This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain

Rabbi Se`adiah ben Yosef Gaon (Arabic – Sa`īd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi), (Born- Egypt 882/892, Died. Baghdad 942), was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period. Saadia translated most, if not all, of the Bible into Arabic, adding an Arabic commentary, although there is no citation from the books of Chronicles.

Saadya’s legacy includes a number of philosophical and theological treatises, 2 Arabic translations of the Bible, a Biblical commentary in Arabic, various rabbinical, mathematical, and grammatical writings, a Hebrew dictionary, liturgical poems and a Jewish prayer book. He is known for his works on Hebrew linguistics, Halakha, and Jewish philosophy. He is one of the more sophisticated practitioners of the philosophical school known as the “Jewish Kalam” In this capacity, his philosophical work Emunoth ve-Deoth represents the first systematic attempt to integrate Jewish theology with components of Greek philosophy. Saadia was also very active in opposition to Karaism, in defense of rabbinic Judaism.

Saadia, in “Sefer ha-Galui”, stresses his Jewish lineage, claiming to belong to the noble family of Shelah, son of Judah (Chronicles 1 4:21), and counting among his ancestors Hanina ben Dosa, the famous ascetic of the first century. Expression was given to this claim by Saadia in calling his son Dosa (this son later served as Gaon of Sura from 1013-1017). Regarding Joseph, Saadia’s father, a statement of Aaron ben Meir has been preserved saying that he was compelled to leave Egypt and died in Jaffa, probably during Saadia’s lengthy residence in the Holy Land. The usual epithet of “Al-Fayyumi” refers to Saadia’s native place, the Fayum in upper Egypt; in Hebrew it is often given as “Pitomi,” derived from a contemporary identification of Fayum with the Biblical Pithom (an identification found in Saadia’s own works).

At a young age he left his home to study under the Torah scholars of Tiberias. At age 20 Saadia completed his first great work, the Hebrew dictionary which he entitled Agron. At 23 he composed a polemic against the followers of Anan ben David, particularly Solomon ben Yeruham, thus beginning the activity which was to prove important in opposition to Karaism, in defense of rabbinic Judaism. In the same year he left Egypt and settled permanently in Canaan.

In 922 a controversy arose concerning the Hebrew calendar, that threatened the entire Jewish community. Since Hillel II (around 359 CE), the calendar had been based on a series of rules (described more fully in Maimonides’ Code) rather than on observation of the moon’s phases. One of these rules required the date of Rosh Hashanah to be postponed if the calculated lunar conjunction occurred at noon or later. Rabbi Aaron ben Meir, the Gaon of the leading Talmudic academy in Israel (then located in Ramle), claimed a tradition according to which the cutoff point was 642/1080 of an hour (approximately 35 minutes) after noon. In that particular year, this change would result in a two-day schism with the major Jewish communities in Babylonia: according to Ben Meir the first day of Passover would be on a Sunday, while according to the generally accepted rule it would be on Tuesday.

Saadia was in Aleppo, on his way from the East, when he learned of Ben Meir’s regulation of the Jewish calendar. Saadia addressed a warning to him, and in Babylon he placed his knowledge and pen at the disposal of the exilarch David ben Zakkai and the scholars of the academy, adding his own letters to those sent by them to the communities of the Diaspora (922). In Babylonia he wrote his “Sefer ha-Mo’adim,” or “Book of Festivals,” in which he refuted the assertions of Ben Meir regarding the calendar, and helped to avert from the Jewish community the perils of schism.

His dispute with Ben Meir was an important factor in the call to Sura which he received in 928. The exilarch David ben Zakkai insisted on appointing him as Gaon (head of the academy), despite the weight of precedent (no foreigner had ever served as Gaon before), and against the advice of the aged Nissim Nahrwani, a Resh Kallah at Sura, who feared a confrontation between the two strong-willed personalities, David and Saadia. (Nissim declared, however, that if David was determined to see Saadia in the position, then he would be ready to become the first of Saadia’s followers.)

