Emunot VeDeot (“Beliefs and Opinions”) by Saadia Gaon: what it is and structure

October 18, 2026

Emunot VeDeot (האמונות והדעות), “Beliefs and Opinions,” is the main philosophical work of Saadia Gaon. Wikipedia calls it “the first systematic presentation and philosophic foundation of the dogmas of Judaism.” It was written in Judeo-Arabic and completed in 933.

Quick facts

What it was written for

According to Wikipedia, its main purpose was to defend rabbinic Judaism against Karaism, which rejects the Oral Torah (the Mishnah and the Talmud). Saadia holds that belief in revelation does not exclude independent inquiry: speculation serves to prove and defend the prophetic teachings, and in some passages he draws on Aristotelian philosophy. The sources of knowledge are the senses, reason and logical necessity, together with the “veritable revelation” of Scripture.

The ten treatises

1. The creation of the world
2. The unity of the Creator
3. Revelation and the commandments
4. Free will: obedience and disobedience
5. Merit and demerit
6. The soul and death
7. The resurrection of the dead
8. Messianic redemption
9. The world to come
10. Moral conduct, thought and belief (as an appendix)

Editions and translations

• Hebrew translation: that of Yehuda ben Shaul ibn Tibbon (1186) was titled Emunot veDeot and was first printed in Constantinople in 1562.
• Arabic edition: Samuel Landauer edited the Arabic text (Leiden, 1880), and Yosef Qafih prepared a Judeo-Arabic edition in 1970, which Wikipedia calls “superior.”
• English translation: Samuel Rosenblatt, unabridged, published by Yale University Press in 1948.

Influence

In the 12th and 13th centuries, an anonymous paraphrase was the main way that Jews who did not read Arabic came to know Saadia’s philosophy. Wikipedia links it to the early Chasidei Ashkenaz, the Maimonidean controversy and early Kabbalah. See the guides to the Kuzari and the Guide for the Perplexed, other great works of medieval Jewish philosophy.

Frequently asked questions

In what language was it written?

In Judeo-Arabic, that is, Arabic written in Hebrew letters.

Against whom is it directed?

Above all against the Karaites, who reject the Oral Torah.

How many treatises does it have?

Ten, plus an introduction.