(fl. 8th cent)
Babylonian biblical scholar, founder of the Karaites. When his younger brother was appointed exilarch, he founded his own sect which opposed the talmudic tradition. In his Sepher ha-Mitzvot he argues that the Bible was the sole basis of Judaism. He was strict in his appli-cation of biblical law.
Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Dan Cohn-Sherbok.