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The Author said: Blessed be God, God of Israel — the Rightful One in the meaning of the One, the True, the Eternal of existence, the Perpetual of beneficence — who originated the existing things to indicate His unity, and invented the creatures to testify to His power, and initiated the contingent things to alert [us] to His wisdom and the comprehensiveness of His beneficence, as the Righteous Ones (peace be upon them) said: "Generation to generation shall praise Your works, and Your mighty deeds they shall declare" (Ps. 145:4), and it says: "They shall praise You, O Lord, all Your works, and Your devoted ones shall bless You" (Ps. 145:10), and it says: "The glory of Your kingdom they shall speak, and Your might they shall declare, to make known to the children of men His mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of His kingdom" (Ps. 145:11–12).
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And among the most noble of the beneficences He has bestowed upon rational beings — after creating them with attributes by which their distinction is perfected and their understanding is completed — is knowledge: which is the life of their hearts and the light of their intellects, and the guide for them to the pleasure of God (great and exalted), and the protector for them from His wrath in this world and the next, as the Righteous Ones said: "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (Prov. 2:6), and Elihu said: "Indeed it is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty that gives them understanding" (Job 32:8), and the Righteous Ones said: "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who know understanding" (Dan. 2:21), and it says: "I am the Lord your God who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go" (Is. 48:17).
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Knowledge is divided into three divisions. The first: natural science — the science of the natures of bodies and their properties. The second division: mathematical science — the science of number, the science of geometry, the science of astronomy, and the science of composing melodies, which is music. The third division: divine science — the science of God (mighty and exalted), the science of His Book, and the remaining intelligibles, such as the soul, the intellect, and spiritual entities.
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All the divisions of knowledge, despite their various meanings, are gates that God (mighty and exalted) opened for rational beings to attain religion and this world by them. But some of the sciences are more specific to religion, and some of them more specific to the benefits of this world. The sciences more specific to the benefits of this world are the lower science — the science of the natures of bodies and their properties — and the middle science, which is mathematical science; for these two sciences indicate the general secrets of this world, its benefits, and our interests in it, and guide us to the kinds of crafts and the types of stratagems for the necessary needs of bodies and the surplus of worldly earnings.
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As for the science specific to the benefits of religion: it is the higher science, the divine science. To seek it in order to attain religion is obligatory upon us, while to seek it in order to attain the benefits of this world is forbidden — according to what our early Sages (peace be upon them) said: "This is to love the Lord your God, to obey His voice and to cleave to Him" — that a person should not say, "I will read so that they call me wise," "I will study so that they call me Rabbi," "I will study so that I become an elder and sit in the academy," but rather learn out of love, and in the end honor will come; and they said: "Do things for the sake of their Maker and speak in them for their own sake, and do not make them a crown to magnify yourself, nor a spade to dig with." And they said: "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments" (Ps. 112:1) — Rabbi Elazar said: in His commandments, and not in the reward of His commandments; as the Mishnah teaches: "Do not be like servants who serve the master in order to receive a reward, but be like servants who serve the master not in order to receive a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you."
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As for the gates that God (exalted) opened to the knowledge of His religion and His law: they are three. The first of them: sound intellects, free from afflictions. The second gate: the true Book of God, revealed by it to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The third gate: the transmitted traditions, passed down according to the example of our early Sages from the Prophets (peace be upon them) — and our teacher Saadia (may God illumine his countenance) has already preceded in explaining them, with what is sufficient.
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As for the knowledge of religion: it divides into two divisions. The first: the knowledge of the duties of the limbs — it is the outward knowledge. The second: the knowledge of the duties of the hearts, which are the inner convictions — it is the inward knowledge.
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As for the duties of the limbs: they divide into two divisions. The first: duties that reason obligates, even if Scripture had not come with their obligation. The second division: duties that are received [from Scripture alone] — reason neither obligates them nor negates them, such as the prohibition of eating meat in milk, wearing mixed wool and linen (sha'atnez), planting mixed seeds (kilayim), and much similar to that, whose reasons for prohibition are hidden from us, as well as the reasons for the obligation of what is obligated upon us from them.
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As for the duties of the hearts: the general body of their roots is rational, as I shall explain, God (exalted) willing. And the general body of duties divides into positive commandments and prohibitions. There is no need to explicate that for the duties of the limbs, for their fame and clarity [suffice]; but I shall mention from the positive commandments of the duties of the hearts and their prohibitions what comes to mind [now], so that it serve as an example for what I have not mentioned of them — and with God is my success.
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As for the positive commandments among the duties of the hearts: among them is the obligation of our belief that the world has a Creator who originated it from nothing; then the sincerity of affirming His unity, and that nothing is like Him; then our commitment to obeying Him with our hearts; then reasoning [to knowledge of] Him by the path of contemplation of creation; then trusting in Him; then humility and submission before Him; then committing to fear of Him, and watchfulness over Him, and shame before His awareness of our outward state and our inner convictions; then longing for His pleasure and sincerity in action for His sake; then love in those who love Him as a means of drawing close to Him, and hatred of those who hate Him — and what resembles that, of what has no outward manifestation in the limbs.
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As for the prohibitions of the duties of the hearts: among them are the opposites of all that we mentioned, and among them are envy, hatred, and vengeance toward those of our law, as the Scripture said: "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people" (Lev. 19:18). And among them is the occupation of thought and reflection with transgressions of God and longing for them and resolving to carry them out — and what resembles that, of what is hidden in the inner conviction of a person, of which none other than the Creator (exalted) is aware, as it says: "I the Lord search the heart, I try the kidneys" (Jer. 17:10), and it says: "The candle of God is the soul of man, searching all the inner chambers" (Prov. 20:27).
