Samuel
ha-Nagid
Samuel ha-Nagid, Arabic
Ismail Ibn Nagrelʿa (b. 993, Córdoba,
Spain—d. 1055/56, Granada), Talmudic
scholar, grammarian, philologist, poet,
warrior, and statesman who for two
decades was the power behind the throne
of the caliphate of Granada.
As a youth Samuel received a thorough
education in all branches of Jewish and
Islāmic knowledge and mastered Arabic
calligraphy, a rare achievement among
Jews. When Córdoba was sacked in 1013 by
the Berbers, a north African people
believing in Islām, Samuel fled to
Málaga, at that time part of the Muslim
kingdom of Granada.
Samuel’s unusual linguistic and
calligraphic skills caught the attention
of the Granadan vizier, who employed him
as his private secretary. He soon became
an invaluable political adviser to the
vizier, who, at his death, commended
Samuel to the caliph Ḥabbūs. The caliph
made Samuel the new vizier, and as such
he assumed direction of Granada’s
diplomatic and military affairs.
Ḥabbūs died in 1037. Although his
elder, pleasure-loving son then assumed
the throne, Samuel was the caliph in
fact if not in actuality. He steered
Granada through years of continuous
warfare and actively participated in all
major campaigns. His influence became so
great that he was even able to arrange
for his son Joseph to succeed him as
vizier.
Samuel was also nagid (Hebrew: “chief
”) of Granadan Jewry. As such, he
appointed all the judges and headed the
Talmudic academy. He is generally
believed to be the author of Mevo
ha-Talmud (“Introduction to the
Talmud”), a long-lived Talmudic manual.
He also wrote a concordance to the
Bible, encouraged learning in all
fields, and became a respected, even
revered figure among both Arabs and
Jews.