWE ONFOTT HTEOPREERAPDLEXED Joel L Kraemer University of Chicago For the discourse kala m in this treatise has not come about by chance ittifa q but by great accuracy and E exceeding precision and with care not to fail to explain anything di cult Nothing is said in this treatise out of context except to explain something in its proper context You therefore should not pursue this treatise with your C fancies thereby harming me and not bene ting yourself You ought rather to study everything that you need to know and keep it in mind always For E those who wish to get clear of di culties it is advantageous to state the E di culties well for the subsequent free play of thought e? por? a implies the E solution of previous di culties and it is not possible to untie a knot which one E does not know But the di culty I wish to thank James T Robinson and Ralph Lerner who read previous versions of this paper and made valuable C suggestions I rst met Franz Rosenthal in when I applied for graduate work in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Yale University I took E the train from New York to New Haven and met him in his o ce at the Hall of Graduate Studies He was forty-eight but already gray and I always thought of him as a sheikh He had studied Arabic in Berlin with Paul Kraus and when I later wrote about Kraus I thought of both when I said He never wavered and his life trajectory never departed from its course He was C ultimately committed from start to nish to a passion a labor of love to philology meaning the study of ancient texts editing translating interpreting as a way of discovering new knowledge about human civilizations He was devoted single-mindedly to learning craving no other ambition He was an authentic scholar in the great tradition of Orientalism This was the single road he traveled in his life's journey Kraemer Death of an Orientalist The last time I saw Franz Rosenthal was shortly before he died I turned the conversation to pleasantries by recalling seminars in his Eo ce but could not remember the room number He said that he had forgotten as well For many years he fretted over his failing memory but this time he was at peace He then said Sic transit gloria mundi with his typical humorous self-deprecation He was tired and had to rest He died a few days later and these were the last words I heard from him The Guide of the Perplexed Admonition of this Treatise trans S Pines p The word for admonition was