Under his leadership, the ancient academy, founded by Rav, entered upon a new period of brilliancy. This renaissance was cut short, though, by a clash between Saadia and David, much as Nissim had predicted. In a probate case Saadia refused to sign a verdict of the exilarch which he thought unjust, although the Gaon of Pumbedita had subscribed to it. When the son of the exilarch threatened Saadia with violence to secure his compliance, and was roughly handled by Saadia’s servant, open war broke out between the exilarch and the gaon. Each excommunicated the other, declaring that he deposed his opponent from office; and David b. Zakkai appointed Joseph b. Jacob as gaon of Sura, while Saadia conferred the exilarchate on David’s brother Hassan (Josiah; 930). Hassan was forced to flee, and died in exile in Khorasan; but the strife which divided Babylonian Judaism continued. Saadia was attacked by the exilarch and by his chief adherent, the young but learned Aaron ibn Sargado (later Gaon of Pumbedita, 943-960), in Hebrew pamphlets, fragments of which show a hatred on the part of the exilarch and his partisans that did not shrink from scandal. Saadia did not fail to reply.

He wrote both in Hebrew and in Arabic a work, now known only from a few fragments, entitled “Sefer ha-Galui” (Arabic title, “Kitab al-Ṭarid”), in which he emphasized with great but justifiable pride the services which he had rendered, especially in his opposition to heresy.

The seven years which Saadia spent in Baghdad did not interrupt his literary activity. His principal philosophical work was completed in 933; and four years later, through Ibn Sargado’s father-in-law, Bishr ben Aaron, the two enemies were reconciled. Saadia was reinstated in his office; but he held it for only five more years. David b. Zakkai died before him (c. 940), being followed a few months later by the exilarch’s son Judah, while David’s young grandson was nobly protected by Saadia as by a father. According to a statement made by Abraham ibn Daud and doubtless derived from Saadia’s son Dosa, Saadia himself died in Babylonia at Sura in 942, at the age of sixty, of “black gall” (melancholia), repeated illnesses having undermined his health.

Saadia Gaon was a pioneer in the fields in which he toiled. The foremost object of his work was the Bible; his importance is due primarily to his establishment of a new school of Biblical exegesis characterized by a rational investigation of the contents of the Bible and a scientific knowledge of the language of the holy text.

Saadia’s Arabic translation of the Bible is of importance for the history of civilization; itself a product of the Arabization of a large portion of Judaism, it served for centuries as a potent factor in the impregnation of the Jewish spirit with Arabic culture, so that, in this respect, it may take its place beside the Greek Bible-translation of antiquity and the German translation of the Pentateuch by Moses Mendelssohn. As a means of popular religious enlightenment, Saadia’s translation presented the Scriptures even to the unlearned in a rational form which aimed at the greatest possible degree of clearness and consistency.

His system of hermeneutics was not limited to the exegesis of individual passages, but treated also each book of the Bible as a whole, and showed the connection of its various portions with one another. The commentary contained, as is stated in the author’s own introduction to his translation of the Pentateuch, not only an exact interpretation of the text, but also a refutation of the cavils which the heretics raised against it. Further, it set forth the bases of the commandments of reason and the characterization of the commandments of revelation; in the case of the former the author appealed to philosophical speculation; of the latter, naturally, to tradition.

The position assigned to Saadia in the oldest list of Hebrew grammarians, which is contained in the introduction to Ibn Ezra’s “Moznayim,” has not been challenged even by the latest historical investigations. Here, too, he was the first; his grammatical work, now lost, gave an inspiration to further studies, which attained their most brilliant and lasting results in Spain, and he created in part the categories and rules along whose lines was developed the grammatical study of the Hebrew language. His dictionary, primitive and merely practical as it was, became the foundation of Hebrew lexicography; and the name “Agron” (literally, “collection”), which he chose and doubtless created, was long used as a designation for Hebrew lexicons, especially by the Karaites. The very categories of rhetoric, as they were found among the Arabs, were first applied by Saadia to the style of the Bible. He was likewise one of the founders of comparative philology, not only through his brief “Book of Seventy Words,” already mentioned, but especially through his explanation of the Hebrew vocabulary by the Arabic, particularly in the case of the favorite translation of Biblical words by Arabic terms having the same sound.

