Imam Ali’s stand against

Ka’ab ul Ahbaar and the Israelite stories

It is written in the book ‘Israelite and….’ that:

In his entire life, Imam Ali (a.s.) came across a large number of misleading incidents and movements and one amongst them were those ‘People of the Book’ who accepted Islam and began a new trend of story-telling in Islam. Each of them played a significant role in deteriorating the image of Islam.

          In return, Ali (a.s.) had also hindered their motives in different ways and stood in opposition to them.

          Following are the few incidences in which Ali (a.s.) has retaliated and reacted against the Israelite stories and their propagators:

1. It is narrated that during the caliphate of Umar bin Khattab, a meeting was held in the court of the Caliph and Ali (a.s.) also participated in it. Ka’ab was also present in that gathering. The Caliph asked him: O Ka’ab! Have you memorized the entire Torah?

Ka’ab replied: No, but I have memorized most part of it.

A person said to the Caliph: O Leader of the Believers! Ask him where God was before He created His throne? And ask him about the substance with which He created the water on which He placed His throne?

Umar said: O Ka’ab! Do you have the answers to these questions?

Ka’ab replied: Yes, O Leader of the Believers! I have found in the Torah that the Lord was eternal and everlasting before he created the Throne, and He was above the Rock of Bait ul Muqaddas and this Rock was placed on air. When the Lord intended to create His Throne, He spit His saliva, out of which, vast and deep oceans with huge waves came into being. At that time, the Lord created His throne with a portion of the Rock of Bait ul Muqaddas which was under Him and sat on it and created the Mosque of Bait ul Muqaddas with the remnant of the Rock.

          Imam Ali (a.s.) stood from his position while he was shaking his robe and glorifying the Lord and His greatness (with words like ‘Jallal Khaliq or Jallallah or Allah o Akbar) and intended to exit the gathering with an expression of objection.[1] When the Caliph saw this situation, he asked the Imam to return to his seat for the sake of Allah and give his opinion regarding the discussion.

          Imam (a.s.) returned to his seat, faced Ka’ab and said:

“Your companions have wronged themselves and have annulled the books of God and associated their falsified words to Him.

          O Ka’ab! Curse be upon you! If truth was such that the Rock and the Air existed along with the Lord, these two will also become everlasting and eternal along with Allah (s.w.t.), and we will be having three eternal realities.

          Apart from this, Allah (s.w.t.) is much supreme than an existent which can be pointed out and our Lord is nothing similar to the description given by the non-believers and the assumptions of the ignorant.

          Curse be upon you O Ka’ab! One who can bring into existence, according to you, the vast and deep oceans with His saliva, He is much greater than an existent that places itself on the Rock of Bait ul Muqaddas and….’’[2]

2. It has been narrated from Imam Ali (a.s.) regarding Ka’ab ul Ahbaar that he said: “He is a liar”[3].

This was the reason why Ka’ab used to keep himself away from Imam Ali (a.s.).[4]

3. Imam Ali (a.s.) considered Abu Hurairah, the student of Ka’ab ul Ahbaar, to be a falsifier and someone who faked narrations. He used to say:

انّ أکذب النّاس علی رسول اللّٰہ صلَی الله علیه وآله لأبی ھریرة الدُّوسي [5]

“One who has associated most number of false narrations towards the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) is none other than Abu Hurairah e Doosi”.[6]

We can deduce many significant points from these incidents:

1. Apart from the fact that the Caliphs played a crucial role in propagating the Israelite stories, their unawareness and ignorance towards the religious and historical facts resulted in the publicizing of the tradition of telling Israelite stories.

In this incident, Ka’ab ul Ahbaar resorts to his habit of falsification and states such narrations that depict the superstitious face of the religion and the supremacy of Bait ul Muqaddas and eventually, the supremacy of Judaism.  

2. In this incident, neither did Umar himself, nor did any of his followers and supporters place any objection against the statements of Ka’ab ul Ahbar, which either proves their ignorance and lack of knowledge or depicts that they were supporting him with the purpose of spreading such superstitious Israelite thoughts. With respect to each of the two stated possibilities, how can a person of such character become the Caliph and successor of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.)?
3. The statement of Ka’ab ul Ahbar which mentions that the Lord was seated on the Rock of Bait ul Muqaddas and spat his saliva, is a significant and effective mode of misguiding the intellectual and rational people. This is because any rational and intellectual person would not be willing to accept that God was seated on the Rock of Bait ul Muqaddas, even before its creation, and brought the oceans into existence by releasing his saliva.

Does a religion that comes with such superstitions and falsehoods deserve to be followed or should the people have faith in the beliefs of such a religion?

It is evident that the scholars and intellectual minds will not accept such beliefs and falsehoods, and will reach out to the progeny of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) for acquiring the truth instead of going towards the likes of Ka’ab ul Ahbar.