Rambam and Interpreting Bereishit as Allegorical

Question

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin makes the following statement in his Sept. 27th, 2013 commentary on Bereishit in the Jerusalem Post:

Furthermore, Maimonides, in his Guide for the Perplexed, interprets all of the early biblical stories until the advent of Abraham as allegories, whose purpose is to convey moral lessons rather than historical fact.

Does this mean that Rambam didn't believe that anything up until the time of Abraham was literally true?

Is this a reasonable interpretation of Rambam's position as set out in the Guide?

Answer 1

This is not an accurate presentation of the Rambam. While the Rambam does not accept a literal reading of the creation story (as cited here, and see here), nowhere does he extend this to "all of the early biblical stories until the advent of Abraham." For example, the Rambam was criticized for his view (Moreh Nevukhim 2:47) that only the people mentioned in the Torah had such long lives, not the others of the generation. If all is allegorical, there is no reason for him to have said this. See also Moreh Nevukhim 1:29 and especially 3:50, where the Rambam discusses the story of the flood, and of the Tower of Babel.

Answer 2

There are parts of Genesis prior to Abraham that Rambam does not interpret as allegories.

The most explicit example occurs in Guide for the Perplexed 3:50 where he makes it pretty clear that an actual person Adam existed and was created as the first man:

It is one of the fundamental principles of the Law that the Universe has been created ex nihilo, and that of the human race, one individual being, Adam, was created. (Friedlander translation)