Stage 3 · Yaʿqūb al-Qirqisānī (10th c.)

Kitāb al-Anwār wa'l-Marāqib: Discourse V · Ch. 31: The thirty-first chapter regarding using tools on the sabbath day

Discourse V: The Torah's Legal Commandments

Kitāb al-Anwār wa'l-Marāqib in the original Judeo-Arabic, with a working English translation by Eliyahu Freedman (working draft). Hover a phrase to see its English light up; tap any word for a gloss.

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None of the ancients amongst our companions prohibited using tools on the Sabbath with the exception of a group of the contemporary Qaraites who forbade cutting fruit and what is similar to it with a knife and otherwise. And similarly they forbade breaking nuts and almonds with something other than the hand and mouth and body parts. And these require them not to remove anything from a pot with a ladle and not to take out water from a cistern with a cup and not to eat with clay plates and not drink with a cup and not eat on a plate, rather all their foods and drinks are prepared from Friday before the Sabbath in such a way that it is not required to use any tools, to the point that one who desires to drink has for him a prepared amount in a tool and he leans over and drinks in the manner of an animal and lifts the water with his hand and drinks it with his mouth from his hand without handling the cup or another tool.

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And say to them “is there not a difference between the Sabbath and holidays with respect to prohibiting labor, with the sole exception of what is eaten?” And if they agree, say “and if what is permitted to work on the Sabbath is not permitted to be used with a tool, it would be also that what is permitted to be worked on a holiday cannot be used with tools. And thus it would be prohibited from this bread on the kitchen-table or baker’s rolling pin or another tool and not in an oven, and similarly it would be forbidden to cook in a pot or grill with a skewer and everything similar to this. And Scripture nullifies this, since it states (2 Chronicles 35:13) ‘And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.’ And since what is permitted to be worked on a holiday may be worked with and in tools, also what may be worked on the Sabbath is permitted with tools.” Indeed, this even requires them to not knead dough in a large bowl nor something similar and this entirely is ignorance.

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And since Scripture already permitted cutting a cucumber and cracking a nut, from where is this permitted via the mouth and hand and not permitted in another way such as beating it with a rock or otherwise. And since the same work, which is breaking, already occured, from where is it prohibited in one aspect and permitted in another aspect? Is not this argument and distinction between the two matters nothing but an opinion without a proof? And this is wondrous how they forbid using tools for eating and permit using tools for other things, since they sit on a mat and rug and sleep on a bed and pillow and bring chairs and place upon it the Torah for reading and everything that is similar to this, and is this not a clear contradiction?

English is a working draft — alignment is sentence-by-sentence.