Jacob Qirqisani - Kitab Al-Anwar

Kitab Al-Anwar

Of these two volumes the more important is the former, which not only provides valuable information concerning the development of Karaism, but throws light also on many questions in rabbinical Judaism. It comprises thirteen treatises, each divided into chapters, and the first four treatises form an introduction to the whole work. In the first treatise, of eighteen chapters, Qirqisani gives a comprehensive survey of the development of the Jewish sects, the material for which he drew not only from the works of his predecessors, as David ibn Merwan al-Muqammash, whom he mentions, but also from his personal experiences in the learned circles in which he moved. The enumeration of the sects is given in chronological order, beginning with the Samaritans, and concluding with the sect founded by Daniel al-Qumisi. Qirqisani declares the Rabbinites to be a Jewish sect founded by Jeroboam I, although it did not make its appearance until the time of the Second Temple. Zadok, the founder of the Sadducee sect, in his excursuses against the Rabbinites, revealed part of the truth on religious subjects, while Anan ben David disclosed the whole. However, in spite of Qirqisani's admiration for Anan, he often disagrees with him in the explanation of the precepts.