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Since the knowledge of religious duties is of two kinds — one outward and the other inward — I surveyed the books of our predecessors who came after the sages of the Talmud, who composed many works on the matters of the laws, in order to find in them the inward knowledge. I found that everything they intended to explain and clarify was not free from one of three purposes. The first: explanation of the texts of the Book of God (mighty and exalted) and the books of the Prophets (peace be upon them) — and that in one of two ways: either explanation of their wording and their meanings, such as the commentaries of our teacher Saadia (may God be pleased with him) on most of the Hebrew books; or explanation of the meanings of their language, its figures, its grammatical forms, its syntax, and the vocalization of their words — such as the books of Ibn Janaḥ (may God illumine his countenance) with what is sufficient in them, and the books of the masters of the Masorah and those who followed their path. The second kind: summaries of the essentials of the laws — either all of them, such as the book of Rav Hefetz ben Yatzliaḥ; or what is obligated upon us from them in this time, such as Halakhot Pesukot and Halakhot Gedolot and their like; or a portion of their sections, such as the books of the rest of the Geonim in responsa on the duties of the limbs and the formulation of their rulings. The third kind: the establishment of the meanings of the law in the soul by the path of demonstration and refutation of those who disagreed with us — such as the Book of Beliefs and Opinions, the Book of the Principles of Religion, the Book of al-Muqammiṣ, and their like.
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I searched among them but did not find in them a book devoted to the inward knowledge. I saw this knowledge — I mean the knowledge of the duties of the hearts — neglected, not recorded in a book that contains its roots, and loose, not assembled in a composition that encompasses its branches. My astonishment at this was prolonged, and I said to myself: Perhaps this category of the laws is not obligatory upon us with the force of obligation, but rather its obligation is from the side of virtue and encouragement, in the manner of the most guiding and right path — and it should be counted among the supererogatory acts that we are not held accountable for neglecting, nor punished for overlooking; and for that reason the predecessors neglected to record it. I then investigated the duties of the hearts from rational, scriptural, and traditional [sources] — whether they are obligatory upon us with the force of obligation or not — and I found them to be the foundations of all duties. When corruption enters them, no duty of the duties of the limbs is valid for us. My argument from reason: I said that it has been established for us that the human being is composed of soul and body, and both of them are gifts of God received by us — one outward, the other inward. It is therefore obligatory upon us toward God (exalted) for both of them [to render] an outward and an inward obedience. The outward: the duties of the limbs, such as prayer, fasting, and charity, and the study of the Book of God and its dissemination, and making a sukkah, [taking] a lulav, [wearing] ẓiẓit, [affixing] a mezuzah and a parapet, and what resembles that, of what is accomplished through the outward senses of the human being. As for the inward obedience: it is the duties of the hearts — such as affirming the unity of God with the heart, and believing in Him and in His Book, and the commitment to obeying Him, and fear of Him, and love of Him, and humility before Him, and shame before Him, and trust in Him, and submission to Him, and abstinence from what He dislikes, and action for His sake, and contemplation of His beneficence — and what resembles that, of what is accomplished through belief and inner conviction, without the instruments of the outward body.
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I knew with certain knowledge that the duties of the limbs cannot be completed for us except through the choice of our hearts to perform them, and the agitation of our souls to do them. If we were to imagine that our hearts are not obligated to choose to obey God, the obligations of our limbs' duties would fall away — since no act is completed for them without the choice of our souls for that. Since it was established as valid that the Creator (exalted) obligates our limbs to fulfill His duties, it cannot be that He would neglect our hearts and souls — which are the noblest of our parts — without obligating them with what is in their capacity of worship to Him, for through them is the completion of obedience and the perfection of service. It therefore becomes obligatory that we be obligated with outward duties and inward duties, so that obedience be complete, perfect, general, and comprehensive of our outward and inward [selves] toward our Creator (great and exalted).
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When I had established the validity of their obligation by the path of reason, I said: Perhaps the Book of God is devoid of this meaning, and for that reason [the predecessors] neglected to include it in a composition that guides us to it. I then searched for its traces in the Book of God and found it repeated therein many times — among them: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might, and these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart" (Deut. 6:5–6); and: "To love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice, and to cleave to Him" (Deut. 30:20); and: "To love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut. 11:13); and: "After the Lord your God shall you walk, and Him shall you fear" (Deut. 13:5); and: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18); and: "What does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God" (Deut. 10:12); and: "You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deut. 10:19). And fear and love are among the duties of the hearts.
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And it says among the prohibitions of the duties of the hearts: "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, his servant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Ex. 20:14); "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people" (Lev. 19:18); "You shall not hate your brother in your heart" (Lev. 19:17); "You shall not go after your heart and after your eyes" (Num. 15:39); "You shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand" (Deut. 15:7); and much similar to that. Then He attributed all obedience to the heart and the mouth in His saying: "For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off; it is not in heaven, nor beyond the sea; but the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it" (Deut. 30:11–14).
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As for the books of the rest of the Prophets: they are full of it and it is repeated in them — I need not trouble to bring [the evidence] for its abundance and renown.
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When the obligation of the duties of the hearts from the Book of God was established for me — just as it was established from the side of reason — I investigated it from the side of the transmitted traditions of our early Sages (peace be upon them), and I found it clearer and more evident in their words than in the written and the rational [sources]. Part of it is stated in general, such as their saying: "The Merciful One desires the heart"; and their saying: "It matters not whether one does much or little, provided that one's heart is directed toward Heaven"; and their saying: "The heart and the eyes are agents of sin." And part of it is stated in detail in Tractate Avot — at length. And we find much of it in the descriptions of their conduct, transmitted when they were asked: "By what did you lengthen your days?"