Saadia’s works were the inspiration and basis for later Jewish writers, such as Berachyah in his encyclopedic philosophical work Sefer Hahibbur (The Book of Compilation). In his commentary on the “Sefer Yetzirah” Saadia sought to render lucid and intelligible the content of this esoteric work by the light of philosophy and scientific knowledge, especially by a system of Hebrew phonology which he himself had founded. He did not permit himself in this commentary to be influenced by the theological speculations of the Kalam, which are so important in his main works. In introducing “Sefer Yetzirah”’s theory of creation he makes a distinction between the Biblical account of creation ex nihilo, in which no process of creation is described, and the process described in “Sefer Yetzirah” (matter formed by speech). The cosmogony of “Sefer Yetzirah” is even omitted from the discussion of creation in his magnum opus “Kitab al-Amanat wal-I’tiḳadat.” From this it may be concluded that he regarded the “Sefer Yetzirah” as presenting one among many competing theories of creation, and not as authoritative. Concerning the supposed attribution of the book to the to the patriarch Abraham, he allows that the ideas it contains might be ancient, but that grammatical analysis shows that the text could not predate the Bible. Nonetheless, he clearly considered the work worthy of deep study and echoes of “Sefer Yetzirah”’s cosmogony do appear in “Kitab al-Amanat wal-I’tiḳadat” when Saadia discusses his theory of prophecy.

Amânât wal-i‘tiqâdât (The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs)

Saadya upholds the need for and importance of reason, even in a religious context of revelation and faith, following certain trends in Islamic Mu‘tâzilite, Kalâm theology. The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs lies at the core of Saadya’s main philosophical text, the Kitâb al-Amânât wal-’I‘tiqâdât, or The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs (known in Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s Hebrew translation as Sefer ha-’Emûnôt ve-ha-Deôt). In what follows, we will refer to this text as the Amânât. Saadya begins the Amânât, with a statement of his work’s epistemological purpose: I will begin this book, which it is my intention to write, with an exposition of the reason why men, in their search for Truth, become involved in errors, and how these errors can be removed so that the objects of their investigations may be fully attained; moreover, why some of these errors have such a powerful hold on some people that they affirm them as the truth, deluding themselves that they know something.

Saadya addresses knowledge received from tradition immediately received, but is additionally immediately certain to its recipient(s). “tradition” translates Saadya’s Arabic “al-kabar” (Ibn Tibbon’s Hebrew: haggadah), which literally has the sense of “a report.” It might further be noted that tradition (al-kabar) has its root in the Arabic verb kabara, “to experience,” with the additional sense of “to know,” and even “to know thoroughly.” As such, Saadya’s Arabic notion of tradition carries with a suggestion of reliable knowledge. Therefore, G-d prepared in our minds a place for the acceptance of reliable tradition (al-kabar as-sâdiq) and in our souls a quiet corner for trusting it so that His Scriptures and stories should remain safely with us throughout all generations.

Saadya, explains prophecy is a divinely “created word” heard by the prophet. In Arabic terms, through this idea of hearing, revelation, tradition and prophecy are related. Saadya’s doctrine of prophecy also involves the “created glory”, a kind of visual element of the prophecy, described in particular as the verification for the prophet. It is in seeing the created glory that the prophet knows his prophetic encounter to be true. In Saadya’s Commentary on the Book of Creation (Tafsîr Kitâb al-Mabâdî), we learn more about the created glory in Saadya’s doctrine of a “2nd air.” There, created glory, or the “2nd air,” is described as a prophetic intermediary of some sort between God and man.

Saadya explains that God, in His benevolence, did not see fit to leave mankind to conduct morality on our own; hence God, by revealing these moral ideas to us, He wishes us to lead a religious life by following the religion which He instituted for us. Thus religion contains laws (sharî‘a), prescribed for us and which it is our duty to keep and to fulfill in sincerity. His messengers established these laws by wondrous signs and miracles, and we commenced to keep and fulfill them forthwith. For Saadya, it is only reasonable that God in His kindness reveal to us even those laws which we could, in theory, arrive at on the basis of our own reasoning, for this both expedites as well as ensures our engagement with proper norms for living. Saadya’s analysis of “laws of revelation” includes “laws of reason” in the list of divinely revealed commandments and prohibitions; that the commandments and prohibitions are a divine gift. God gives His followers more opportunity to reap rewards by making even the self-evident norms of moral living matters of divine obedience.

