several years, though he paid occasional visits to Babylonia and to his
native land. These journeys helped to unify the scattered Karaite
communities. Besides his Biblical works, Salman composed a poetical
treatise against the Rabbinite theories. To this book, which was written
in Hebrew, Salman gave the title, "The Wars of the Lord."

Sahal, the son of Mazliach, on the other hand, was a native of the Holy
Land, and though an eager polemical writer against the Rabbinites, he
bore a smaller part than Salman in the practical development of Karaism.
His "Hebrew Grammar" (_Sefer Dikduk_) and his Lexicon (_Leshon
Limmudim_) were very popular. Unlike the work of other Karaites, Joseph
al-Bazir's writings were philosophical, and had no philological value.
He was an adherent of the Mohammedan theological method known as the
Kalam, and wrote mostly in Arabic. Another Karaite of the same period,
Hassan, the son of Mashiach, was the one who impelled Saadiah to throw
off all reserves and enter the lists as a champion of Rabbinism. Of the
remaining Karaites of the tenth century, the foremost was Japhet, the
son of Ali, whose commentaries on the Bible represent the highest
achievements of Karaism. A large Hebrew dictionary (_Iggaron_), by a
contemporary of Japhet named David, the son of Abraham, is also a work
which was often quoted. Kirkisani, also a tenth century Karaite,
completed in the year 937 a treatise called, "The Book of Lights and the
High Beacons." In this work much valuable information is supplied as to
the history of Karaism. Despite his natural prejudices in favor of his
own sect, Kirkisani is a faithful historian, as frank regarding the
internal dissensions of the Karaites as in depicting the divergence of
views among the Rabbinites. Kirkisani's work is thus of the greatest
importance for the history of Jewish sects.

Finally, the famous Karaite Judah Hadassi (1075-1160) was a young man