Ya'qub al-Qirqisani's Kitab al-Anwar wal-Maraqib, conventionally dated to 937, a scholarly convention rather than a date the manuscript itself carries, is a primary Karaite text in Arabic with no modern publisher of its own. Its strength is that its opening treatise is a primary Karaite argument against the authority of the rabbis and the oral tradition they transmit, in the words of one of the movement's own leading medieval thinkers. Its limit is the ordinary one for a polemical primary source: it argues one side of a live medieval dispute, not a neutral account of the sects it describes, and Leon Nemoy's later edition and translation is what makes parts of it accessible in English.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier3
Ya'qub al-Qirqisani's own primary Karaite polemical text with no modern publisher of record, one side's own argument in a live medieval dispute rather than a neutral or independently edited account, hence the tradition's-own-account tier. NotesA Karaite work in Arabic whose opening treatise surveys the Jewish sects and argues the Karaite case against the authority of the rabbis and of the oral tradition they transmit. Conventionally dated to 937, which is a scholarly convention rather than a date the manuscript carries. Leon Nemoy edited the Arabic text and translated parts of it in his Karaite Anthology.
Citation
AuthorYa'qub al-Qirqisani
Publication Year937
Source Typeprimary-text
Claims Backed By This Source (25 claims)
This source backs 25 claims across the atlas. As facts: 18 well-attested. As cited relationships: 2 holds, 1 rejected Here. Plus 4 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Literary Works, 9 claims: 6 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 8 claims: 6 well-attested, 2 general references.
- Sources, 6 claims: 6 well-attested.
- Denominations, 2 claims: 1 rejected Here, 1 general references.
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