IBN MIGAS, JOSEPH:
Spanish Jew of the eleventh century; ancestor of an important family of scholars. Joseph ibn Migas, greatly respected among the Jews of Granada, where he was probably born, became involved in Granada politics when, after the death of Ḥabus, King of Granada (1037), quarrels broke out between his two sons, Badis and Balḳin. The Moorish nobles and the Jews, especially Joseph ibn Migas, Isaac de Leon, and Nehemiah Isḳaffa, took the part of Balḳin, the younger, and desired to elect him king, while the rest of the population sided with Badis, whom they made king in Oct., 1037. Balḳin submitted; but Badis, fearing his brother would regret his submission and seek vengeance, caused him to be killed. Joseph ibn Migas and the other Jewish adherents of Balḳin were compelled to flee. They were, however, kindly received by the King of Seville, an opponent of Badis, and Joseph ibn Migas was employed by him in the public service.
- Abraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Ḳabbalah, in Neubauer, M. J. C. i. 72, 76;
- Grätz, Gesch. vi. 14, 15, 48.