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I also saw, from the side of the Book of God, that in the case of one who killed a person inadvertently, he is not obligated to [capital] punishment; and that one who performed inadvertently any of the prohibitory commandments that entail one of the four deaths or excision (karet) owes only a ḥatat or an asham for it — and this indicates to us that what is relied upon in the obligation of punishment is the partnership of the heart and the body in the act: the heart through intention, and the body through movement toward the act. Similarly, concerning one who performs a good deed without the intention of [doing it] for the sake of God — he is not rewarded for it. When the axis of the act and its pillar are built upon the intention of hearts and inner convictions, it is necessary that the knowledge of the duties of the hearts be prior and primary by nature to the knowledge of the duties of the limbs.
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When the validity of the inward knowledge was established for me through reason, scripture, and tradition, I said: Perhaps this category of duty is not obligatory upon us in every time and in every place — like the laws of the sabbatical year and jubilee, and the laws of sacrifices, which are not obligatory upon us in every time and place. When I reviewed them I saw them as perpetually obligatory upon us throughout our lives, with no respite from them and no excuse for us from them — such as the commitment to the unity of God with the heart, the commitment to obedience to Him with the inner conviction, fear of Him, love of Him, longing for the performance of the obligatory duties upon us — as the Righteous Ones (peace be upon them) said: "O that my ways were firm to keep Your statutes!" (Ps. 119:5) — trust in Him, submission to Him, as it says: "Trust in Him at all times" (Ps. 62:9); the elimination of envy and hatred from our hearts, and abstinence from worldly superfluities that distract from obedience to God (mighty and exalted). All of that is obligatory upon us in every time and every place, with an obligation that is perpetual, recurring with the hours and the minutes, and in every state, throughout the duration of the firmness of our intellects and the continuity of our breaths.
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A parable for this: A servant is obligated by his master with two kinds of work — one performed inside his residence in his house, and the other outside his residence, such as farming the land and attending to it at known times and in bounded fields. When the season for that passes, or the work in the field becomes impossible for him, the duty of work outside his residence falls from him. But the work he is obligated to perform inside his residence does not fall from him throughout the duration of his dwelling there and his servitude to his master, if no obstacle prevents him and no diversion diverts him — the duty of work is perpetually obligatory upon him whenever he is alone with himself. Similarly, brother, the duties of the hearts are perpetually obligatory upon us — with no excuse from them and no diversion from them, except love of this world and ignorance of God (great and exalted), as His saying: "And the harp and the lute, the timbrel and the flute, and wine are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of God, nor do they consider the work of His hands" (Is. 5:12).
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I said: Perhaps this category of duty does not branch into many obligations, and for that reason [the predecessors] abbreviated their explication and neglected to record it in a book devoted to it. When I began to enumerate and detail them, I found them very numerous when branching — to the point that I imagined that the saying of the Righteous Ones (peace be upon them): "I have seen an end to every purpose; Your commandment is exceedingly broad" (Ps. 119:96) referred to the duties of the hearts, for the duties of the limbs are limited in number, approximately 613 laws, whereas the duties of the hearts are very many, their branches having no end.
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I said: Perhaps they are among the clear and the evident, and the binding things for people, such that there is no need to record them. I then contemplated the conduct of people in most of the eras described in the books, and found them far from this category of duties — except for the select among them, according to what has been transmitted to us from them; as for the common people, how much they need alerting to it and guidance toward it. Especially the common people of our age, who have neglected knowledge and practice for most of the duties of the limbs, to say nothing of the duties of the hearts. And whoever among them has an aspiration to study religious law intends from it only what is called in the eyes of the common people by the name of "knowledge" — so he inclines from the knowledge of the book of the law toward what does not acquire for him a virtue nor purify him from a vice in himself, and which, if he were ignorant of it, he would not be held accountable for it. He neglects the study of the roots of his religion and the pillars of its law, which he cannot afford to be ignorant of and overlook, and without the knowledge and practice of which no duty is valid for him — such as verifying the meaning of divine unity: whether we are required to investigate it with our intellects, or whether the argument is discharged for us if we verify it by way of imitation and say "Our Lord is One," without evidence and demonstration. And whether we are required to investigate the meaning of the True One and the metaphorical one, so that this meaning becomes distinguished for us from the rest of the existing ones.
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And this is something a believer cannot afford to be ignorant of, and concerning which Scripture urged, saying: "And you shall know this day, and take it to heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is no other" (Deut. 4:39). And similarly, the rest of the duties of the hearts that we have mentioned before — which cannot be completed for a believer without knowing and practicing them — and which is the inward knowledge, that is the light of hearts and the illumination of souls; to which the Righteous Ones alluded in their saying: "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom" (Ps. 51:8).
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It was said of one of the sages that he would sit with people until midday; when he was alone with his companions he would say: "Bring forth the inward light" — meaning the knowledge of the duties of the hearts. And one of the sages was asked about an exceptional case from the laws of divorce, and he answered his questioner: "O questioner of what would not harm you to be ignorant of — have you mastered from the knowledge of your duty all that you cannot afford to be ignorant of and may not overlook, to the point that you have been free to attend to peripheral cases and their complexities, which do not earn you a virtue in your religion and your faith, nor purify you from a vice in the qualities of your soul?" As for me, I swear that I have committed to studying what concerns me personally of the duties of my religion for thirty-five years — in your knowledge, by my striving and the books I have within reach — and I have not yet been free to attend to what you have been freed to ask about. And he was criticized with sharp words and severe rebuke. And another said: "I learned to perform the act correctly for twenty-five years." And another said: "Part of knowledge is what is buried in the breasts of the sages, like a stored, hidden thing — if they conceal it, none will attain it; and if they reveal it, no one will deny its truth."
