The Okbarites (Arabic: Al-‘Ukbariyyah), also known as the Mishwaites,[note 1] were a Jewish sect founded by the 9th-century heresiarch Meshwi al-Ukbari (Hebrew: מישויה אלעכברי).
[2] Judah Hadassi, on the authority of David ibn Merwan al-Muḳammaṣ, gives the name of the founder of the sect as Moses of Baalbek, who is probably identical with Meshwi al-Ukbari.
[3] From a passage in the Oẓar Neḥmad of the Karaite Tobias ben Moses [he], Delitzsch concluded that Meshwi embraced Christianity in the later part of his life.
Isaac Broydé disputed this, arguing that the sect likely would not have survived the apostasy of its founder, yet Meshwi still had followers at the time of Qirqisani.
[5] While no written texts attributed to Meshwi have been discovered, the writings of the group's detractors provide insight into his opinions and teachings.