when i went to spain a few years ago, i saw some stuff about maimonides in museums etc. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123002789.html
wasnt mamun the one who had imam ahmad ibn hanbal tortured for refusing to believe the quran was created like the mutazilites?
I was listening to an Ultra Orthodox Hasidic Jewish Rabbi speaking on the purpose of life. He stated that life is to live spiritually. The purpose of this world is to bring the relationship with God into reality in one's life. He, the rabbi., was iobviously speaking the point of view of his own Jewish Tariqa, the Hasadim. He also talked about the law on one hand and the practice on the other. Isn't that similar to Shari'ah and Tasawwuf? The Hasadim, and all other Jewish Groups derive their spirituality from Tasawwuf of Islam. It is from Maimonides, Mamun, the Egyptian Minister, who revived the faith of Jews all over from Spain to Russia. This is a long topic of discussion and quite wondrous for me personally. Our Master Sayyiduna Ibn 'AtaAllah al-Iskandari :ra: was in Egypt around the same century as Mamun. I think in exactly the same decade, and they could have come into contact. I will confirm this. Egypt during Ma'mun's time was in a revival of Tasawwuf, in the era of the Mamluks after the devastation by the Crusades and Mongols.
