Talk:Anan ben David/archive

To quote Wikipedia's article on Karaism, "Karaites are often confused with the Ananites, founded by Anan ben David, however it can be seen from the writings of Jacob Al-Kirkisani, and other Karaite Sages, that Anan ben David did not found Karaism." In this article, it claims Anan ben David started Karaism.

Indeed, the author of this article explicitly states that "Anan Ben David is the founder of the Karaite movement." Given that this article opens with an egregious error, it is difficult to credit much of what follows, which has more of the character of a libelous polemic than a scholarly essay. No published references are cited. Legendary accounts are presented without source as if they were unproblematically historical, and highly-colored speculation is treated as if it was established fact. It would be better to expunge this article in its entirety than allow it to remain in its current form. Let us not forget that Karaite Judaism still exists and that living people are being insulted by this tendentious essay.


 * I've fixed that error. There are errors in the rest of the account of Anan Ben-David that I'll have to fix later. I'm a Karaite, and I'm trying to correct this error on other pages. If you know of any others that contain this error, please tell me. I'll take a look over the rest of the article later.

IZAK's Cross-posting
IZAK has been cross-posting the below questions on more pages than I can take the time to post, so I'll simply report it to a moderator. If you'd like to see my responses, please go to User_Talk:Yoshiah_ap

Anan ben David and Karaites as Jews
RE: The Jew page on Wikipedia


 * Who are today's "true" Karaites?

Recently, user User:Yoshiah_ap has been adding material about the Karaites as Jews. Each time I insert material describing the non-Jewish practices of Karaite groups, they are marginalized. IZAK 21:04, 2 May 2004 (UTC)


 * Should I start adding parts about the Zorastarian Practices Rabbinic Judiasm added? You don't know anything about Karaism IZAK, and you're insuation that Karaites venerate Jesus and Muhammad proves it.--Yoshiah ap 15:51, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * Who is User:Yoshiah_ap representing as he needs to have a NPOV about Karaites

JUST WHO ARE THE "KARAITES" that User:Yoshiah_ap is "representing"? IZAK 21:04, 2 May 2004 (UTC)


 * How many "real" Karaites are alive today: Numbers please!

Another problem is that User:Yoshiah_ap is making the Karaites sound like a large group. Just how big is the Karaite movement TODAY? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Or what? IZAK 21:04, 2 May 2004 (UTC)


 * There are about 50,000 Karaites. 10,000 live in Ramla, last I checked.--Yoshiah ap 15:51, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia says:Anan ben David's true role: He praised Islam and Christianity


 * Correction, You say that. --Yoshiah ap 15:51, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Furthermore User:Yoshiah_ap says that it is incorrect to say that Anan ben David is the founder of Karaism, but when it is said that Anan ben David venerated Islam, it is a "lie" and asks for sources.

Well (and I hope that User:Yoshiah_ap will not now dash off and change the Anan ben David page) it says on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anan_ben_David

"Anan Ben David opposed this move, and along with his followers he proclaimed himself the antiexilarch. This step was construed by the Muslim authorities as rebellion against the authority of the calif, who had formally invested Josiah with the position. Such an act on the part of a dhimmi (follower of a religion tolerated by Islam) in a Muslim state was a capital offense.

When Anan's proclamation of himself as exilarch became known, he was arrested by the authorities one Sunday in 767, and thrown into prison, to be executed on the ensuing Friday, as guilty of high treason. Luckily for Anan, he met in jail a prominent fellow-prisoner, the founder of the Muslim casuistic school of the Hanifites, al-Nu'man ibn Thabit, surnamed Abu &#7716;anifah. He gave Ana Ben David advice which saved his life: He should set himself to expound all ambiguous precepts of the Torah in a fashion opposed to the traditional interpretation, and make this principle the foundation of a new religious sect. He must next get his partizans to secure the presence of the calif himself at the trial — his presence not being an unusual thing at the more important prosecutions. Anan was to declare that his religion was quite a different one from that of his brother and of the rabbinical Jews, and that his followers entirely coincided with him in matters of religious doctrine; which was an easy matter for Anan to say, because the majority of them were opposed to the rabbis.

'''Ben David and his friends complied with this advice, and in the presence of the calif Almansur (754-775) Anan defended himself. Moreover, Anan won for himself the favor of the calif by his deep veneration for Muhammad as the prophet of the Arab peoples, and by the declaration that his new religion, in many ways was similar to Islam.'''

Anan now devoted himself to the development of his new religion and its new code. His Sefer ha-Mitzvot ("The Book of the Precepts") was published about 770.

Anan Ben David adopted many principles and opinions of other anti-rabbinic forms of Judaism that had previously existed. He took much from the old Sadducees and Essenes, whose remnants still survived, and whose writings—or at least writings ascribed to them—were still in circulation. Thus, for example, these older sects prohibited the burning of any lights and the leaving of one's dwelling on the Sabbath; they also enjoined the actual observation of the new moon for the appointment of festivals, and the holding of the Pentecost festival always on a Sunday.


 * Have you even read any of the fragments remaining of his book, Sefer HaMitzvot?--Yoshiah ap 15:51, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

From the Isawites and the Yudganites immediately preceding this epoch, he borrowed the recognition and justification of Jesus as the prophet for the followers of Christianity, and of Muhammad for those of Islam; in this way ingratiating himself with professors of those creeds." IZAK 21:04, 2 May 2004 (UTC)


 * Another fairy tale developed hundreds of years after his death, if not 1000 years.--Yoshiah ap 15:51, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

PLAGIARISM ALERT
I have discovered that this article, as originally posted, was plagiarized in its entirety from the Jewish Encyclopedia. See http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1460&letter=A&search=Karaite for the original source.

I Agree. I just checked the page at the link and its virtually a word for word copy of the Jewish Encyclopedia's entry. Besides the plagerism, it might be noted that the source would be have a POV against both the subject of the article (Anan be Dawid) as well as against the Karaites (which predate Anan by at a minimum of a 100 years, refer to the 641 CE proclamation by 'Amr ibn al-'As, governor of Egypt, instructing the Rabbanim from interfering with the Karaites).