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And this resembles the saying of the wise man: "Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water, and a man of understanding will draw it out" (Prov. 20:5) — meaning that knowledge is lodged and hidden in the innate nature of every person and in the power of his discernment, like the water hidden in the depths of the earth; and the discerning intellect raises up the search for what is in its capacity and its interior of knowledge, until it uncovers it, brings it to light, and draws it up from within itself — just as one searches for the water that is in the depths of the earth.
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I asked one of those who claimed knowledge of the law about some of what I mentioned of the inward knowledge, and he said that imitation (taqlīd) stands in the place of investigation in what resembles this. I said to him: What you have mentioned is valid only for one who is weak in investigation, due to his limited discernment and the distance of his understanding — such as women and children and men of weak intellect. But one who has the power in his intellect and his discernment to stand upon the soundness of what has been transmitted to him, and who is kept from investigation by the laziness and negligence of his intellect regarding God's command and His law, is held accountable for that and blamed for his neglect of it.
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A parable for this: A servant is obligated by the king to receive money from his subjects and was ordered to test it, weigh it, and store it — and he was skilled in what he was obligated to do and experienced in the testing and weighing. The subjects ingratiated themselves with him until he became intimate with them, and presented the money to him while claiming it was complete in number, sound in weight, and sound in mintage. He trusted their word and imitated them in the matter of the money, and was too lazy to stand upon the soundness of their claims, and was negligent of the king's command. When word of this reached the king — and the money was brought before him and he asked him about its weight, its count, and its mintage — he was confounded in answering him, and deserved punishment in his estimation, even if the money was as the people claimed, because of his contempt of his master's command and his reliance upon a claim he was capable of verifying. Had he been ignorant of the testing and weighing, he would not have deserved punishment for imitating the subjects in their claim of the soundness, weight, and mintage of the money. And as for you, brother — if the matter whose soundness you are required to verify by the path of reason were impossible to comprehend, like the reasons for the scriptural laws, your excuse would stand and your argument would be clear in desisting from investigating it with your intellect. Similarly, if you were of weak intellect and limited discernment, such that your understanding would fall short and your knowledge be insufficient to comprehend it, you would not be held accountable for neglecting it — and your scope in it would be the scope of women and children, who hold it by way of imitation. But if you are a person of understanding and intellect by which you can comprehend the soundness of what the traditions have transmitted to you from the Prophets (peace be upon them) of the roots of religion and the pillars of its acts, then you are commanded to use them, so that it be verified for you by the path of transmission and the path of reason. If you are neglectful, you are in the position of one who falls short in what is obligatory to him toward God (great and exalted).
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And this is clarified in two respects. The first: the word of Scripture: "If a matter is too hard for you in judgment... and you shall come to the priests... and you shall act according to the word that they declare to you" (Deut. 17:8–10). When you contemplate what is contained in the first verse of the meanings of the rulings, you find them to be matters that require specification and limitation by the path of transmission, not by the path of rational demonstration. Do you not see that He did not mention among them any meaning of the meanings that are comprehended by the intellect — for He did not say: "If you doubt concerning the matter of unity; or the names of the Creator and His attributes; or a root of the roots of religion, such as the commitment to obedience to God and trust in Him and humility before Him and sincerity in action for His sake, and the correction of good deeds from the afflictions of corruption, and the kinds of repentance from transgressions, and fear of God and love of Him and shame before Him, and the self-examination of the soul for His sake — then imitate the masters of tradition." He rather said: "Return to your understanding and use your intellect in what resembles this, after you have stood upon it from the side of the general transmission of the laws of religion and their roots and branches, and investigate them with your intellect, your understanding, and the soundness of your reasoning, until the right becomes clear to you and the wrong is refuted" — as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "And you shall know this day, and take it to heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is no other" (Deut. 4:39). And similarly for all that is grasped by reason, according to what you know of the saying of our Sages (peace be upon them): "Any matter that was included in a general rule and went out from the general rule to teach — it did not go out to teach about itself alone, but to teach about the general rule as a whole." For the knowledge of the meaning of divine unity is a branch of the general intelligibles, so what is obligatory upon the branch is obligatory upon the whole.
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The second respect: the word of Scripture: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint nor grow weary" (Is. 40:28). By His saying "Do you not know?" He meant the knowledge of demonstration; and by His saying "Have you not heard?" the path of transmission and imitation. Similar to it is His saying: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?" (Is. 40:21) — He placed the knowledge of demonstration before the knowledge of report and transmission. Similar to it also is the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): "Is this how you repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father and he will show you, your elders and they will tell you" (Deut. 32:6–7). This indicates what we have said: that transmission, even if it is prior by nature in terms of the necessity of learners and their need for it first, is not prudent for one who is capable of knowing its soundness by the path of demonstration to be content with it and rely upon it alone; for the obligation is to investigate what is comprehended by the path of reason and to demonstrate it with analogical proof, for whoever is capable of that.
