Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin

Who was Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin?

Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin was a Jewish writer of numerous treatises, mostly on the Mishnah and the Talmud. He was born in Barcelona, but settled in Fez, where by his own admission he lived as a crypto-Jew. Though a native of Spain, his family had originated in North Africa.

In addition to an introduction to the Talmud in Arabic, and a treatise on Talmudic weights and measures, his surviving works include:

Sefer ha Musar

Tibb al-Nufūs

Inkishāf al-asrar watuhūr al-anwār

A Hebrew translation of Al-Farabi's Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir

Works which have been lost include Hukkim u-Mishpatim, and a theological work Risalat al-Ibana fi Uṣul al-Diyana.

Ibn Aknin is known to have known Maimonides in North Africa, and draws on many of the same sources, sharing a similar outlook. But he is not the Joseph ben Judah to whom the Guide is addressed.