[3] Aḥbār is the plural of ḥibr/ḥabr, from the Hebrew ḥāver, a scholarly title referring to a rank immediately below rabbi as used by Babylonian Jews.
[5] The Jews, Ka‘b explained, had briefly won back their old capital a quarter of a century before (when Persians overran Syria), but they had not had time to clear the site of the Temple, for the Byzantines (Rūm) had recaptured the city.
Umar is said to have fenced it and, some years later, the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock over the site as an integral part of the Aqsa compound.
Subsequently, governor Mu'awiya asked Ka'b to become his counsel in Damascus, but he most likely chose to withdraw to Hims, where he died in 652-6 AD, according to various accounts.
[3] According to Shia sources Ka‘ab was a Jewish rabbi, who moved from Yemen to Bilad al-Sham (Syria).
[11] On a website operated and owned by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs of the State of Qatar, one may find a fatwa on Ka’b al-Ahbar.
Muhammad al-Tijani a 20th-century Shi'a scholar writes that "He was a Jew from Yemen who pretended to have embraced Islam then went to Medina during the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab.
"[16] Muhammad Jawad Chirri writes, after having quoted a hadith, "This dialogue should alert us to the deceptive and successful attempt on the part of Ka'b to influence future events by satanic suggestions.
[16][17] In the book Asceticism and Tenderness : Ka'b al-Ahbar said ''While the Children of Israel were praying in the Temple of Jerusalem, two men came.
Ka’b said: So it was written the next day that he was a truthful man''[18] In the book Comprehensive remembrance of the doctrines of the jurists of the countries; It was reported to him that Omar bin Al-Khattab wanted to go to Iraq, so Kaab Al-Ahbar said to him: Do not go there, O Commander of the Faithful, for there is nine-tenths of magic, and there are wicked jinn, and there is a fatal disease.