By contrast, Rabbinic Judaism relies on the legal rulings of the Sanhedrin as they are codified in the Midrash, Talmud, and other sources to indicate the authentic meaning of the Torah.

According to Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud, in his Sefer ha-Qabbalah (written c. 1160), the Karaite movement crystallized in Baghdad in the Gaonic period (c. 7th–9th centuries) under the Abbasid Caliphate in present-day Iraq.

The other party tried to establish a law built on their own conception, but failed, till Simon b. Shētaḥ returned with his disciples from Alexandria, and restored tradition to its former condition.

[20]Abraham Geiger, a 19th-century German scholar who founded Reform Judaism, posited a connection between the Karaites and a remnant of the Sadducees, the 1st-century Jewish sect that followed the Hebrew Bible literally and rejected the Pharisees' notion of an Oral Torah even before it was written.

Leon Nemoy[27] notes, "Natronai, scarcely ninety years after ‘Anan's secession, tells us nothing about his aristocratic (Davidic) descent or about the contest for the office of exilarch which allegedly served as the immediate cause of his apostasy.

[citation needed] He was sentenced to death, but his life was saved by his fellow prisoner, Abu Hanifa, the founder of the madhhab or school of fiqh (Muslim jurisprudence) known as the Hanafi.

Yudghan was a follower of Abū ʻĪsā al-Iṣfahānī and claimed to be a prophet and the Messiah, saying that the observance of Shabbat and Holy Days was no longer obligatory.

In the "Golden Age of Karaism" (900–1100) a large number of Karaite works were produced in all parts of the Muslim world, the most notable being a work penned by Jacob Qirqisani, entitled Kitāb al-Anwār wal-Marāqib ("Code of Karaite Law"), which provides valuable information concerning the development of Karaism and throws light also on many questions in Rabbinic Judaism.

[citation needed] According to historian Salo Wittmayer Baron, at one time as much as 10 percent of world Jewry was affiliated with Karaism, and debates between Rabbinic and Karaite leaders were not uncommon.

[31] According to David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, in one day in Egypt, a great congregation of Karaites became Rabbinical Jews during the time of the Nagid Rabbi Abraham Maimonides, who, in his words, "was not reluctant to receive them.

[citation needed] He also recognized both Jesus and Muhammad as prophets (in order to appease both the Tsarist Russian Orthodox government and the Muslim Turkic peoples).

Some Hachamim and a small part of the general Karaite population still preserved their Jewish heritage, but most[citation needed] dared not oppose Shapshal openly due to his official standing with regard to the Soviet Union.

The progressives, of which noted writer and intellectual Murat Faraj Lisha‘ was at the forefront, called for a more liberal interpretation of Halakha, along with societal reforms and greater solidarity with Rabbanites.

The traditionalists were led by Chief Hakham Tubiah ben Simhah Levi Babovich, and called not only for a more obdurate interpretation, but for greater separatism from both Rabbanites and Zionism.

[41] Following the United Arab Republic's participation in the Six-Day War, Jewish men in Egypt were placed in short term detention, before being expelled from the country.

[41] The oldest Karaite articles of faith were formulated by the 12th century scholar and liturgist Judah ben Elijah Hadassi in his Eshkol ha-Kofer: (1) God is the Creator of all created beings; (2) He is premundane and has no peer or associate; (3) the whole universe is created; (4) God called Moses and the other Prophets of the Biblical canon; (5) the Law of Moses alone is true; (6) to know the language of the Bible is a religious duty; (7) the Temple at Jerusalem is the palace of the world's Ruler; (8) belief in Resurrection contemporaneous with the advent of the Messiah; (9) final judgment; (10) retribution.Karaite Jews do not object to the idea of a body of interpretation of the Torah, along with extensions and development of non-rabbinic halakha (Jewish law) that strives to adhere to the Tanakh's straightforward meaning.

They have a differing interpretation of the Torah verse, "You shall not [burn] (Hebrew: bi‘er the pi‘el form of ba‘ar) a fire in any of your dwellings on the day of Shabbat."

Accordingly, the mainstream in Karaite Judaism takes the passage to mean that fire should not be left burning in a Jewish home on Shabbat, regardless of whether it was lit prior to, or during the Sabbath.

A Tzitzit (alternatively spelled Ṣiṣit, plural: Tzitziyot or Ṣiṣiyot) is a knotted or braided tassel worn by observant Jews (both Karaite and Rabbinic) on each of the four corners of what is often an outer garment or their Tallit.

In both Deuteronomy 23:3, and Zechariah 9:6, the Hebrew word mamzer is referenced alongside the nations of Ammon and Moab (in Deut 23:3), and the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod (in Zech 9:5–6).

In early 20th century Harbin, after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, a local Karaite community begin to accept gentile converts after they were inspired by the dubious claim of a mass Khazar conversion to Karaism.

The cataloguing efforts of scholars at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in the United States and England is continuing to yield new insights into Karaite literature and thought.

The holiday's basic menu typically features roasted meat prepared on the grill, a salad of bitter herbs using chicory leaves enhanced with lemon juice and zest, and homemade crispy flatbreads.

[This quote needs a citation] Maimonides, by accepting the views of ben Asher in regard to open and closed sections, helped establish and spread his authority.

"[71] Moshe Marzouk, one of the Egyptian Jews executed in 1954 for planting bombs in Cairo in the service of Israeli Military Intelligence (the Lavon Affair) was a Karaite.

The decisions made by this High Court must be upheld, per se the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 17), this gives their legal rulings divine authority.

Karaites reject the authority of this Sanhedrin that developed during the second Temple period partly because it was an admixture of different people and not just priests and levites as mandated by the Torah.

Secondly, Rabbinic Judaism points to the innumerable examples of biblical commandments that are either too ambiguous or documented in such a concise fashion that proper adherence could not be enforced on a national scale without the further legislation provided by the Talmud.

point out that the Torah could never be enforced as a national law, as it was during the time of Joshua, King David, and Ezra, if every individual Jew had their own opinion on how to observe its commandments.

Two Sephardi chief rabbis, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron[80] and Ovadia Yosef[81] encouraged such marriages, hoping it would help Karaites to assimilate into mainstream Judaism.