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The Author said: When I had stood upon the obligation of the duties of the hearts and their binding character upon us from what we have mentioned; and saw them neglected — not included in a book devoted to them; and discerned what most of the people of our age are [doing] in falling short of their knowledge, to say nothing of their practice and observance of them; and since it was among God's (great and exalted) gracious acts toward me and His kindness to me to alert me to the desire for inward knowledge — I surveyed the traditions of the righteous predecessors of our early Sages. And I found among what has been transmitted to us from them that their concern for the duties obligatory upon them in the particularity of their own souls was stronger and greater than their concern for the branches of rulings and exceptional and difficult cases. Their striving was in the general body of rulings and the determination of what is permissible and forbidden — and then they would turn their attention and concern to the correction of their actions and the duties of their hearts. So it was that whenever a case arose from the branches of rulings and their exceptional elements, they would then examine it by their analogical reasoning and elicit its ruling from the principles held by them — without occupying their minds with examining it before that, from contempt of this world and its causes. So when necessity drove them to execute the ruling concerning it: if its ruling was clear and evident from their transmitted principles, they would execute the ruling accordingly; and if the case was among the branches whose ruling is elicited from the roots of their transmission, they would apply their opinion and analogical reasoning to it. If all the heads of knowledge agreed on its ruling, it was acted upon according to their opinion; and if their analogical reasonings disagreed, they adopted the view of the larger number among them — according to their saying about the Sanhedrin: "They would ask them a question; if they had heard [the answer] they would tell it to them; if not, they would stand to the count; those who declare pure prevailed — it was pure; those who declare impure prevailed — it was impure." And among their principles: "An individual and a majority — the halakha follows the majority." Then they established in Tractate Avot their manners and the subtleties of their conduct, transmitted from them, each one in his time and his place.
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And the sages of the Gemara also mentioned from their righteous predecessors what indicates the conciseness of their knowledge and the intensity of their concern for the correction of their actions — and that is their saying: "In the days of Rav Yehuda, all their study was in the tractate of Nezikin, and we study much; while Rav Yehuda — when he would pull out one of his sandals, rain would come; and we cry out and go and cry out and come, and no one pays attention to us." They said: "The earlier generations gave their lives for the sanctification of God's name; we do not give our lives for the sanctification of God's name." And they said: "Rav Huna said: Anyone who engages only in Torah is as if he has no God, as it says: 'And for many days Israel was without the true God' — except in Torah and in acts of loving-kindness."
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I was convinced that the principles of the deeds sought for the sake of God (great and exalted) are placed upon the sincerity of hearts and the purity of inner convictions; when the intentions are corrupted, God does not accept the deeds, even if they be many and repeated — as the Scripture said: "Though you offer many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood; wash, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil" (Is. 1:15–16); and it says: "For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it" (Deut. 30:14); and it says: "Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes observe my ways" (Prov. 23:26); and our Sages said regarding this: "If you have given me your heart and your eyes, I know that you are Mine." And the Scripture said: "You shall not go after your heart and after your eyes" (Num. 15:39); and it says: "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?" — and the answer was: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Mic. 6:6–8); and it says: "Let not the one who glories glory in this: but let him glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord" (Jer. 9:23) — and the meaning of this answer was explained: Let him rather glory in understanding Me and discerning My grace and beneficence by contemplation of creation and demonstration of My acts upon My power and wisdom. And all that I have brought of the verses are proofs for the confirmation of the obligatory nature of the duties of the hearts and the discipline of the souls.
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You should know that the purpose and the benefit in the duties of the hearts is the balancing of our outward and inward [selves] and their equalization in obedience to God (great and exalted), until the testimony of the heart, the tongue, and the limbs in worship to God become equal — each one of them confirming its companion and testifying for it in that, and not opposing it or contradicting it. And it is what Scripture calls tāmīm (wholeness), such as: "You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your God" (Deut. 18:13); and it says: "He was wholehearted in his generations" (Gen. 6:9); and it says: "He who walks blamelessly and does righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart" (Ps. 15:2); and it says: "I will give heed to the way of blamelessness; when will You come to me? I will walk in the integrity of my heart within my house" (Ps. 101:2).
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And the Scripture said concerning one whose outward opposed his inward — "his heart was not whole with the Lord his God" — and it says: "They beguiled Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; and their heart was not firm with Him" (Ps. 78:36–37). And it is known that anyone whose parts contradict one another and some of them give the lie to others in word or deed is not worthy of trust in his truthfulness, and souls are not comforted by his integrity. Similarly, when our outward opposes our inward and our belief contradicts our speech and the movements of our limbs contradict our inner conviction, obedience to our Creator (great and exalted) cannot be complete for us — for worship that is mere externality is not accepted from us, nor obedience that is counterfeit, as it says: "I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly" (Is. 1:13); and it says: "For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery with iniquity" (Is. 61:8); and it says: "And when you bring a blind animal for sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you bring the lame and the sick, is that not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Will he accept you, or will he show you favor?" (Mal. 1:8); and it says: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22).
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For this reason, a single good deed may be equivalent to a multitude of good deeds, according to the intention and the purpose; and similarly, a single transgression may be equivalent to a multitude of transgressions. And thought about a good deed and longing to perform it, from one who knows God — even if he has no capacity to carry out the act for it — may be equivalent to many good deeds of another, as God (exalted) said to David: "Since it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart" (1 Kings 8:18); and it says: "Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another; the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name" (Mal. 3:16); and our Sages said in their explanation of "and those who esteem His name": "Even one who thought to perform a commandment and was compelled [not to do it], Scripture accounts it to him as though he had done it."
