Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World

Get access

Levi (Abū Saʿīd) ben Japheth
(881 words)

Levi ha-Levi ben Japheth (Yefet), also known as Abū Saʿīd, flourished in the first half of the eleventh century. He was the younger of the two known sons of Japheth ben Eli , the Karaite Bible exegete par excellence (his brother being ʿAlī Saʿīd, or Saʿadya, ha-Levi). Like his father, Levi apparently resided in Jerusalem, where, according to Ibn al-Hītī , he counted Jeshua ben Judah (Abū ’l-Faraj Furqān ibn Asad) among his pupils. Later Karaite writers sometimes incorrectly refer to Levi as Saʿīd (not Abū Saʿīd) or Saʿadya, or even Abū Hāshim, in the last ins…

Cite this page
Michael G. Wechsler, “Levi (Abū Saʿīd) ben Japheth”, in: Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_SIM_0013600>
First published online: 2010
First print edition: ISBN: 978900417678, 3252



▲   Back to top   ▲