Hoter ben Shlomo (''Hoteb/Hatab ben Shlomo'', ''Manṣūr ibn Sulaymān al-Dhamārī'', ''Manṣūr ibn Sulaymān al-Ghamari'', c.1400–c.1480) was a scholar and philosopher from

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

who was heavily influenced by the earlier works of

Natan'el al-Fayyumi Natan'el al-Fayyumi (also known as Nathanel ben Fayyumi), born about 1090 – died about 1165, of Yemen was the twelfth-century author of ''Bustan al-Uqul'' (Hebrew: ''Gan HaSikhlim''; Garden of the Intellects), a Jewish version of Ismaili Shi'i do ...

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

Saadia Gaon Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...

and

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...

. The connection between the ''Epistle of the Brethren of Purity'' and

Isma'ilism Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-S ...

might have suggested the adoption of this work as one of the main sources of what would become known as “Jewish Ismailism” as was found in late medieval Yemenite Judaism. This “Jewish Ismailism” consisted of adapting Ismaili doctrines about cosmology, prophecy and hermeneutics. There are many examples of the Brethren of Purity influencing

Yemenite Jewish Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...

philosophers and authors in the period 1150-1550. For example, chapter two of the Judaeo-Arabic theologic-philosophical work by Natan'el al-Fayyumi, ''The Garden of Intellects'' (''Bustan al-‘uqul''), written in Yemen in 1165, includes a correspondence between the numbers 1 through 10 and ten scientific and philosophical concepts (soul's faculties, senses, directions, bodily substances and parts, etc.) most of which are identical to those listed by the Brethren of Purity. Some traces of Brethren of Purity doctrines, as well as of their numerology or

Hurufism Hurufism ( ar, حُرُوفِيَّة ''ḥurūfiyyah'', Persian: حُروفیان ''hōrufiyān'') was a Sufi movement based on the mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in Astrabad and spread to areas of western Iran (Persia ...

, are found in two Yemenite philosophical

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

im written in 1420-1430: "''The Glad Learning''" (Midrash ha-hefez) by ''Zerahyah ha-Rofé'' (''Yahya al-Tabib'') and the "''Lamp of Intellects''" (''Siraj al-‘uqul'') by Hoter ben Solomon. Ḥoter’s ideas are expounded in his ''al-Qawāʿid'' "Commentary" [on

’ ''Thirteen Principles'']", the ''Sabʿīn Masʾala'' "Seventy Questions" and ''Miʾa Masʾala'' "One Hundred Questions", listed together as ''Sheʾelot u-Teshuvot Hoter ben Shelomo'', the ''Sirāj al-ʿUqūl'' "Lamp of the Intellects", a midrash to the Torah, and ''Sharh ʿalā Perush ha-Mishna'' 'shel ha-Rambam''"Explication of aimonides’Commentary to the Mishna".David Blumenthal. " Dhamārī, Manṣūr Sulaymān (Ḥoter ben Solomon)." Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Brill Online , 2012. Reference. Jim Harlow. 10 July 2012

References

{{Authority control Yemenite philosophers 15th-century philosophers Yemenite Jews Jewish philosophers Ismailism