According to Yossi Melman of Haaretz, Dorit Mizrahi of the Mishpacha Magazine, and an article in the weekly HaOlam HaZeh, there are allegations that Al-Eryani was born Zekharia Hadad to a Yemenite Jewish family in Ibb.
Journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery at the time published in HaOlam HaZeh weekly an editorial strongly criticising the book, as well as a review in Life.
HaOlam HaBa, or world to come, is an important part of Jewish eschatology, although Judaism concentrates on the importance of HaOlam HaZeh ("this world").