Looking at Abraham ibn Daud’s summary of the career of Samuel ha-Nagid, it seems that religion identity is far more significant than religious belief or practice on its own. Religious identity signified a person’s background and the community to which they hold attachments. In Samuel ibn Naghrela’s case, this can be seen when ibn al-‘Arif asks who wrote letters from his household, and he is told that they were written by “A certain Jew of the community of Cordoba.” Religious identity here is a way of recognizing the community which Samuel came from, more than a statement on his morals, beliefs, or practices. When Samuel rose to the position of nagid, he invested in his religious community across the Mediterranean. It is in this position of power that his religion is most strongly portrayed in this passage from Sefer ha-Qabbalah. Before this, ibn Daud mainly focuses on Samuel’s rise to political power, in which his identity as a Jew is just a statement on his background. Once he is in power, however, ibn Daud records his contributions to the religious education and activities of his coreligionists. Ibn Daud mentions that Samuel had earned “the crown of Torah” among others, implying that Samuel had invested just as heavily in his own religious education as in that of other students.
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