Page "Jewish philosophy" Paragraph 14

Karaites were the first Jewish Sect to subject Judaism to Mu ' tazilah.

Rejecting Talmud and Rabbinic tradition, Karaites took liberty to reinterpret Tanach as they saw fit.

This meant abandoning foundational Jewish belief structures.

Some scholars suggest that the major impetus for the formation of Karaism was a reaction to the rapid rise of Shi ' a Islam, which recognized Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith, but claimed that it detracted from monotheism by deferring to Rabbinic authority.

Karaites absorbed certain aspects of Jewish sects such as Isawites ( Shi ' ism ), Malikites ( Sunnis ) and Yudghanites ( Sufis ), who were influenced by East-Islamic scholarship yet deferred to Ash ' ari when contemplating the sciences.