Saadia Gaon 882 – 942
Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayyumi, known as Saadia Gaon, was an Egyptian-born Jewish philosopher, exegete, and head of the Babylonian academy of Sura. He produced the first systematic treatise of medieval Jewish philosophy, the Book of Beliefs and Opinions, in which he argued that revelation and reason agree and that careful philosophical investigation of the received tradition is a religious duty. He translated the Hebrew Bible into Arabic for use by Arabic-speaking Jews and composed a Hebrew grammar and a major prayer book. His work shaped both Jewish thought and the cross-pollination of Islamic and Jewish philosophy.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Egyptian-Jewish
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Jewish, Medieval
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Saadia Gaon:
“Reason and revelation are two paths to a single truth.”
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Attributed to Saadia Gaon:
“We must investigate even what we have received by tradition until we attain conviction by way of speculation.”
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Attributed to Saadia Gaon:
“There is no contradiction between the truths of religion and the truths of reason.”
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Attributed to Saadia Gaon:
“The world was created in time and out of nothing.”
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Attributed to Saadia Gaon:
“The soul is created together with the body, and is the seat of reason.”