The Okbarites (), also known as the Mishwaites, were a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

sect founded by the 9th-century

heresiarch In Christian theology, a heresiarch (also hæresiarch, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary''; from Greek: , ''hairesiárkhēs'' via the late Latin ''haeresiarcha''Cross and Livingstone, ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' 1974) ...

Meshwi al-Ukbari (). The sect derived its name from the city of Ukbara, near

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, said to have been Meshwi's place of residence.

History

According to

Jacob Qirqisani Jacob Qirqisani (c. 890 – c. 960) ( ''ʾAbū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Qirqisānī'', ''Yaʿaqov ben Yiṣḥaq haQarqesani'') was a Karaite dogmatist and exegete who flourished in the first half of the tenth century. His origins are unknown. His pat ...

, Meshwi al-Ukbari lived after ; his original name was Moses, but it was converted by his adversaries into "Meshwi" ('one whose ideas are confused').

Judah Hadassi Judah ben Elijah Hadassi (in Hebrew, ''Yehuda ben Eliyahu'') was a Karaite Jewish scholar, controversialist, and liturgist who flourished at Constantinople in the middle of the twelfth century. He was known by the nickname "ha-Abel," which signif ...

, on the authority of David ibn Merwan al-Muḳammaṣ, gives the name of the founder of the sect as Moses of

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

, who is probably identical with Meshwi al-Ukbari. §98. From a passage in the ''Oẓar Neḥmad'' of the Karaite ,

Delitzsch Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsach ...

concluded that Meshwi embraced

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

in the later part of his life.

Isaac Broydé Isaac David Broydé (23 February 1867, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire – 15 April 1922, New York City) was an Orientalist and librarian. Life He was born in Porozowo, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus ...

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. There is evidence that a Mishwaite community existed in

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

as late as the mid-12th century.

Beliefs

While no written texts attributed to Meshwi have been discovered, the writings of the group's detractors provide insight into his opinions and teachings. Meshwi differed in many points from both the Karaite and

Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

, especially in the area of calendation. He apparently fixed a solar thirty-day solar month, and ruled that days were to be counted from morning to morning as opposed to sunset to sunset. Presumably because

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

is termed "Sabbath of Sabbaths" in the Tanakh, he affirmed that that holiday must always occur on a

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

, which would make the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

fall on Thursday. He also ordered his followers to turn to the West in praying, instead of in the direction of the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. According to Meshwi, it was not allowable to offer sacrifices in the Temple on Shabbat. Contrary to normative ''

halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

'', Meshwi is said to have allowed his followers to eat traditionally prohibited

animal fat Animal fats are lipids derived from animals which are used by the animal for a multitude of functions, or can be used by humans for dietary, sanitary, and cosmetic purposes. Depending on the temperature of the fat, it can change between a solid s ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meshwi al-'Ukbari' 9th-century Judaism Jewish Iraqi history Jewish religious movements Extinct Jewish sects