Jeshua ben Judah

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Jeshua ben Judah (ישועה בן יהודה), also known as Abu al-Faraj Furqan ibn Asad (أبو الفرج فرقان بن أسد), was a Karaite Jewish scholar, exegete, and philosopher who lived in the eleventh-century in the Abbasid Caliphate, in Lower Mesopotamia or in Jerusalem.

He was a pupil of Joseph ben Abraham. Jeshua was considered one of the highest authorities among the Karaites, and he was called "the great teacher" (al-muʿallim).

Like all the Karaite leaders, he was very active propagandist; his public lectures on Karaism attracted many inquirers. Among these was a Rabbinite from Castile named Sidi ibn Ibrahim al-Taras, who, after having accepted the Karaite teachings, returned to his native country, where he organized a powerful propaganda by circulating Jeshua's writings. The greatest service, however, rendered by Jeshua to Karaism was his accomplishment of reforming the laws concerning Jewish views on incest, a reform his teacher had advocated.