Kaab al-Ahbar

The Companions and the Jewish Infulence (Part I)
Introduction
Putting the fictitious Abdullah Ibn Saba aside, there have been some
non-fictitious Jews who influenced the companions in a great deal. The
attitude of Imam Ali ( as ) towards new converts from the people of the
Scriptures was very alert, as he ( as ) preserved the purity of the Islamic
Teachings. They didn't listen to allegations from those who adopted Islam
and claimed to have knowledge in religion through the Old Testament and
wanted to pass it on to Islam.
This sober attitude was taken by Imam Ali ( as ), while the prominent
companions ( in the eyes of the the Sunnis ), were decieved by these
scriptural scholars. I shall mention some of them in my discussion.
Kaab al-Ahbar
A man named from Yemen named Kaab Ibn Mati al-Humyari also nicknamed as Abu
Ishaq, from the Clan of Thee Ra-een (or the Clan of Thee al-Kila a) came
to Medina during the time of Umar. He was a prominent Rabbi and came to be
known as Kaab al-Ahbar. He declared his Islam and resided in Medina untill
the days of Usman. In this first part ( Part I ) I shall examine some of
the claims that he made, his deceiving Caliph Umar, his participation in
the plot of Caliph's assination and Imam Ali's ( as ) attitude towards him.
This new Muslim was not an imaginary person as the Jew Abdullah Ibn Saba,
indeed Kaab was a real person, since he resided in Medina and was looked
upon with hight prestige by the second and the third Caliphs. He narrated
many stories claiming that they were from the Old testemant. Many famous
companions such as
- Abu Huraira
- Abdullah Ibn Umar
- Abdullah Ibn Amr Ibn al-Aas
- Muawiyah Ibn Abu Sufyan
reported his stories. This international Rabbi had reported many strange
tales, the contents of which testify for their own lack of authenticity.
One such tale is as follows :-
A companions named Qais Ibn Kharshah al-Qaisi reported that Kaab Al
Ahbar said :
Every event that has taken place or will take place on any
foot of the earth, is written in the Tourat ( Old Testament ),
which Allah revelaed to his Prophet Moses ( as ).
Sunni Reference :
Ibn Abdul Barr - al-Istiab, v3, p1287
Printed in Cairo 1380 A.H
Such a report should arouse the attention of the readers, because it states
that which is in-conceivable. The earth contains billions of square miles,
each mile contains millions of cubic feet (for lack of proper arithmetic),
and each part of the earth may become a place of thousands of events from
the time of Prophet Moses ( as ) untill the Day of Judgement. Yet, Kaab
claimed that all these events are recorded in the Old Testament.
The parts of the Old Testament which were dictated or written by Prophet
Moses ( as ), don't come to 400 pages. Recording all the events of the
World bewteen the time of Moses ( as ) till the day of Judgement, may take
millions of pages. Furthermore, the pages of the Old Testament do not
record future events. All they contains are some past events which took
place during or before the time of the biblical Prophets. Considering these
aspects, the claim that Kaab made belies itself.
Kaab al-Ahbar counts the days of the Caliph Umar
This rabbi was able to deceive many companions through his trickery. Even a
prominent companion, such as Umar Ibn al-Khattab could not escape his
tricks. Kaab's influence had grown during the days of Umar's caliphate to
such a degree that he was able to say to Umar :
Kaab : Ameer al-Mumineen, you ought to write your will because you will
die in three ( 3 ) days.
Umar : How do you know that ?
Kaab : I found it in the Book of God, the Taurat ( Old Testament ).
Umar : By God do you find Umar Ibn al-Khattab in the Old Testament ?
Kaab : By God, no. But I found your description in the Old Testament
and your time is coming to an end.
Umar : But I do not feel any pain or sickness
On the following day Kaab came to Umar and said :
Ameer al-Mumineen, one ( 1 ) day has passed and you have only
two ( 2 ) more days.
The following day Kaab came to him and said :
Ameer al-Mumineen, two ( 2 ) days have gone and you have only
one day and one night remaining.
The following morning, Umar came out to lead the prayers at the mosque. He
used to comission men in order to arrange the rows of the worshippers. When
they were in a straight line, he started the prayer. Abu Lulu entered the
mosque carrying a dagger with two ( 2 ) heads and a handle in the middle.
He hit Umar six ( 6 ) times, one of them hit the Caliph in the navel,
killing him.
