Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/607

555 — THE JEWLSII EXCYCLOPEDIA

655

the maxim of tliccclibratccl MnlmmnuMliin tlifolojrian just (luoted. Anan imitated this Aiub twulicr still furtlier. Abu Ilanifali was accustomed in certain cases to take the wurdsof the Koran, not in their literal, l)ut in a symbolical sense (Ta'awil); and Anan ad<il)ted the same method with the Hebrew text of Illuslrations of this method are not inthe Bible. frei|iieMtly, indeed, allorded by the Talmud itself. Tlius he interpreted tlie prohibition of plowing on Sabbath (Ex. xxxiv. 21) as applying to marital intercourse; the word "brothers" {<i/iiiii, L)eut. x.v. 5) in connection with the h-vinite marriage he inter-

Hut Anan's indebtedness Hainfah's system was most Built upon suggestively demonstrated in the folAnalogy. lowing. Abu Hanifab's chief importance in the range of .Mohainniedan theology consists mainly in that to the three accepted sources of law in Islam the Koran, the Sunnah (tradition), and the Ijma' (agreement among Moslems) headdeda fourth; namely, ltd (the speculative, individual view), claiming that in cases not provided for in the first three soirees of law, it is permitted to preted as" relatives, to

" etc.

Abu

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the teacher of religion and to the .judge to make his own decision with his own spectilative reason in accordance with analogy (Ki'iis; Hebrew /nkixh itHizinn) with the cases actually provided. with Anan, loo, it is found that the greater number of his innovations are based upon analogy. Bill he distinginshed himself frcpiu bis Mohannnedan model in that he built muiidy, not upon analogy of sulijeet as Abu Hanifah did, but upon analogy of ex-

or

inii/i

Now

pressions, of

words

(the ralibini<-al r/czemli xhnirah),

indeed even upon analogy of single letters; a system which can hardly he considered a step in advance. The earliest sources tell also of another doctrine borrowed by .Vnan from the Mohammedans; namely, the belief in the transmigration of the soul (metempsyThis doctrine, represented in (!reek anchosis). tiqinty especially by

Empedocles and the Pythagohad always been wide spread in India, and was on<'ounlered thi're by a Mohaiiuni'dan sect called the Riiwendites. adopted by them, and in the middle of the eighth century was carried to Babylonia (Irak). reans,

This. loo. was annexed by the Karaite schismatic, and he is said to have written a special work in its defense. In regard to general cliaractcrislics, tliis founder of Karaism, it must l)e confessed, was anything but a reformer in the modern sense of the word; for instead of lightening the minute Prescrip- load of tmdilional law. he increased the sev<'rily of nligious praxis, as tions. will appear from the following. Anan rejected all the admeasurements instituted by the rabbis (itliinrim); anil insti'ad of any permissible minimum for prohibited things which the 'I'alnnul admits, as for iiisiaiice Kliinhim. one part in siMy. or ke ziiit. "the size of an olive." etc. he insisted that even the smallest atom of anything prohibited, min gliiiir with an intinilely large cpiantity of a thing permitli'il. was sullicieiil to render the whole of the lalliT prohibited. In hislaw-book he maintains that as long as Israel is in exile the llesli of domestic animals, with the exception of the deer, is prohibited. The Talmud relates that after the destruction of the Second Temple, cerlnin ascetics /i(';'"»//;'h sought

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(

to |irohibit

employed Joshua

meat and wine because they in

the

Temple

ritual,

anil

lia<l

that

been

Habbi

biMi Hananiah npres,sed the movement. Thi' schismatic .bu Isa, just before Anan's time, hail succeeded in imposing this piece of asceticism upon his followers as a law. Ills example was now followed by Ainin, who in additiou prohibited tho

Anan ben David

birds with the exception The additional abolition by him of the injunction against eating meat and milk together (/«»«/; liehnluli) was thus rendered almost gratuitous. To this limitation of the eating of meat must also he added his regidation concerning the personality of the individual who slays creatures for food; Anan rejected the broad precept of the Talmud that "slaughtering is pennissible to anybody," demanded a certain ilignity for the act, and required from the slaughterer a Rules for complete profes,sion of faith. From Slaughter- this dates the Karaite custom of reeling, ting the articles of the creed preparatory to slaughtering. Finally, nut satisfied with the Talmudic dictum that in the act of slaughtering it is sullicient to cut through two ducts gullet and windpipe Anan reiiuired that in additiou two more aiteiies or veins^ should be .severed. In addition to the legal fast-days appointed by the Bible, Anan, by means of word-analogies and peculiar misinterpretatjon, instituted the following; The seventh day of every month; the 14th and hX of Adar instead of the rabbinical fast of the 13th, including thus the Purim festival; also a seventy-days' fast from the 13th of Nisjin to the 23d of Siwan: including Passover and Pentecost as times of fasting when neither food nor drink coidd be partaken of by day. Circumcision of children, according to Anan, must be performed with the scissors tmly; any other instrument was strictly forbidden under jienalty of death. Other regulations concerning the same ceremony were of a like stringent character, and only h(- upon whom the operation had been performed accurately and with full observance of all these requirements was allowed to act in the capacity of iiiohel (circumciser). The omission of any single detail rendered the operation iusullicient and vain, necessitating its reperformance. An adult (that is. a proselyte) might be circumcised only on the eleventh of the month. day it was forbidden to go outside of one's dwelling on the Sabbath except for purposes of prayer or necessity. Anything that is ordinaRules for rily carried on tiie shoulders, owing to Sabbath, its size or weight, might not be carried around even in a room. . nan's law-book insists that the Sabbath evening Friday) must be passed in darkness: lights kindled in the ilaytinie on Fridav must be extinguished at nightfall, for it is forbidden to pa.ss the Sabbath in a place artificially illuminated. Cooking and baking must be done on Friday, not only for Friday and Saturday, but also for Saturday night, lo forestall any iinjialient longing for the close of the .Sdibalh, Viands already prepared must not be kept warm, rideavened bread (.M .7. Ml) must Jiut eaten cold, be made exclusively of barlev meal, and he that prepares it out of wheaten meal incurs the punishment appointed for those that cat actual leaven (Aiinirti). Nor may this uideavened bread be baked in an oven, but. like the paschal lamb, it must be roasted on the coals. In spite of his pretendedly loliTanI utterances coticerning the founders of Christianity and Islam. . an amplified very considembly the traditional injtmctionsdesigned to keepthe .lews distinct from other nations, particularly in the matter of tho ilielary laws. That till' foundernf Karaism had small respect for science is often shown in his law-book. He forbids the use of medicinesandof medical aiil in general, for it is written, he says," I,<ioil.am thy physician "(Ex. .v. 20); this is held to prohibit drugs and doctors. flesh of

poultry and of

of the pigeon

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all

and turlle-dove.

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