Yefet claims full freedom for the exegete, refusing to admit any authority for the interpretation of the
Torah; and, although he sometimes uses the
thirteen hermeneutic rules laid down in the
Mishnah, he denies their authority: they are to be applied, he claims, only when it is not possible to explain the passage literally. Thus, notwithstanding his veneration for
Anan ben David, the founder of Karaism, and for
Benjamin Nahawandi, he often rejects their interpretations.), though he never acknowledges it as a source, and he quotes Talmudic teachings frequently, likewise without attribution. In his style and idioms also he bears a deep debt to Talmudic writings, and his interpretations are very often borrowed from the exegetical works of
Saadia Gaon or the doctrines of
Mutazilism. Yefet was an adversary of the philosophico-
allegorical treatment of scripture. He, however, symbolizes several
Biblical narrations, as, for instance, that of the
burning bush, in which he finds a representation of
Jews, whom enemies can not annihilate; and he admits that the
Song of Songs is an
allegory. Yefet attacked
Islam with the greatest violence. For him the words of
Isaiah, "Ha, you ravager" (
Book of Isaiah 33:1), refer to
Muhammad, who robbed all nations and dealt treacherously with his own people, and Isaiah 47:9 ("Suddenly, in one day: / Loss of children and widowhood / Shall come upon you in full measure") to the downfall of Islam. In the following verse, he sees an allusion to the
sufferings inflicted by Muslim rulers on the Jews, who are loaded with
heavy taxes,
compelled to wear badges, forbidden to ride on horseback, etc. Yefet was no less bitter in his attacks on
Christianity and on
rabbinic Judaism, to which he refers many prophecies. Unlike his predecessors, he was not an opponent of secular science. To him the word "
da'at" (Proverbs 1:7) denotes "the knowledge" of astronomy, medicine, mathematics, etc., the study of which is to be undertaken before that of
theology. == Influence ==