Ibn Taymiyyah said, "And if Ka'b al-Ahbar had transmitted this... from among those who transmit the reports of the innovators." What is the meaning of "al-mubtada'"?

Question:
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, asks about the statement of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him): "And if Ka'b al-Ahbar, Wahb ibn Munabbih, and their like had transmitted this, from among those who transmit the reports of the innovators." What is the meaning of his phrase "reports of the innovators"?

Answer:
"The beginning of creation" means the beginning of creation, as you know, in Ibn Kathir's book *Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihayah* (The Beginning and the End), which covers the first of creation and the last of creation. Wahb ibn Munabbih, Ka'b al-Ahbar, and Hamam ibn Munabbih were among the Jewish scholars of Yemen who then embraced Islam, and their Islam was good. They are trustworthy in what they relate of the reports of the Children of Israel. However, our Shari'ah is not based on anything except what our Shari'ah has established; what our Shari'ah has approved, we act upon. Yes.