Joseph Ibn Sham‘ūn

Joseph ben Judah Ibn Sham‘ūn was a student of Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) and the addressee of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. He was born in Ceuta, Morocco, and came to Egypt, first stopping in Alexandria, to study with Maimonides in the early 1180s. Although he moved to Syria and traveled farther east for business, he continued to correspond with Maimonides, eventually receiving the Guide in piecemeal fashion from his master. Joseph also acted as Maimonides’ representative in various communal controversies involving Baghdadi Jewish leadership, most famously the resurrection controversy with the Baghdadi gaon Samuel ben Elī Ibn al-Dastūr (d. ca. 1194). In this context, he composed the “Silencing Epistle on the Resurrection of the Dead.” He also wrote maqāmas and poetry.