WHEN reading my present treatise, bear in mind that by "faith" we do not understand merely that which is uttered with the lips, but also that which is apprehended by the soul, the conviction that the object [of belief] is exactly as it is apprehended. If, as regards real or supposed truths, you content yourself with giving utterance to them in words, without apprehending them or believing in them, especially if you do not seek real truth, you have a very easy task as, in fact, you will find many ignorant people professing articles of faith without connecting any idea with them.

For the next ten years Maimonides moved about in southern Spain eventually settled in Fes in Morocco the capital of the Almohads where he studied at the University of Al-Karaouine. Following this sojourn in Morocco together with two sons he sojourned in the Holy Land before settling in Fostat Egypt around 1168. Maimonides and his wife the daughter of one Mishael ben Yeshayahu Halevi had one child Avraham who was recognized as a great scholar and who succeeded him as Nagid and as court physician at the age of eighteen.

He was born in Córdoba Almoravid Empire (present-day Spain) on Passover Eve 1135 and died in Egypt on December 12 1204. Nevertheless he was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical arbiters and philosophers in Jewish history his copious work comprising a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship.