נבואתו של אברהם בהגות הקראית

In the classical period of Karaite thought (until the twelfth century), the patriarch Abraham did not play an important role in Karaite theories of prophecy. In his list of levels of prophecy, Yefet ben Eli (end of the tenth century) hardly mentions Abraham, whom he places on the fourth level of prophecy after Moses, David and Samuel. Later Karaites, however, under the influence of Maimonides, accord the prophecy of Abraham a more central place in their thought. Aaron ben Elijah (d. 1369), referring to Abraham as the head of the believers and as the hidden light, wrote that Abraham recognized the existence of God by means of his intellectual powers and spread the knowledge of God in the world. Abraham's prophecy was on a very high level, descriptions of which can be used as prototypical of the prophetic experience. Other Karaites give similar accounts of Abraham's activities. The prophecy of Abraham can be used, therefore, as a study in Maimonides' influence on Karaite thought and the changes Karaite thought underwent through the centuries.