When the gaon of Pumbedita died, Aḥa was universally acknowledged to be the fittest man to succeed him.
But a personal grudge entertained by the exilarch Solomon bar Ḥasdai induced the latter to pass over Aḥa, and to appoint Natroi Kahana ben Amuna,[2] Aḥa's underling, a man considerably his inferior in learning and general acquirements.
Angered by this slight, Aḥa left Babylonia and settled in Israel, about 752 or 753, where he remained until his death.
Despite Steinschneider's erroneous assertion[3] that he died in 761, the exact date of his death is unknown.
[1] After R. Shemuel bar Mari there was R. Aḥa of Shabḥa and he was an exceptionally wise man, and who compiled his She'iltot (Inquiries), drawn from the entire commandments mentioned in the Torah.