Maimonides

Maimonides (1135/8-1204) was perhaps the most famous of all Jewish personalities in the medieval Muslim world (including Andalusia). Born in Cordoba, Spain he was forced, along with his family, to flee the oppression of a new Muslim regime when he was still a boy. The family settled in Morocco, where Maimonides spent his twenties and thirties; while there, he wrote his commentary on the Mishnah (in Arabic). He then moved to Cairo, Egypt where he wrote his two most famous works: his comprehensive code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah (Hebrew), and his work of Aristotelian philosophy, the Guide for the Perplexed (Arabic). He also served as head of the Jewish community for part of his time there, as well as physician to the Sultan.