Ibn Pulgar wrote the following: • Hebrew translation of the third book of
Al-Ghazali's
Maqasid (completed in 1307) •
Ezer ha-Dat, the most important of his writings (see below), a polemical work in five books, in the form of dialogues, and interspersed with verse; •
Iggeret ha-Ḥarfit, a refutation of Abner of Burgos' ''Minhat Kena'ot'' • a refutation in Spanish of
astrology • verse. Ibn Pulgar defended
halakhah, but said that
aggadic portions of the
Talmud that do not pertain to matters of faith are not authoritative. Ibn Pulgar's theory was that laws were not instituted for the sake of God, who has no need of them, but for the sake of man. Therefore, he who observes these laws must not expect any future reward, as he is rewarded in the observance of them. Thus the question, "Why are sinners often happy and the pious unhappy?" has no meaning, for virtue and wisdom contain happiness in themselves, while sin and folly contain unhappiness. Of
Ezer ha-Dat, the first book, in eight chapters ("she'arim", literally "gates"), is a demonstration of the superiority of the Jewish religion, in which Ibn Pulgar attacks both
apostates and Christians. The second book attacks infidels and skeptics. The third attacks astrologers. The fourth attacks those who explain the Bible in a strictly literal sense and those who, like the Christians, interpret it in a figurative and allegorical sense. The fifth attacks those who do not believe in the immortality of the soul. The second book, a dialogue between an aged partisan of Talmudic Judaism ("Torani") and a youthful philosopher, has been printed in
Eliezer Ashkenazi's "Ta'am Zekenim" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1855). Ibn Pulgar's object here was to prove the superiority of philosophical Judaism; but his arguments are more clearly expressed in the fourth book, in which he attacks
kabbalists,
sorcerers, and false philosophers. His diatribes against the first two classes have been published by Isidore Loeb. The complete work was published by George S. Belasco. ==References==