What did Rambam or Maimonedes in Judaism teach about demons?

Question

I have read that he both said that they do not exist literally and that they do exist but he banished them to the desert and abandoned places. Which is true?

Also did Rambam or Maimonedes have supernatural powers?

How could he banish demons (if he did)?

Answer 1

Rambam was a rationalist and rejected quite a bit of the supernatural and miraculous that was commonly put forth as part of Judaism. That said, in Moreh Nevuchim (The Guide for the Perplexed) he addresses the issue of demons as discussed in a few places in the Talmud.

In the Talmud, Shedim are referred to a few times- generally as the weakest of the supernatural forces and sharing many characteristics with man. They have no free will and act as forces of chaos and destruction as dictated by God- they have no free will, but their range of actions is generally wider than the more powerful angels etc. The Talmud talks of how the shedim are found in ruins and isolated areas.

When they say Rambam banished them to deserted areas it is a figurative mode of speech, he just emphasised their nature and took it our of the context of Islamic and Christian ideas where demons are all around attempting to continuously interfere with our lives- at that time a lot of communties were picking up philosophy and supernatural ideas from the the Chrisitan and Muslim communities. The whole purpose Rambam gave for writing Moreh Nevuchim was to correct these ideas that were coming into Judaism by putting the Jewish point of view across. it was a highly controversial work since he directly quoted and taught Kabalistic concepts and it was very nearly put into cherem- the Ramban (Nachmanides) in a Din Torah stated that the purpose behind the work was pure and it was necessary- but should only be studied in areas where the ideas from other religions were infiltrating into Judaism (in other words- anywhere in the world today...)

As a rationalist- Rambam did not support most kaballistic ideas and he actually saw the ideas of shedim etc in a more rationalistic light, preempting the modern ideas of possession being a psychological rather than supernatural ocurrance.

As to whether he had supernatural powers or not- it is always debateable how much in the way of supernatural powers any master of the Kaballah has. We really have no idea since it has been centuries since we have had someone with the full knowledge of the Kaballah (Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal) stated that the last person who had full knowledge of all the secrets of the Kaballah was the Ramban and knowledge has been lost since his time.)