Anan ben David

Anan Ben David (c. 715 - c. 795) (ענן בן דוד) is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, did not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law (such as the Mishnah) to be authoritative. From the second third of the 7th century and until middle of the 8th, as a result of the tremendous intellectual commotion produced throughout the Western Asia by the swift Early Muslim conquests of the Arabs and the collision of Islam with the older religions and cultures of the world, there arose a large number of religious sects, especially in Persia, Babylonia (Iraq), and Syria. Judaism did not escape this general fomentation; the remnants of Second Temple sects picked up new life and flickered once more before their final extinction, and new sects also arose. "Anan" (which means "Cloud") was never a very common name among Jews, but it is attested in the Bible - the original Anan was one of the Israelites who sealed the covenant after the return from Babylon (). The reasons why this name was bestowed on the 7th century man are not known. Some polemical accounts supply Anan with a typical background story often used of "heretics" - namely, that he was frustrated in a bid for power within the religious community, and as a result broke away to form his own sect. According to these accounts, when, about the year 760, the Jewish exilarch in Babylon (probably Isaac Iskawi) died, two brothers among his nearest kin, probably nephews of his, Anan and Josiah (Hassan), were next in order of succession to the exalted office. Eventually Josiah was elected exilarch by the rabbis of the Babylonian Jewish colleges (the Geonim) and by the notables of the chief Jewish congregations; and the choice was confirmed by the caliph of Baghdad. The story continues that Anan was proclaimed exilarch by his followers - an act construed by the Muslim authorities as rebellion against the authority of the caliph, who had formally invested Josiah with the position.