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51 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

51

Mohammed there lived in Medina the poets Al-Rabi ibn Abi al-Hukaik, Ka'ab ibn Asad,

time of

Asma

(a woman), Ka'ab ibn al-Ashraf (assassinated by order of Mohammed), Al-Sammak, Aus of Kuraiza, Abu al-Diyal, Shuraih, Jabal ibn Jauwal, and finally Marhab of Khaibar. Toward the end of Mohammed's career the convert Al-Hnsain, who assumed the name Abd Allah ibn Salam, wrote homilies and sacred legends drawn from Jewish sources, thus furnishing the first elements of the " Hadith " (Moslem tradition). He was followed by Yamin ibn Yamin (Benjamin), Ka'ab ibn Ahbar, and Walib ibn Munabbikh (the last two hailing from Yemen), all Of other literary proof them converts to Islam. ductions by Arab Jews in this early epoch there is no record, except of the so-called "Kitab al-Ashma'at," mentioned by an anonymous author of the ninth century. This work, which Sprenger (" Leben und Lehre Mohammed, " i. 49) believes to have been an ancient book of revelation, was not an Arabic work, but was probably only a compendium of rabbinical discussions, which its author naturally styled

Shema'ata. " Abd Allah ibn Saba, who is supposed have been a Jew, was the first to ascribe divine honors to the calif Ali. He founded the Shiite sect of the Sabaiyya. This ends the first period, a special feature of which is that all its literary productions have been transmitted through Mohammedan channels (see Delitzsch, "Jild. Arabische Poesien aus Mohamm. Zeit," 1874; Noldeke, "Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Poesie der Alten Araber," pp. 52-86; Hirschfeld, "Essai sur l'Histoire des Juifs de Medine," in "Revue Etudes Juives," vii. 167-193, x. "

to

10-31).

2.

Karaites



It

was

in the second period that

Arabic began to be used as a

scientific

language.

employ it for theological works were the Karaites. The founder and oldest teacher of this sect, indeed, still employed the rabbinic dialect but later on, when the gulf between the Karaites and the Rabbinites widened, the former employed Arabic, not merely on account of the spread of that

The

first

to

language, but apparently out of spite to the Rabbinites, whom they wished to prevent from reading their books. It was evidently for the same reason that the Karaites afterward employed Arabic characters for Hebrew quotations and translations. There is not much variety in the Arabic writings of the Karaites, as they nearly all have the same tendency, and were composed in defense of narrow The branches chiefly dealt with religious views. are Biblical Exegesis, Halakah and Theology, Polemics against Rabbinites, and Linguistics. There is, however, still so much uncertainty as to many details, that final results can not in many cases be obtained till further researches shall have been made among the manuscripts in the various public libraries. With the beginning of the tenth century Karaite The struggle literature enters its fullest period.

no doubt largely Apogee of responsible for the growth of Arabic works among llabbinite Jews. There Karaite Literature, was hardly one prominent Karaite writer of this period who did not attack Saadia. The first claiming mention is Sulaiman ibn Ruhaim (Salomon b. Jeroham), who

was reciprocal, and

is

Arabic Language Among- Jews Arabic Literature of the Jews

wrote commentaries on the Psalms, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes (MSS. British Museum, 2515-17, 2520; Hirschfeld, "Arab. Chrestom." pp. 103-109). Next to him must be mentioned Yusuf Kirkisani, whose "Kitab al-Anwar we al-Manakib" (D'H'IXn'D) forms an introduction to his commentary on the Pentateuch (Bacher, "Jew. Quart. Rev." vii. 687710; Harkavy, "Mem. Russ. Arch. Soc. Sect. Orient." viii. 247-381; Poznanski, in Steinschneider, "Festschrift," pp. 195-218; idem, "Semitic Studies in Memory of A. Kohut," pp. 435-456; Hirschfeld, ib. pp. 116-121). The most fertile of all, however, is Jefeth ibn 'Ali ha-Levi (Hasan al-Basri) (Commentary on Daniel, ed. D. S. Margoliouth, Oxford, 1891). Besides his "Sefer ha-Mizwot," he wrote commentaries on all the Biblical books, and paid more attention to linguistic questions than his contemporaries. His son Levi (Abu Sa'id) commented on the Pentateuch and on Joshua, and composed a compendium of the " Agron " (dictionary) by David ben Abraham David b. Boaz (993) wrote commentaries of Fez. on the Pentateuch and on Ecclesiastes, and also a "Kitab al-TJsul." The beginning of the eleventh century is marked by Yusuf al-Basir (Ha-Ro'eh), who wrote several works on theology and halakah: for example, " Al Muhtawi" (The Comprehensive One), several responsa, the "Kitab al-Istibsar," on the law of inheritance, of which some fragments are still extant, and the "Kitab al-Isti'ana," of philosophic character (see P. F. Frankl, "EinMu'tazilit. Kalam," in"Sitzungsber. der Wiener Acad." 1872, pp. 169 et seq.). About 1026 Abu al-Faraj Harun ibn al-Faraj completed his grammatical work " Al-Mushtamil " (Poznanski, "Rev. Et. Juives," xxxiii. 24-39). He was also the author of a commentary on the Pentateuch. Ali

b.

Sulaiman, of the twelfth century,

left,

be-

an exegetical work on the Pentateuch, an igron based on that of the above-named David ben Abraham. Karaite literature, after its deKaraite cay in Asia, found a new home, in the Literature thirteenth century, in Egypt but its productions were inferior to those of in sides



the preceding epoch. Israel b. Samuel ha-Dayyan of Maghreb composed a treatise on " Six Articles of Creed," another on the ritual slaughter of animals, and, finall3r a " Sefer work similar to the last-named was ha-Mizwot." written by his pupil, the physician Jefeth ibn Saghir (Al-Hakim al-Safi); and another is known as the

Egypt.

,

A

Siddur of Al-Fadhil " (Isaiah Cohen ben Uzziyahu) (Steinschneider, "Cat. Berlin," ii. 48; other ritual works, MSS. Brit. Mus. Or., 2531-32, 2536). Judah ben Meir (also called Al-Hakim al-Thafi) wrote a "

commentary on Esther. Among commentators on the Pentateuch mention should be made of AlMu'allim Abu Ali (Sahl ben Mazliah al-Imam), Abu al Sari, Abu al-Faraj -Furkan, and Al-Mukaddasi.

of the fourteenth centhe physician Samuel of Maghreb, whose " chief work was " Al-Murshid (The Guide). Besides In this, he wrote prolegomena to the Pentateuch. 1415 Elijah ha-Dayyan wrote a work on the calen-

The most important author

tury

is

dar rules, of which a Hebrew translation exists in An important " Chronicle of KaraSt. Petersburg.