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When I had stood upon the confirmation of reason, Scripture, and tradition regarding the duties of the hearts, I began to discipline my soul upon them, and to burden it with the comprehension of their knowledge and their practice. Every [concept] I uncovered from them of a meaning pointed me to what followed it, and similarly what followed it to what followed it in turn — until the matter became extensive and difficult to record and preserve in myself. I feared that I would forget what had settled in my inner conviction from them, and that what had crystallized in my reflection from them would slip away — together with the scarcity of helpers from the people of our age upon them. I resolved to record them in a book, to bind them in a register that contains their roots and encompasses their branches and a general body of their ramifications — in order to hold my soul to account for their knowledge and to obligate it to their practice. When what I was able to produce of it was in correspondence with what I had said, I praised God (great and exalted), the Helper and Enabler toward it; and for what fell short or deviated from it, I reproached and rebuked my soul, and I established the argument against it from it, so that its deviation be made plain against its uprightness, and its inclination against its straightness, and its crookedness against its rectitude, and its shortcoming against its completeness.
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Then I saw to make it a comprehensive, abiding word, a memorable treasury, and a lamp by whose light people illuminate themselves and are guided by its guidance — since I hoped that others would benefit from it more than I, and that its complete reward might come to others through it. I resolved to compose in this meaning a book, detailed upon the roots of the duties of the hearts and the obligations of the inner convictions, making it comprehensive of a sufficient body of their meanings, clarifying the paths of good, pointing to the way of right guidance, leading to the paths of the predecessors, compelling to the conduct of the righteous, alerting the heedless, rousing the slumbering, delving into the subtleties and refinements of this knowledge, inspiring to knowledge of God and His laws, urging the pursuit of salvation, encouraging the worker, raising the negligent, guiding the one who leads ahead, bringing to [the same level] the one who follows behind, training the beginners, and steadying those who are in doubt.
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When I was resolved to carry out my intention and saw that I was to compose it, I did not consider someone like me fit for undertaking the composition of something like it, and I felt my own shortcoming and deficiency in composition — for my errors and the deficiency of my knowledge and the inadequacy of my understanding for comprehending the meanings; and my ignorance of the eloquent language of the Arabs and its grammar, through which I expressed it, for the ease of understanding of the people of our age. I feared that I would fall into affectation in it, and that I would transgress the position of aim and moderation in it. I talked to myself about turning away from it and restraining my soul from what it aspired to of it.
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When I moved toward casting off the burden from myself and grew comfortable with the ease of refraining from composing it, I was overtaken by my suspicion of my soul in its preferring of ease and its settling into the abode of incapacity and repose. I feared that it was the wish of desire in abandoning this aspiration, and that inclination was driving me toward the arena of stillness and ease, and leaning toward seeking avoidance, and sitting in the dwelling of incapacity. And I remembered the saying of the one who said: "Among caution is the abandonment of excess in caution." And I said: Had every one who sought any matter from the matters of good, or a guide to right guidance, fallen silent about it until all his requests were fulfilled for him — no one would have spoken a single word after the Prophets (peace be upon them), whom God selected for His mission and accompanied with His enabling. And had every one who sought the completion of all the qualities of good been unable to do so and left off taking what was available to him by His grace from them — all people would be far from good and empty of virtue, and they would wander in the arena of failure, and the paths of good would be abandoned, and the precinct of merit would be deserted.
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Then I discerned that souls are greatly eager and greedy for the goal of evil, retreating from taking the side of merit, incapable in competing toward good deeds, striving perpetually in the arena of frivolity and play; and if a glimmer of it appears to them from any side that calls them toward it, they immediately fabricate the excuses of deviation in arising toward it, twist the argument for it, prop up its deficiency, strengthen its causes, and press its opponents. And if a lamp of right is lit for them and they are called toward it, they fabricate the excuses of falsehood in sitting away from it, set up the argument, lose the path to it, weaken its causes, break what they have spun, and fear it. For every matter is an enemy between its two flanks, unless God's might, and a present preacher, and an overpowering dominion be for it — having cast over it the reins of discipline, restrained it with the bridle of justice, and made it taste the bitter lash of education. Then when it intends good it acts; and if its soul seeks otherwise, it restrains and subdues it.
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I therefore saw fit to overcome my soul and compel it to bear the burden of composing this book and recording its meanings with whatever wording was possible for me, and whatever expression presented itself to me, if the meaning is understood by it. And I shall mention of the branches of the duties of the hearts what comes to my mind — without making much of its completion and exhaustion, so that the book not grow long; but I shall mention from the important matters of each root from its roots in its chapter what is fitting for it. And with God the One, the True, do I seek help, and upon Him do I trust, and from Him do I ask success and guidance in it toward what He is pleased with and accepts of inward and outward knowledge and deed from me, by His mercy.
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When my view and my resolve regarding composing it were completed, I summarized its foundation, leveled its structure, and built it upon ten roots that are comprehensive of the totality of the duties of the hearts. I divided it into ten gates, each gate of them devoted to one root from its roots, and containing its definitions, its divisions, its attendants, and the aspects of its corruptors. I shall follow in it the path of alerting and guiding and directing, with clear, near, and accessible wording, so that the comprehension of the intended meaning to be explained becomes easy — and I avoid in it obscure speech and strange wording and dialectical demonstrations and distant questions that it is not easy to resolve and answer in something like this book. I have used in it the persuasive demonstrations that bring the soul to rest in them, according to the conditions of divine science, as the Philosopher said: "We should not require demonstrative proof in the attainment of every sought object of knowledge, since not every rational sought object has demonstrative existence; nor should we seek persuasion in mathematical science, nor, in divine science, sensory proof or analogy; nor in the first principles of natural science, a demonstration; nor in the first principles of demonstration, a demonstration. For when we observe these conditions, the sought objectives become easy for us; and when we violate them, we err in our purposes and find it difficult to find our intended objectives."
