It is at this date that we first hear of a sect called the Karaites.[87] They claim, indeed, a far greater antiquity, insisting on their descent from the ten tribes led captive by Shalmaneser, and putting forward a catalogue of their doctors, in regular succession from the time of Ezra. But it is believed that their first founder was one Ananus, a Babylonian Jew of the race of David, who, together with his son Saul, A.D. 750, entered a public protest against the extent to which tradition had corrupted the written word, and insisted on this latter as the sole rule of faith. We have evidence in the Gospels, of the length to which tradition had run even in our Lord’s day, and how He had, declared that the Pharisees ‘had made the Word of God of none effect’ through it. But after that time the Cabbalist and Masoric Rabbins, who were the successors of the Pharisees, laid greater stress than ever on the importance of tradition; and the completion of the Babylonian Talmud in the sixth century, was, as it were, the keystone of their work. We cannot wonder that men of sense and reverent feeling should be shocked at the wild fables and ridiculous fancies of the Talmudists. It would appear that a strong feeling was widely entertained in secret on the subject; but its first expression was due to the failure of Ananus to obtain the dignity of Prince of the Captivity, for which office he was a candidate. Disgusted at the election of a younger man to the post, Ananus gathered together the remains of the old Sadducean party, or what was so called, and induced them to nominate him as a rival to his successful opponent. Ananus was thrown into prison, but gained the ear of the Caliph sufficiently to obtain his release. He then retired, with his followers, to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, where they established themselves as a separate sect. They still exist, chiefly in Eastern countries, and in parts of Europe, especially the Crimea.[88] Notwithstanding the general prosperity enjoyed by the Jews at this period, there were some reverses. Giaffir, called the Great, is said to have issued an edict requiring Christians and Jews alike to embrace Islamism. Al Wathek also, the successor of Mamun, one of the Abasside Caliphs, residing at Cufa, inflicted heavy fines upon them, partly because they had committed frauds in the management of the finances entrusted to them, and partly because they refused the religion of Mahomet. But the amount of suffering inflicted could not, in either instance, have been great. Motakavel, however, his brother and successor, was still harsher in his dealings with them. He compelled them to wear a leathern girdle, to distinguish them from the Faithful. He prohibited them from using stirrups when they rode on horseback, and afterwards from riding horses at all. A summary of the various badges and marks of degradation imposed on the Jews by European and Asiatic sovereigns would form a curious study.