Regarding the question of obedience to God, Saadya in the Amânât chapter 3 provides a reason of why one should follow God and obey His laws. Saadya not only gives reasons for the “laws of revelation” as a class of law in general, but additionally offers explanations for the particulars of individual cases in point of such laws. It was an act designed by God to give humans extra opportunities to serve Him, and, thereby, extra opportunities to increase their rewards and happiness. Saadya’s reasons for specific “laws of revelation” point to the practical benefits of those laws, inclusive of Jewish dietary laws. Saadya explains that, mankind is fundamentally in need of the prophets, not solely on account of the revelational laws, which had to be announced, but also on account of the rational laws, because their practice cannot be complete unless the prophets show us how to perform them.

Saadya’s, authority of the written Bible and the oral law (or, rabbinic tradition) are of equal merit; in particular those Biblical prooftexts employed by Saadya in support of the importance of reasoning, (a) the limitations of reasoning, (b) the need for (and consistency with reason of) revealed Knowledge, and even (c) the need to ground a life of reasoned reflection in a life of revealed tradition.

Saadia translated most, if not all, of the Bible into Arabic, adding an Arabic commentary, although there is no citation from the books of Chronicles. Following is a list of his works;

1. Agron
2. Kutub al-Lughah
3. “Tafsir al-Sab’ina Lafẓah,” a list of seventy (properly ninety) Hebrew (and Aramaic) words which occur in the Hebrew Bible only once or very rarely, and which may be explained from traditional literature, especially from the Neo-Hebraisms of the Mishnah. This small work has been frequently reprinted.
4. Short monographs in which problems of Jewish law are systematically presented. Of these Arabic treatises of Saadia’s little but the titles and extracts is known, and it is only in the “Kitab al-Mawarith” that fragments of any length have survived.
5. A commentary on the thirteen rules of Rabbi Ishmael, preserved only in a Hebrew translation. An Arabic methodology of the Talmud is also mentioned, by Azulai, as a work of Saadia under the title “Kelale ha-Talmud”.
   Responsa. With few exceptions these exist only in Hebrew, some of them having been probably written in that language.
6. The “Siddur”: see Siddur of Saadia Gaon.
   Of this synagogal poetry the most noteworthy portions are the “Azharot” on the 613 commandments, which give the author’s name as “Sa’id b. Joseph”, followed by the title “Alluf,” thus showing that the poems were written before he became gaon.
   Emunoth ve-Deoth (Kitab al-Amanat wal-l’tikadat): This work is considered to be the first systematic attempt to synthesize the Jewish tradition with philosophical teachings. Prior to Saadia, the only other Jew to attempt any such fusion was Philo (1989 Ivry).
7. “Tafsir Kitab al-Mabadi,” an Arabic translation of and commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah, written while its author was still residing in Egypt (or Palestine).
8. Refutations of Karaite authors, always designated by the name “Kitab al-Radd,” or “Book of Refutation.” These three works are known only from scanty references to them in other works; that the third was written after 933 is proved by one of the citations.
9. “Kitab al-Tamyiz” (in Hebrew, “Sefer ha-Hakkarah”), or “Book of Distinction,” composed in 926, and Saadia’s most extensive polemical work. It was still cited in the twelfth century; and a number of passages from it are given in a Biblical commentary of Japheth ha-Levi.
10. There was perhaps a special polemic of Saadia against Ben Zuta, though the data regarding this controversy between is known only from the gaon’s gloss on the Torah.
    A refutation directed against the rationalistic Biblical critic Hiwi al-Balkhi, whose views were rejected by the Karaites themselves;
11. “Kitab al-Shara’i',” or “Book of the Commandments of Religion.”
    “Kitab al-’Ibbur,” or “Book of the Calendar,” likewise apparently containing polemics against Karaite Jews;
    “Sefer ha-Mo’adim,” or “Book of Festivals,” the Hebrew polemic against Ben Meir which has been mentioned above.
12. “Sefer ha-Galui,” also in Hebrew and in the same Biblical style as the “Sefer ha-Mo’adim,” being an apologetic work directed against David b. Zakkai and his followers.