The name of Karaim determines the Karaim religion which acknowledges only the authority of reading, as well as the ethnical origin of Karaims,
The Karaim religion arose in the beginnings of the 8th century in the Eastern province of the Muslim califate in Iraq. The first Karaim legislator and teacher was Anan ben Dawid of Basra. His famous dictum said: "Thoroughly search Scriptures and do not rely on my opinion".
Favourable background of Islam increased the number of his followers. Originally they were called Ananites; this has been certified by mediaeval Arabic sources. The new theory was codified and conceptualised. Gradually, it gained the form of ordinary religion, attracting to the new faith people of different nationalities.
Only some centuries after Anan they assumed the name "Karaims". This denomination explains the substance of their creed.
The word Karaim is derived from the Hebrew-Aramaic stem kara "to read" and it denominates believers of the Law who in religious matters acknowledge but one authority, that of "Reading", i.e. of the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament, without any additions, A most important feature of Karaims as believers in the Holy Scripture who do not acknowledge either oral traditions or written commentaries, has been emphasized in this way. Karaim scholars in the very beginning of their doctrine underline with full weight the words of Pentateuch where the perfection and completeness of Biblical learning has been so clearly defined. "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy IV, 2).
So Karaims do not allow any additions or commentaries to the Holy Scripture. The adoption of such commentaries would mean, according to Karaim scholars, that the Holy Scripture is judged to be imperfect, incomplete, while its language is co clear and transparent that in itself it furnishes the explanation of every command. This language ought to be studied, for it is the most perfect key to the proper understanding of the Law. Therefore Karaim scholars very early began to study Hebrew philology. They also made the first grammars and dictionaries of the Hebrew language.
As a result of these investigations and philological studies the Karaim religion has been based wholly on the free interpretation of the Holy Scripture, without any impediment, that is to say without authoritative commentaries. It allows a perfectly free investigation.
The whole Bibie was translated into Karaim, in all probability not later than in the 10th century, and one generation has passed on this translation to another in unaltered form. The Holy Scripture is read in the Karaim temple kenessa in the Karaim language, the original Hebrew text being taken as basis.
Karaim scholars have set out, in accordance with the doctrine of the Law, ten articles of the Karaim creed.
1) God (Tenri Jaratuwczu) has made from nothingness; the sky, the earth and all that is there.
2) The Creator is without beginning or end. He is the First and the Last, He was, He is and He shall be (Oł burunhu, da Oł sondrahy, edi, bardyr da bołur).
3) God Almighty has no equal, He is ultimately the Only One and there is no Unity like His Unity, and He is not embodied and has no bodily character.
4) God the Highest inspired Moses the Teacher with prophetic spirit and sent him, and he is the head of all the prophets.
5) God the Highest sent through His servant Moses the Teacher His Holy Law, which is now with us.
6) Every true Karaim believer ought to know the Holy Bible of God the Highest to understand His Law.
7) God the Highest inspired with the prophetic spirit also every prophet following Moses the Teacher and He destined them to prophesize and admonish their people.
8) The resurrection of the dead shall come when such is the Will of the Highest Creator.
9) God the Highest judges inert justly and He gives every one according to his merits.
10) Messiah shall come to the world, he shall be of the house of the King David and he shall renovate the Temple in the Holy City.
The Law of the Bible gave the basis for the Karaim religion. As has been said in the Holy Scripture: "These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which Jehovah made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by Moses" (Leviticus XXVI, 46), Besides the Pentateuch with its most important integral part, the Ten Commandments acknowledged by all Humanity, the Karaims especially esteem the books of two greatest prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah and the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms, i.e. of Hymns or God's praises consists of 150 psalms. They provide a considerable part of the Karaim divine service, just as in the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian religions.
For religious purposes and in the Church service the Karaims use a special calendar, based on the calculations of the phases of the moon. As we know, the lunar months differ from those of the everyday calendar, since they count on the average 29 days (sometimes 30), and thence the lunar year is shorter than the solar by about eleven days. To equalise the difference which after 32 years may amount to a whole year, according to a certain succession during a 19-years cycle, the so-called meton - a thirteenth month is added in leap years every two or three years. The lunar cycle meton = 235 lunar months - 6939 days = 19 solar years.
The lunar month begins with the new moon, the calculations being made not astronomically, as is wont in other religions, but by observing the new moon with the naked eye as in the Muslim religion. Thence the Karaim new moon falls frequently one and even two days earlier than the astronomical one.
This principle of observation of the appearance of the new moon by Karaims (Ananites) has been mentioned as early as in The Chronology of Ancient Nations of Alberuni: "The Ananites fix the beginning of the months by the observation of the appearance of new moon, and settle intercalation by that sort of prognostication which we have mentioned."
The religious year begins with N i s a n, about which the Holy Scripture says: "This month shall be unto you the beginning or" months: it shall be the first year of the year to you" (Exodus XII, 2). Therefore the Karaims New Year is celebrated on the 1st of Nisan. It always falls to the beginning of spring (March - April).
Besides the biblical denominations, of Aramaic - Syriac origin (see The Chronology of Ancient Nations of Alberuni) the Karaims have their genuine months denominations, of Koman - Kipchak origin:
| 1. | Artarych-aj | "lean (month)" | March-April |
| 2. | Kurał-aj | "roe-deer month" | April-May |
| 3. | Baszkuschan-aj | "ripening of corn" | May-June |
| 4. | Jaz-aj | "summer month" | June-July |
| 5. | UÅ‚ah-aj | "lamb month" | July-August |
| 6. | Czyryk-aj | "rotten month" | August - September |
| 7. | Ajrychsy-aj | "blessed month" | September- October |
| 8. | Kiuź-aj | "autumn month" | October-November |
| 9. | Sohum-aj | "period of preparing meat" | November-December |
| 10. | Kysz-aj | "winter month" | December- January |
| 11. | Karakysz-aj | "black winter" | January-February |
| 12. | Siuwiuńcz-aj | "month of joy" | February-March |
| 13. | Artych-aj | "additional month" | (in the leap year) |
The chief center of Karaism was transferred by Anan ha-Nasi from his former homeland Iraq to Jerusalem. The Holy Land enshrouded in the glamour of Messianism, the land of prophets and patriarchs, has always attracted the hearts of the believers of mono-theistic religions, Mosaism, Christianity or Islam. In Jerusalem, the Holy City, Anan founded the most ancient Karaim temple or kenessa.
The Karaim religion radiated from Jerusalem in all directions and in the course of the 8th -10th centuries it became widespread in Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia and Asia Minor. The religious influences of Karaism reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean and North Africa e.g. Morocco (Fez).
How widespread was the influence of Karaism in the Middle Ages, both in the Near East and in Africa, can be surmised from Kitab al-anwar wal-maraqib, of al-Kirkisani who mentions a number of Karaims from such places or countries as Baghdad, Basra, al-Djibal, Khorasan, Kufa, al-Furs (Persia), al-Maghreb, ash-Sham (Syria), Tustar, Ukba, etc.
Karaism also penetrated to the wide steppe areas on the Caspian and Black Seas. We meet large groups of population professing the Karaim religion among the halt-settled Turkic "seminomads", such as Khazars, Komans or Polovtsi. In the 14th century the Karaim ancestors came as colonists to the Grand Duke of Lithuania and it is from there that the colonies of the Polish Karaims have descended.
Nowadays, and even taking it more extensively, in the modern era, Karaism does not practice proselytism; thus it does not carry on any missionary activity and does not admit neophytes, Proselytism or converting to the Karaim religion are now in principle not admitted.
