Sunni Feedback on The Issues of Infallibility and Ahulbayt [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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