confiscated; and his three brothers had to flee. Moses was married and had many children, but later on he also fled because of some threat to his life, leaving his family behind and spending the rest of his life in the Christian north. Judaeo-Arabic Literature The 11th and 12th centuries were an important time for Judaeo-Arabic poetry and literature. Jewish-Arabic speaking poets such as Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya and Moses Ibn Ezra differed very little in their writings from contemporary Arab poets. Their poetry included passages borrowed from the Bible and Qur'an as well as allusions to both works. After the foundation and consolidation of the Muslim Empire, the Arabic language and the related culture were only slowly adopted among the Jewish population of the dār al-Islām; it was not seen before the second half of the 3rd century of the Hij̲ra, and only became of real importance from the fourth to tenth centuries. Many Jewish intellectuals during this time evidenced feelings of guilt over using Arabic in their writing instead of Hebrew. The use of Arabic in poetry, secular as well as religious, remains the exception during the Middle Ages. Although Arabic was used in prose works by Jews and Muslims alike, intellectuals and poets who wrote in Judaeo-Arabic were in the minority at the time. Writings Ibn Ezra was a distinguished philosopher, an able linguist, and a powerful poet. His "Arugat ha-Bosem" is divided into seven chapters: (i.) general remarks on God, man, and philosophy; (ii.) the unity of God; (iii.) the inadmissibility of applying attributes to God; (iv.) the impropriety of giving names to God; (v.) motion; (vi.) nature; (vii.) the intellect. The authorities quoted in this work are Hermes (identified by Ibn Ezra with Enoch), Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, pseudo-Empedocles, Alfarabi, Saadia Gaon, and Solomon ibn Gabirol. Moses Ibn Ezra and Maimonides: Definition of Metaphor It is well documented that Moses Ibn Ezra and the prominent philosopher Moses ben Maimon - Maimonides - had different opinions as to what represented a metaphor. Both philosophers had a huge impact on the use of metaphors in literary texts. Within the Kitab, Ibn Ezra attempted to use both Arabic and Hebrew forms of metaphor with passages taken from both the Qur'an and Bible. Ibn Ezra was quite critical of earlier authors who used metaphor only to exaggerate or substituted metaphor for precise literal language. Ibn Ezra's definition of metaphor revolves