Natan'el al-Fayyumi[1] (Arabic: ناتانئيل الفيومي also known as Nathanel ben Fayyumi),[2] born about 1090 – died about 1165, of Yemen was the twelfth-century author of Bustan al-ʿUqul (Hebrew: Gan HaSikhlim; Garden of the Intellects), a Jewish version of Ismaili Shi'i doctrines. It was an imitation of Bahya ibn Paquda's book Duties of the Heart that al-Fayyumi composed to counter some of the basic principles and tenets of Judaism expressed by ibn Paquda. He wrote in the third chapter that God's unity is far greater than that described by ibn Paquda.[3]
Like the Ismailis, Natan'el argued that God sent different prophets to the world's various peoples, containing legislations suited to each nation's particular temperament. Each people should remain loyal to its own religion because the universal teaching was adapted to the specific conditions and experiences of each community. Not all Jewish depictions of Muhammad were negative. Jews who lived in environments governed by Muslims did not view them as enemies, and vice versa.
Nathanel explicitly considered Muhammad a true prophet, who was sent from Heaven with a particular message that applied to Arabs, not to Jews.[4] [5] Marc B. Shapiro wrote that al-Fayyumi supports Jonathan Sacks's pluralistic views on religion.[6]
However, al-Fayyumi's explicit acceptance of Muhammad's prophecy may be unique and was virtually unknown until recent times beyond his native Yemen.[7] Rabbi Yosef Qafih, the editor and translator of Fayyumi's Judeo-Arabic Bustan al-Uqul, asserts that due to Muslim attempts to catch Jews saying something against their faith–one who said that Muhammad was a false prophet would be judged for death–Nathanel was compelled to teach his people arguments and responses that would save them from ensnarement.[8] [9]
Ismaili teachings speak of an evolutionary sequence of prophetic revelations, culminating in the messianic Qa'im Al Muhammad era, which would unite all humanity in acknowledging God. Ismaili doctrine acknowledges that a single universal religious truth lies at the root of the different religions. Each historical revelation plays a role in preparing the path for that universal truth.
Within a single generation, Natan'el's son Jacob was compelled to turn to Maimonides, asking urgently for counsel on how to deal with a new wave of religious persecutions and forced conversions that was threatening the Jews of Yemen, an exchange which prompted Maimonides to compose his famous Epistle to Yemen. The letters and intellectual dialogue between Jacob, Maimonides, and Saladin had a lasting effect upon the Yemenite Jews.
There is a dispute between Yosef Qafih and historian Yehuda Ratzaby as to the origin of the nisba al-Fayyūmī. According to Ratzaby, it is a demonym derived from the name of his ancestors' place of origin, the Faiyum in Egypt.[10] Qafih, dissenting, thinks the name to be only a given name to the father of Natan'el, who was named "Fayyumi," a name that many children in Yemen were then affectionately called owing to the love the people had for Saadia Gaon al-Fayyumi.[11]