98 Meira Polliack
taking place (for instance, the time of Abraham). Qirqisānī, like Yefet, takes
pains to distinguish between the words in the story which originate from
the narrator-compiler and the words which originate (as real historical ut-
terances) from the characters and which are merely reported or “told” by
the narrator-compiler.20
In this and in other respects, Qirqisānī attempts to distinguish between
the fi ctive world of the Bible as a book and the nonfi ctive historical world
of the events recounted in it, which were transmitted orally over a certain
period of time. Th ese questions were not only the result of Qirqisānī’s phil-
osophical mind-set or Yefet’s literary astuteness. Th ey are also emblematic
of the newly found literacy among the Jews of the medieval Islamic world.
For, as noted by Stock, the rapprochement between the oral and the written
typical of such an era plays “a decisive role in the organization of expe-
rience. . . . At a more abstract level, philosophers revived the opposition
between what was really taking place when events were described in words
and what was merely thought or said to be taking place.”21
Concluding Remarks
Th e major contribution of the Judaeo-Arabic Karaite exegetes lies in the
transition they brought about toward a new type of understanding which
espoused the in-depth analysis of the Bible’s language (grammar and lexi-
con) and carried it through into new dimensions of discourse analysis, lit-
erary structure, and narrative technique. Th ese had been left largely un-
explored by rabbinic exegesis. Historical sensibilities became an integral
feature of their literary approach. Even though they were capable of apply-
ing varied interpretive modes to the biblical text, including midrashic-like
allegorizing or actualizing (messianic) readings, the Karaites’ rejection of
the sanctity of Oral Law, and of midrashic tradition as a binding reading of
Scripture, and their refocusing on the Bible as a self-contained text fostered
a new path in Jewish Bible interpretation. Th is path echoed wider needs
of a new era of literacy among the Jews of the medieval Islamic world, and
gradually it also found expression in the works of the Rabbanite Judaeo-
Arabic exegetes as well. Th e fl owering of Karaite exegesis depended on the
principle of individual freedom and acquired learning in the investigation
of Scripture and the rejection of received authority. Th ese are known hall-
marks of a literate culture. Th e works of the Judaeo-Arabic Karaite exe-
getes, especially those by Yefet ben ‘Eli, appear to have reached Spain. Th ey