MALKA BEN AḤA:
Gaon of Pumbedita from 771 to 773. The only fact known concerning him is that, with Ḥaninai Kahana ben Huna (765-775), he opposed Naṭronai ben Ḥabibai, who, for unknown reasons, endeavored to supplant the exilarch Zakkai ben Aḥunai; the two geonim succeeded in compelling Naṭronai to leave Babylonia. Naṭronai probably settled in Kairwan.
Bibliography:
- Letter of Sherira Gaon, in M. J. C. i. 36, 188;
- Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, iii. 115a et seq.;
- Grätz, Gesch. v. 174, 2d ed., v. 420;
- Weiss, Dor, iv. 27, 29.