Sunni reference :
Tabari - History of al-Tabari, v4, p191
Printed by Dar al-Maarif - Cairo
Looking at the Old Testament, one does not find any names or predictions of
Umar. Also no Rabbi other than Kaab, claimed that the Old Testament
predicted the existence of Umar, his murder, or defined the time of his
death. Had information of this kind been contained in the Tourat, the Jews
would have been proud of it and would have used it in an attempt to prove
that the Jewish religion is the right religion.
A part of the Conspiracy
It seems clear that Umar's assination was a conspiracy, and that Kaab was a
part of the plot. The assasination of Umar would weaken the Muslims because
an outburst of violence against the Caliphate would shake the confidence in
the Islamic regime and create confusion. Announcing the event before it
took place made the companions believe in what Kaab predicted and what he
claimed to be recorded in the Old Testament, therefore making him a
reliable source for future information. Such confidence would enable him to
interfere in major events and suggest the name of the future Caliph. A
number of prominent companions believed the information that Kaab used to
fabricate pertaining to the past and the future.
Kaab did not speak only about the events that happened on the earth, but he
also gave information concerning the heavens and the Divine throne. Al
Qurtubi in his Commentary on the Quranic Chapter of Ghafir reported that
Kaab said :
When God created his throne, the throne said : ' God didn't create any
creature greater than me. ' The throne then shook itself to show it's
glory. God roped the throne with a snake which had 70 thousand wings;
each wing had 70 thousand feathers; each feather had 70 thousand
faces; each face had 70 thousand mouths, and each mouth had 70
thousand tounges. Out of these mouths words glorifying Allah with a
quantity equal to the number of drops of rain that have fallen, and
the leaves on the trees, and the number of pieces of gravel and soil
and the number of the days of the world, and the number of angels. The
snake coiled around the throne, for the throne was much smaller than
the snake. The throne was covered by only half the snake.
Imam Ali's ( as ) attitude towards Kaab
Umar and a number of prominent companions had a very positive attitude
towards Kaab. However the most knowledgable and the most farsighted among
them, namely, Imam Ali ( as ) discredited Kaab. Kaab did not dare to come
close to Imam Ali ( as ), despite the fact that the Imam was in Medina for
the duration of Kaab's stay. It is reported that Imam Ali ( as ) said about
Kaab : Certainly he is a professional liar !
Ibn Abbas's attitude towards Kaab
Tabari notes in his chronicles that Ibn Abbas ( as ) was told :
Kaab says that on the day of the judgement the sun and the moon will
be brought forth like two ( 2 ) stupefide bulls and thrown to hell !
Upon hearing this Ibn Abbas ( as ) was enraged and retorted three ( 3 )
times :
Kaab is a liar !
Kaab is a liar !
Kaab is a liar !
This is a Jewish notion, and Kaab wants to introduce it into Islam. Allah
is free from the things they attribute to Him. He never punishes those who
obey. Have you not heard that Allah says in the Quran :
And He has made subject you the sun and the moon, both diligently
pursuing their course [ Ibrahim 33 ]
Ibn Abbas further said :
The word 'Daibain' used in this Verse denotes constant obedience to
Allah.
Then he continued :
How can He punish these two ( 2 ) heavenly bodies whom He Himself
praises for obedience. God curse the Jewish Scholar and his
learning ! What a shameless audacity to attribute Lies to Allah,
and to impute guilt to the two ( 2 ) obedient creatures !
Having said this, Ibn Abbas said this three ( 3 ) times :
To Allah we belong and unto Him shall we return !
To Allah we belong and unto Him shall we return !
To Allah we belong and unto Him shall we return !
Then Ibn Abbas went on to narrate what the Prophet ( Peace and Salutations
to his cleansed and Pure Progeny ) had actually said about the sun and the
moon :
Allah created two sources of light ! That which He named the Sun was
like the Earth, between the points of rising and setting. And that
which He ordained to be lustreless at times, He called the moon and
made it smaller than the Sun. And both of them appear to be small
because of their height in the sky and their distance from the earth.
Sunni reference :
Tabari - History of al-Tabari, v1, p62 - 63
European Edition
This concludes my first part of the discussion, Insha Allah in the future
portions I shall further pursue these topics:
- Kaab's interference in the Caliphate
- Kaab's during the reign of the Third Caliph