Joseph Ibn Tsadik

A native of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), Joseph ben Jacob Ibn Tsadik was a poet, a philosopher, and a judge who served on the same Jewish court as Maymūn ben Joseph, the father of Moses Maimonides (1138–1204), in Córdoba. He exchanged poetry with certain leading Jewish Andalusi poets of his day, and about fifteen of his liturgical poems survive. His best-known work is his Microcosm (‘Olam katan), a Neoplatonic and philosophical treatise inspired by kalām (rationalist theology) that was written in Judeo-Arabic. In it, Ibn Tsadik dealt with central issues of Arabic philosophy, such as epistemology, the nature of the soul, and reward and punishment. Maimonides wrote highly of Ibn Tsadik but also commented that he had not seen this work.