7.Wahab bin Munabbeh

It is written in the book ‘Israeliyaat wa Tatheer e Aan…’:

Abu Abdillah Wahab bin Munabbeh was from Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen. His father was from Iran and belonged to the people of Herat. He was one of the army men who were sent by Anausheerwan to conquer Yemen and his son Wahab was born at that same place. It is said that Wahab’s father accepted Islam when the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) was alive.

          Zahabi writes in the book ‘Sharh e Huffaaz’ regarding the life of Wahab bin Munabbeh: ‘He was a scholar from Yemen who was born in the 34^th Hijri, at the time of the caliphate of Othman. He had vast knowledge of the books of the ‘People of the Book’ and focused all his time on the study of their books.

          His narrations have been mentioned in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim quoted from his brother ‘Hamam’.[1]

Dr. Jawad Ali also states with reference to him: Wahab bin Munabbeh was considered one of the Tabe’een and played a significant role in the narration of Israelite stories. It is said that he had access to many of the ancient books and his brother used to purchase these books for him from Syria when he travelled towards it for trade purposes, and he used to study these books. It is said that he was well versed with the history of the predecessors and knew different languages.[2]

          As Wahab’s family used to live in Yemen, they were highly influenced by the culture and tradition of the Jews. On the other hand, they became aware of the Christian beliefs and their culture with the help of their connection with Abyssinia, and as Wahab knew the Greek language himself, he was successful in gathering vast information about the cultural systems of the Jews and Christians.[3]

He was compared to Ka’ab ul Ahbaar because of the amount of attention he paid towards the books of the ancestors and the stories of the predeceasing nations.[4]

He did not focus any less on the Umayyad dynasty and their rulers and often falsified narrations with the intention of approving their actions, like considering Umar bin Abdil Azeez as the awaited Mahdi[5]. He held the judicial position at the time of his caliphate[6]. He passed away in Sanaa in the year 110 Hijrah[7].[8]