Yefet ben Ali (Hebrew: יפת בן עלי הלוי (הבצרי))[1] was perhaps the foremost Karaite commentator on the Bible, during the "Golden Age of Karaism".
These writings influenced the rabbinical sage Abraham ibn Ezra, who quotes Yefet forty-two times in his commentary of the minor prophets.
[4] Unlike his Karaite predecessors in the field of Bible exegesis, Yefet realized the importance of grammar and lexicography for the interpretation of Scripture, although he did not excel in either.
In his style and idioms also he bears a deep debt to Talmudic writings, and his interpretations are very often borrowed from the exegetical works of Saadia Gaon or the doctrines of Mutazilism.
In the following verse, he sees an allusion to the sufferings inflicted by Muslim rulers on the Jews, who are loaded with heavy taxes, compelled to wear badges, forbidden to ride on horseback, etc.
[3] Nearly the whole Arabic text on all the Biblical books is extant in manuscripts in European libraries (Leiden, Oxford, British Museum, London, Paris, Berlin, etc.).
One of his comments about the Rabbanites, writing on his Arabic commentary on Isaiah, Yefet ben Ali digresses as follows: "This section refers to the people of the Diaspora and to the best among them as well.