Saadia Gaon

Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon(882/892 – 942) was aJewishreligious scholar andphilosopher.

He was born in al-Fayyūm,Egypt.When he was 28, he left Egypt and his wife and two sons, and traveled toBabylonia.There, he helped schools in many Jewish communities. After a while, he left Babylonia because he was not happy with the government.

As a religious scholar, he translated theBibleinto Arabic and wrote many commentaries on it. He also wrote the first Hebrewdictionaryandgrammardictionary, and many books onTalmudiclaw. One of his famous books is calledKitāb al-amānāt wa al-iʿtiqādāt( "Book of Beliefs and Convictions" ).

He died at the age of 63, inBaghdad.