Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin


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

Works

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 al-Salīma wa-Mu ʿālajat al-Nufūs al-Alīma Inkishāf al-asrar ważuhūr al-anwār Risālat al-ibānah fi uṣūl al-diyānah A book no longer in existence that discussed a man's freedom.
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.