Editing Maimonides (section)

===Exile===
[[File:Maimonides house in Fes.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Maimonides' house in [[Fez, Morocco]], according to local tradition. It is now occupied by the ''[[Dar al-Magana]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTbdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT185 |title=Andalusian Morocco: A Discovery in Living Art |last1=Touri |first1=Abdelaziz |last2=Benaboud |first2=Mhammad |last3=Boujibar El-Khatib |first3=Naïma |last4=Lakhdar |first4=Kamal |last5=Mezzine |first5=Mohamed |publisher=Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco & Museum With No Frontiers |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-902782-31-1 |edition=2 |location= |pages= |language=en}}</ref>]]
A [[Berbers|Berber]] dynasty, the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]], conquered Córdoba in 1148 and abolished {{transliteration|ar|[[dhimmi]]}} status (i.e., state protection of non-Muslims ensured through payment of a tax, the {{transliteration|ar|[[jizya]]}}) in some{{which|date=May 2018}} of their territories. The loss of this status forced the [[History of the Jews in Spain|Jewish]] and Christian communities to choose between [[Forced conversion to Islam|conversion to Islam]], [[martyrdom|death]], or [[exile]].<ref name="Americana 18 140"/> Many Jews were forced to convert, but due to suspicion by the authorities of fake conversions, the new converts had to wear identifying clothing that set them apart and made them subject to public scrutiny.<ref name="EI2-Libas">{{Cite encyclopedia |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |volume=5 |page=744 |editor=Y. K. Stillman |title=Libās |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |isbn=978-90-04-09419-2 |year=1984}}</ref>

Maimonides' family, along with many other [[Jews]],{{dubious|date=May 2018}} chose exile. For the next ten years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain and North Africa, eventually settling in [[Fez, Morocco]]. Some say that his teacher in Fez was Rabbi [[Yehuda Ha-Cohen Ibn Susan]], until the latter was killed in 1165.<ref>See for example: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23601542 Solomon Zeitlin, "MAIMONIDES", '''The American Jewish Year Book''', Vol. 37, pp 65 – 66.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011719/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23601542 |date=25 December 2021 }}</ref>

During this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the [[Mishnah]], during the years 1166–1168.{{efn|''[[Seder HaDoroth]]'' (year 4927) quotes Maimonides as saying that he began writing his commentary on the Mishna when he was 23 years old, and published it when he was 30. Because of the dispute about the date of Maimonides' birth, it is not clear which year the work was published.}}

Following this sojourn in Morocco, he lived in [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] with his father and brother, before settling in [[Fustat]] in [[Fatimid Caliphate]]-controlled Egypt by 1168.<ref>Davidson, p. 28.</ref> There is mention that Maimonides first settled in Alexandria, and moved to Fustat only in 1171.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Herbert A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qnw8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |title=Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-517321-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kraemer |first=Joel L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nG1vEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 |title=Perspectives on Maimonides: Philosophical and Historical Studies |date=1991-01-01 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-909821-43-9 |language=en}}</ref> While in [[Cairo]], he studied in a [[yeshiva]] attached to a small [[Maimonides Synagogue|synagogue]], which now bears his name.<ref name=S.D.>[[S.D. Goitein|Goitein, S.D.]] ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders'', Princeton University Press, 1973 ({{ISBN|0-691-05212-3}}), p. 208</ref> In [[Jerusalem]], he prayed at the [[Temple Mount]]. He wrote that this day of visiting the Temple Mount was a day of holiness for him and his descendants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm|title=No Jew had been permitted to enter the holy city which has become a Christian bastion since the Crusaders conquered it in 1096|last=Loewenberg |first=Meir |date=October–November 2012 |website=Jewish Magazine|access-date=9 February 2018|archive-date=3 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103105017/http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Maimonides shortly thereafter was instrumental in helping rescue Jews taken captive during the Christian [[Amalric of Jerusalem]]'s siege of the southeastern [[Nile Delta]] town of [[Bilbeis]]. He sent five letters to the Jewish communities of [[Lower Egypt]] asking them to pool money together to pay the [[ransom]]. The money was collected and then given to two judges sent to Palestine to negotiate with the Crusaders. The captives were eventually released.<ref>Cohen, Mark R. ''Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt''. Princeton University Press, 2005 ({{ISBN|0-691-09272-9}}), pp. 115–116</ref>