Karaite scholars up to the Crusader conquest are surveyed by the Karaite chronicler David ben Sa`ad`el Ibn al-Hiti in the fifteenth century. Karaite works, which survived either in their entirety, in fragments or in later quotations, are known from the tenth century. Most of the tenth-century works are biblical commentaries, religious codes and tracts of anti-Rabbanic polemics. The important Karaite scholars include Daniel al-Qumisi , Salmon ben Yeruhim, Yefet ben `Eli, Sahl ben Mazliah ha-Cohen and David ben Boaz the Nasi.

There is no clear evidence of academies for biblical studies until the middle of the tenth century. These studies might have taken place in the Karaite synagogue (majlis, in Arabic). We subsequently hear of �the House of�� as a learning center headed by a scholar. Two of the most prominent scholars in Jerusalem during the first half of the eleventh century are Yusuf al-Basir, who was engaged in religious philosophy, legal matters and anti-Rabbinite polemics, and Abu `I-Faraj Harun (Aaron ben Yeshu`ah), whose writings were devoted to Hebrew grammar and linguistic biblical exegesis.

The entire corpus of Karaite literature was composed between the time of Daniel al-Qumisi's arrival in Jerusalem and the Crusader conquest. The Jerusalem Karaite scholars were also renown outside the city walls, and they were confronted with queries concerning the Karaite halakha from communities of the Karaite diaspora.