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(Abū Zikrī) Yehuda b. Yosef (of Qayrawān)

Metadata

Gender
Male
Social role
  • Jewish community member
Other name
Yehuda b. Yosef b. Simḥa

Description / Bio

Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef was a wealthy merchant and prominent member of the Jewish community of Qayrawān in the late 10th and early 11th century. He had close ties to the Zīrid rulers of Ifrīqiyya, including the sultan al-Muʿizz b. Bādīs (r. 1016–62) and the sultan's aunt Umm Mallāl who served as regent until her death in October 1023. There are extant Hebrew panegyrics in his honor, including some written by Hay Gaon and Yiṣḥaq b. Khalfūn. His titles included Rosh ha-Seder, Rosh Kalla, Aluf, and Aluf Rav Peʿalim. His death is reported in a letter that Gil dates to ca. 1020 CE (Yevr. III B 904). He had several sons, one named Dūnash and the others possibly Yiṣḥaq, Yosef, Avraham, and David. Information mainly from Wechsler, Michael G. "Judah ben Joseph of Qayrawan". In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online, (Brill, 2010). See also Menahem Ben-Sasson, "ראשי הציבור בצפון-אפריקה — הדמות והתדמית: היצירה הספרותית כמקור היסטורי," Peʿamim 26 (1986), 134f.

Alan Elbaum, "(Abū Zikrī) Yehuda b. Yosef (of Qayrawān)," available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/abu-zikri-yehuda-b-yosef-of-qayrawan/, accessed June 2, 2026.
https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/abu-zikri-yehuda-b-yosef-of-qayrawan/