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Since my book is from divine science, I have guarded in it against demonstrations that proceed according to the laws of logic and mathematical science — except that in the first gate, perhaps necessity drove me to them, due to the subtlety of what we seek in it. I have made most of my demonstrations in it from rational matters, and have brought them near with close examples about which there is no doubt as to their soundness and truth. Then I followed that with what is written in the books of the Prophets and the Righteous. Then I followed that with the transmitted traditions from our predecessors and the virtuous and the sages from every class whose reports have reached us — hoping for the comfort of souls in them and the inclination of hearts toward their knowledge, such as the sayings of the philosophers and the conduct of the people of abstinence from this world and their praiseworthy ways. And our Sages (peace be upon them) have said: "One verse says: 'And according to the way of the nations that are around you, you did' (Ezek. 5:7); and another verse says: 'You did not do so' (Ezek. 11:12). How? You did not do like the best of them; you did like the worst of them." And they said: "Anyone who says a word of wisdom, even among the nations of the world, is called wise." And they said, concerning the use of parables and the bringing near of difficult meanings by them: "Demonstrate to him by signs and explain to him by analogies." And the wise man said: "To understand a proverb and a figure of speech, the words of the wise and their riddles" (Prov. 1:6).
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When I resolved to record the roots of the duties of the hearts in my book, I used my reasoning in selecting them, so that they be comprehensive of others and encompassing of the rest. I placed their highest root and greatest foundation as the sincerity of affirming the unity of God. Then I looked to what is consequent upon the unity of God from the duties mentioned that resemble it from us — and I knew with certain knowledge that since the Creator (exalted) was truly One, and neither the name of substance nor attribute can befall Him, and our thought cannot transcend to comprehend what is neither substance nor attribute, the comprehension of Him on the side of His essence was prevented from us. It therefore became necessary for us to know Him and comprehend His existence on the side of His created things — and that is the gate of contemplation of creation. I therefore placed contemplation as a second root for a totality of the duties of the hearts.
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Then I contemplated what is consequent upon the True One from the lordship, and what is due to Him from created beings in worship — and I placed the commitment to obedience to God as a third root for a totality of the duties of the hearts. Then I discerned what is consequent upon the True One in His sole management of all things, and that benefit and harm are not in the hand of any other than Him nor in the power of any beside Him except by His permission — and it became obligatory upon us to trust in Him and submit to Him. I therefore placed trust [in God] as a fourth root for a totality of the duties of the hearts. Then I contemplated the meaning of the True One in His being characterized by His essence, without any thing sharing in it or resembling it — and I consequently dedicate to Him obedience and worship with sincerity of our action for His sake, since He does not accept action that is shared with any other beside Him. I therefore placed sincerity of action for God as a fifth root for a totality of the duties of the hearts.
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Then I turned my thought to what is due to us toward the True One from magnification and glorification, since nothing is like Him, and I accordingly derived humility before Him in accordance with what He merits — and I placed humility as a sixth root for a totality of the duties of the hearts. Then when I surveyed what befalls people of heedlessness and shortcoming in what is obligated upon them from obedience to God (great and exalted), and the means of rectifying their error and their shortcoming was repentance and seeking forgiveness — I placed repentance as a seventh root for a totality of the duties of the hearts. Then when I examined the comprehension of the truth of what is obligatory upon us toward God (mighty and exalted) from outward and inward duties, and knew that it cannot be accomplished by us except through the self-examination of our souls regarding that for His sake and its pursuit upon them — I placed self-examination of the soul as an eighth root for a totality of the duties of the hearts.
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Then I turned my reflection back upon the meaning of the True One, and I saw that the affirmation of His unity with sincerity cannot be sound in the soul of the believer if his heart is intoxicated by the wine of the love of this world and his surrender to his bestial appetites. When he seeks to empty his inner conviction and vacate his mind from the superfluities of this world through abstinence from its pleasures, true affirmation of unity becomes fully established in his heart and its virtue becomes pure for him. I therefore placed abstinence from this world as a ninth root for a totality of the duties of the hearts.
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Then I investigated what is obligatory upon us toward the Creator (exalted) — who is the ultimate goal of every hope and the end of every aspiration, since from Him is the beginning and to Him is the end — and what He requires of us from love of His pleasure and fear of His displeasure, which are the two ultimate states of felicity and misery, as the Righteous Ones (peace be upon them) said: "For His anger endures but a moment, His favor is for a lifetime" (Ps. 30:6). I therefore placed love of God (exalted) as a tenth root for a totality of the duties of the hearts.
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When I had verified that by the path of analogy, I investigated it in the scriptural and the traditional, and found them repeated many times in both, as I shall make plain for each matter in its chapter, God willing.
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I named my book with a name that corresponds to my purpose in it: the Book of Guidance to the Duties of the Hearts. My aim in it was the gentle alerting and guidance of the heedless and the falling-short among those of our law and those who adhere to the forms of our religion — with what convinces them of the demonstrations that reason testifies to their soundness and truth, and which none will deny except the people of contention and falsehood. I therefore take no trouble to refute them — since I did not aim in my book to refute those who oppose the root of our belief, but rather aimed in it at the uncovering of what is lodged in pure intellects from the roots of our religion, and what is hidden in our souls from the pillars of our law — when we employ our reflections in them, their soundness in our inner convictions becomes clear, and their lights become manifest upon our limbs.
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A parable for this: A man from among the expert astrologers entered a house of a person of integrity and sensed in it a treasure. He uncovered the treasure and found darkened silver coins, whose form had changed because of the tarnish and rust that had come over them. He set about some of them and treated them with salt and vinegar, washed them and cleaned them, until the silver returned to its most beautiful appearance and luster. Then the owner of the house was ordered to do the same for the rest of the treasure. And I intended something like that for the treasures of the hearts — to uncover them and bring out the face of their virtues, so that whoever wishes to draw near to God (great and exalted) and seek closeness to Him may emulate that.
