287 Mu’awiyah once read the verse...

287 Mu’awiyah once read the verse: “Until when he reached the place where settest the sun (the Western most land)”, till reaching the words: “a black muddy pool,” Ibn Abbas said: It is a black muddy pool. Then they decided to make Ka’b as an arbitrator between them, so they sent for him and questioned him about meaning of these words. He said: Regarding the sun, it sets in tha’t, which means mud. Again he said: It sets in a black mud.

It is also reported that Ibn Abbas and Amr ibn al-’As differed regarding the way of reading these words: “...in a black muddy pool”, raising the issue for arbitration 288 to Ka’b al-Ahbar, to settle the dispute. Ibn Khaythamah reported on the authority of Qatadah as saying: It came to Hudhayfah’s knowledge that Ka’b was saying: The sky revolves round an axis like a quern (handmill), when he said: Ka’b has lied...Allah says: “Verily God holdeth the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught.

289 Ibn Hajar said that Ka’b al-Ahbar narrated that the heaven door which is called “the angels lift” (mas’ad al-mala’ikah) is opposite to Bayt al-Maqdis 290 (Quds). From it some ulama’ learnt that the philosophy behind isra’ (circulating) to Bayt al-Maqdis before ‘uruj (ascension), was that to make the ascension occur smoothly and in a straight way, without any crookedness. In this way the Jewish falsified traditions passed into our beliefs and tenets.

After citing this superstition, Ibn Hajar said: There should be some consideration in this hadith due to stating that in every heaven there is a populated house, and the house which is in the lowest heaven is located opposite to the Ka’bah. It was more proper for the Prophet to ascend from Mecca so as to reach the inhabited house (al-bayt al-ma’mur) without any crookedness! Since he ascended from one heaven to another till reaching al-bayt al-ma’mur!!

Ka’b reports that in the Paradise there is an angel, whom I can name if I will. He coins for paradise inhabitants the ornaments, from the day he was created till the Day of Resurrection. If one bracelet of them was to be brought out, it would drive back the sun ray as the sun repels the moon’s ray.

The evidence confirming that the used to refer to him (Ka’b) even in respect of questions of which they were aware, especially when he said: “Nothing is there but recorded in the Torah”, can be found when Abu Abd al-Rahman reported that Umar said to Ka’b – after referring to poetry: O Ka’b, is there any mention of poetry in the Torah?