This chapter goes back to an exposition of different Biblical terms; it is unclear why it is included at this point in the book. We know it was written in serial form, so it is possible that the author just ‘forgot’ to include this exposition with the rest of his Torah commentary in part 1. But it’s possible that this was intentional, I guess.

The three Biblical terms that he is interested in here are (in Friendlander’s words)

  1. Loving-kindness hasad, הסד, which in Hussein Attai’s Arabic has been transliterated حسد and translated إحسان by him.
  2. Judgement, mishpat משפט, which in Hussein Attai’s Arabic has been trasnliterated شفط and translated الحكم by him.
  3. Righteousness, tsedakah, צדקה, which in Hussein Attai’s Arabic has been trasnliterated صدقة and translated العدالة by him.

I may have the order wrong…

These three words are attributed to God in the Torah, but, according to Maimonides, only as ‘attributes of action’, not as essential attributes. Thus God is kind (Exodus 34:6) , he is righteous (Deuteronomy 32:4), and he acts with justice (Genesis 18:25).