“ Under his rule the school attained the highest reputation among the Jewish communities of East and West—but it was not of long duration. His health had been impaired by the strenuous life he had led, and in his later years he suffered from melancholia. In 942 he died, two years after the exilarch.
That some of the many works of Saadia, in 'spite of their merits, have been neglected, and others partly or entirely lost, is not as surprising as it appears at first sight. ”

“ Money had to be raised not only for the support of the schools, but also to buy immunity from the government, and Saadia was not the man to connive at the corruption and oppression practised by the exilarch to raise it. Within two years matters had come to a crisis, and the exilarch dismissed Saadia, while Saadia retorted by declaring the exilarch deposed (930) , After three years of contention David succeeded in sufficiently bribing the new and needy Caliph (Qāhir, 932–934; see Caliphate, § 19) , who definitely forbade Saadia to act as Gaon. ”

“ Jews, although the Babylonian schools at Sura and Pumbeditha continued to enjoy a somewhat intermittent prosperity. On the other hand, learning was cultivated among the Qaraites (q.v.) ; see also Hebrew Literature) , a sect of Jews who rejected the oral tradition, restricting their practice to the ordinances of scripture (miqra) . It even seemed for a time as if conservative heresy would prevail against progressive orthodoxy. In Saadia, however, the Rabbanites found a powerful champion. ”