The gifts poured in from all sides.
It was customary that the ceremony of ushering the Exilarch to the oath was held on a Thursday.
On the Saturday of the same week the ceremonial worship took place with the new Exilarch attending this worship.
A special tower tribune, covered and padded with precious fabrics, was placed in the synagogue.
On this the Prince was seated in the same manner as the kings of David's house had been seated in the Temple.

The Exilarch was accompanied by a crowd during his way to synagogue.
After the Prince took his place on the tribune, the representative of the Sura Academy came to him on the tribune, knelt before him on one knee and seated on his right.
The Pumbedita Gaon did the same and seated on his left.

In the final prayer the name of the new Exilarch was mentioned, and the special blessings were delivered to the new Prince, the gaons, the congregation and others.

Then the ceremonial procession returned from the synagogue to the residence of the Exilarch, where the banquet for dignitaries, prominent personalities and high officials had been prepared.
The ceremony of appointment terminated with this banquet.

The operating costs of the Exilarch's office were covered by special taxes.
In addition, the Exilarch had the authority to collect taxes in the communities under his jurisdiction.
The tax collectors had the full support of the officials of the Caliphate.

The fact that Anan was supposed to accede to this high post caused his enemies much agitation.
They were afraid, and rightly so, that Anan would undermine the foundations of the Talmud and spurn it after his appointment to the office of the Exilarch.

Anan's uncle Solomon had died childless, so a son of Solomon's brother
David was to ascend the throne of the Exilarch.
Solomon's brother David had two sons; Anan and Ḥananiah.
The throne of the Exilarch was to be handed down to the oldest male in the family, but there were rare cases when a younger member of the family was appointed, if he was more significant, more respectful and more venerable than his older sibling.

Even though Anan was the rightful heir to the throne of the Exilarch, there were hostile supporters, of old orders, against him who supported his younger brother, who had been renamed Ahorai.

At the head of Anan's enemies stood two brothers; R. Dodai (ben Naḥman) and R. Yehuda (ben Naḥman).
The first was the head of the Pumbedita Academy and the second one was the head of the Sura Academy.
However, Anan's supporters were not powerless.
Anan had many supporters and was supported by many influential people.
Anan won the election and ascended the throne of Exilarch.

From the position of his office, Anan began to vigorously propagate and promote his thoughts.
This caused him to become very dangerous for the adherents of the Talmud.
Anan ben David ha-nasi strictly followed the letter of the Law and fulfilled it's commandments exactly.
He did not even spare his followers if he found that they did not live in accordance with the Law.

Since Anan's voice was not as a voice of a lost person crying in the desert, he was able to undermine the peoples' trust of the Talmud.
Of course the number of enemies, who strove to destroy him, increased.
Anan was accused of heresy, by his enemies, before the Caliph.
They claimed he had plans to issue a new religious law and that he planned to proclaim himself as the King of Israel.
Following this false accusation, Anan was deprived of his rank by the Caliph, jailed and sentenced to death by hanging.
The verdict was pronounced on a Sunday and was to be executed on the Friday of the following week.
In the end, the execution did not take place because Anan was able to defend himself.
The method of Anan’s defense has been described differently.
According to Anan's enemies, the supporters of the convicted Exilarch bribed the courtiers and the Caliph's confidants, and in this way they achieved the full acquittal.

However, according to his adherents, Anan was rescued, thanks to advice of one Muslim who was imprisoned together with him and who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy.
This Muslim advised Anan to appear in front of the Caliph and request that he arbitrate a religious dispute between Anan and his enemies.
In this way Anan would get the chance to prove his innocence.
The topic of this religious dispute should be one that enabled different interpretations.
The Caliph could not refuse his request because, according to Islamic customs, the prisoner has the right to ask the ruler to fulfil a last wish.
If the circumstances allowed it, the ruler would oblige the convicted.
Anan did as his fellow Muslim prisoner advised him, and his request was obliged.
Anan chose the theme of the calendar and the determination of the dates of the feasts as the subject of the religious discussion.

This topic had been the subject of disputes between Anan and his enemies for a long time.

In the time before the Talmudists Rabban Gamaliel and Isaac Napaḥ emerged, the people of Israel used to set the beginnings of the moons and the feasts according to the moon at the time of its birth.
This was according to direct observation of the new moon in the horizon.
In addition, the first lunar month Nisan was determined based on the testimony of finding ripening barley in the Holy Land.

If the barley had not ripened during the twelfth month of the lunar year, the next month was not considered the beginning of the year, but rather it turned it into the thirteenth month.
Thus it was a year that became a leap year.
This method balanced the differences between the lunar and the solar years.

The rules for determining the first month were closely linked to the religious ceremony of the bringing of the first barley into the Temple.
This always took place on the morrow after the (first) Shabbat of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The fiftieth day, after this ceremony is celebrated, is the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot.

Since none of these regulations could have been properly fulfilled out of the Holy Land, Rabban Gamaliel and Isaac Napaḥ determined a new calendar based on calculating the beginnings of months and feasts.
Rabban Gamaliel and Isaac Napaḥ invented a nineteen-year cycle, with seven years of this cycle leaping and twelve years being regular.
The third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, sixteenth and eighteenth years of this cycle were the leap years.
To avoid an accidental error, the Rabbis of the Talmudists ordered the People of Israel, who lived outside of Holy Land, to add one more day to each feast appointed by God.
In addition, they fixed the specific days of the week on which a feast could fall, for each feast.
If this feast did not fall on a fixed day, it was rescheduled to the nearest fixed day.
This rule is known as דחיה .
All these innovations replaced the rules that had existed from time immemorial, and they were not in agreement with the provisions of Torah.

Anan was helped by the fact that the determination of the beginnings of the months, according to the New Moon, was very well known to Muslims.

In the discussion, Anan clashed with his enemies and he achieved a magnificent victory.
He was completely acquitted, justified, and fully rehabilitated, with all ranks and offices being restored to him.
Moreover, he gained the favour of the Caliph.

Shortly after his rehabilitation, Anan voluntarily renounced the throne of the Exilarch in favour of his brother Hananiah.
Anan was convinced that it was necessary to unify his followers in an independent, ethno-confessional, community.
It's purpose was to separate them from the Talmudists and rid them from the yoke of the Talmud's traditions.
He presented his idea to the Caliph, who supported and approved it.
The Caliph even allowed Anan to relocate to Jerusalem, along with his whole house and his followers.
This caused the second clash, now within Israel.
Anan ben David ha-nasi decreed that a new synagogue be built in the Holy City for his co-religionists.
This synagogue has been financially supported by all the Karaite communities, as a sanctuary and birthplace, till these days.
The co-religionists of Anan ben David ha-nasi began to live a new independent and self reliant life as they broke their links with Talmudists.
A life and death war broke out between the Talmudists and the followers of Anan.

Anan ben David ha-nasi has had the following statement attributed to him; I wish all Talmud adherents were in my stomach; I would then rip my belly, and they would die together with me. ⁸