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When you read my book, O brother, and stand upon its meanings — take it as a reminder for yourself, give justice to the right from your soul, contemplate it, branch out from it, and bind it to your heart and your inner conviction. Whatever deficiency appears to you in it, correct it; and whatever shortcoming appears to you in it, complete it. And seek in it the aim of acting upon what it urges and guides toward — not the aim of praise and pride in its knowledge. And extend your pardon to me for whatever slips or errors I have showed in it, and for whatever shortcoming appears to you in its meaning and its wording — for I hastened in it and did not deliberate over it, fearing that the hastening of death to me would cut me off from what I had hoped from it.
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And in your knowledge: human nature falls short, and the human nature is deficient, far from completion, as the Righteous Ones (peace be upon them) said: "Surely the children of men are vanity, the children of a man are a lie; if weighed in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity" (Ps. 62:10). And what preceded from my apology for my shortcoming stands in defense of whatever error may be in it from my side.
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You should know that all the duties of the hearts and the manners of the souls are contained within the fold of these ten roots that my book encompasses — their positive and prohibitive aspects — just as all the laws are contained within the fold of "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18), and within the fold of the saying of the Righteous Ones: "He does not do evil to his neighbor" (Ps. 15:3), and within the fold of: "Turn from evil and do good" (Ps. 34:15). Commit them to your heart, and contemplate them in your reflection always — then their branches will become clear to you, by God's grace (great and exalted), when He sees in your intention the eagerness for them and the inclination toward them. As the Righteous Ones said: "Who is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose; his soul shall abide in prosperity, and his offspring shall inherit the earth. The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He makes known to them His covenant" (Ps. 25:12–14).
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I saw fit to seal the front of my book with a good parable that will arouse you toward standing upon its purposes, and will alert you to the knowledge of the position of this category of law relative to the rest, and the position of the rest of the sciences — meaning the natural, the mathematical, and the logical — relative to the knowledge of the law. Understand it when you read it and contemplate it in your reflection, and you will hit upon it, God willing.
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A king among the kings distributed to his servants a load of raw silk to test their intellects. The perceptive and discerning among them selected the best of what was before him, then selected the best of what was below it in turn, dividing it into three categories: best, middle, and lowest. Then he made from each category, separately, the best of what should be made from it, then employed it among the artisans in silk garments of different shapes and colors — then adorned [the king] with them before the king at every time and in every place, according to what was most fitting for them.
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And the ignorant among the king's servants made from the whole of what he had of silk what the perceptive one had made from the lowest and worst category of his silk — then took from it as quickly as possible and hastened to profit from it with good food and pleasant drink and what resembles that.
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When word of this reached the king, he approved the action of the perceptive and discerning one, and brought him close and admitted him near his presence, and installed him in the position of his elite. And he disapproved of the action of the ignorant one among his servants, drove him away, and banished him to the most desolate place in his land — and settled him in the house of the people of wrath.
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Similarly, O brother: God (great and exalted) presented to His creatures His true Book as a test for us. The perceptive, sharp, and discerning one — when he reads the Book of God and understands it with a good understanding — divides it into three parts. The first of them: the knowledge of the subtle spiritual meanings, which is the inward knowledge — such as the knowledge of the duties of the hearts and the manners of the souls — and he obligates himself to act by it perpetually. Then he extracts from it a second part, which is the knowledge of the duties of the limbs in his time and his place. Then he employs the third part, which is the knowledge of histories and the acquaintance with the classes of people and their lineages by the rank of the preceding generations, and what occurred of events and reports in the era of those who passed before — and he employs each thing from that in its time and its place befitting it, according to the need for it. And he seeks help in deploying each one of them through mathematical science, the science of demonstration, and the science of logical inference — since from them come the premises of divine science, for one who is ignorant of them cannot distinguish the traces of the wisdom of the Creator (exalted) in His created things. Just as the perceptive servant employed the tools of the craftsmen in the completion of what he intended to make from the king's silk.
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And the ignorant fool — when he stands upon the Book of God — employs it in the knowledge of the reports of those who passed and the history of those who preceded, and hastens with it to the benefits of this world, and establishes the argument from it for following desire and abandoning abstinence from this world, and for supporting all classes of people in their characters and their schools of thought. He is as the wise man said: "He will die without instruction, and in the abundance of his foolishness he will go astray" (Prov. 5:23).
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Consider, O brother, this parable and contemplate it in your reflection, and use your thought in it, and understand from the Book of your Lord what I have alerted you to — and seek help in comprehending that by reading the books of our teacher Saadia (may God illumine his countenance and sanctify his soul), for they illuminate the intellects, sharpen the minds, guide the heedless, and rouse the lazy. May God direct both you and me toward His obedience, and guide us to the path of His worship — by His mercy, as he asked of His righteous man: "Make me know the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11).
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And this is the sequence of the gates of my book, one after the other:
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**The First Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of sincerity of affirming the unity of God (great and exalted).
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**The Second Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of contemplation of creation, and the excellence of God's beneficence toward them.
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**The Third Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of committing to obedience to God upon us.
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**The Fourth Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of trust in God (great and exalted). **The Fifth Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of sincerity in our action for the sake of God, and guarding against ostentation.
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**The Sixth Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of humility and submission to God upon us.
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**The Seventh Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of repentance, its definitions, its attendants, and its subordinate matters.
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**The Eighth Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of a person's self-examination for God's sake.
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**The Ninth Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of abstinence, and what is fitting for us from it.
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**The Tenth Gate:** On the explanation of the aspects of the obligation of love of God (mighty and exalted), and its degrees.