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Maimonides’s readers have long recognized that his presentation of the Oral Torah
differed markedly from that of the Baghdadi geonim, particularly Sa‘adya Gaon. Maimonides
did not cite any precedent for his disagreements with the geonim. Recent studies, however,
have called attention to Andalusian sources that prefigure and parallel Maimonidean claims,
suggesting that his views, at least in part, drew on earlier Andalusian thought. This article argues
that a uniquely Andalusian understanding of the talmudic adage “A sage is superior to a
prophet,” first found in the writings of Isaac Ibn Ghiyath, demonstrates that Andalusian Rab- ¯
banite culture had long approached the Oral Torah differently than did the geonim of Baghdad.
After identifying a number of Andalusian antecedents for Maimonides’s approach to the Oral
Torah, this article explores possible motives for the divergent pictures of revelation put forward
by Rabbanites in Baghdad and Andalusia. It is suggested that the impact of Andalusian
Maliki jurists helps explain the divergent positions of Baghdadi and Andalusian Rabbanites.