As-Sahabah
 (The
Companions of the Prophet)
[Excerpt from the book 'Aqeedatu Waasitiyah' (Creed of the Middle Path)]
by Ibn Taymiyyah
As-Sahabah
(The
Prophets Companions)
Among the fundamentals of the people of the Sunnah and the community is
purity of heart and tongue toward the Companions of the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) just as Allah has described them:
"Those who came after them (the
Sahabah) say: 'Our Lord forgive us. Forgive our brethren
who preceded us in faith. Purify our hearts of any rancor toward the believers.
Our Lord, You are Gentle, Compassionate."
(al-Hashr
59/l0)
Obey the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him):
"Do not revile my companions. By (Allah) in Whose Hand my soul is!,
if any one of you spends gold (piled up) like (mount) 'Uhud it will not equal a
pint of any one of them, nor its half."
(al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu-Dawud,
at-Tirmidhi Ibn Majah, Ibn Hanbal)
(The people of the Sunnah) accept what the Qur'an, the
Sunnah, and the consensus brought them of the Sahabah's virtues
and high ranks; So they prefer those who spent (their wealth) and fought before
the victory -which is the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah*1
- over those who spent and fought after it. They prefer the Muhajirun
(Immigrants) over the Ansar (Helpers). They believe that Allah said to
the people of Badr - they were over three hundred-: "Do whatever you wish, I
have already forgiven you." (Abu Dawud)
And "they believe that no one who pledged allegiance to the Prophet (peace be
upon him) under the tree
2
will enter Hell" (Muslim), as the Prophet (peace be upon him) had
declared; but that Allah was pleased with them and they with Him - and they were
more than one thousand and four hundred.
They assign to Paradise whoever the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
assigned there such as the ten**, and Thabit Ibn Qays Ibn Shammas, and
others of amongst the Sahabah.
They accept what has been reported continuously from the Prince of the
Believers, 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), and from
others, that the best men of this 'Ummah after its Prophet are: Abu
Bakr; then 'Umar; third, 'Uthman, and fourth, 'Ali
Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with them all).
All Traditions have
indicated, and all Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them all) have
agreed upon giving priority to 'Uthman out of regard for his allegiance
(al-Bai'ah), although some of the people of the Sunnah are
disputing over whether 'Uthman or 'Ali (may Allah be pleased
with both of them) has the priority, after they (the people of the Sunnah)
had agreed upon giving priority to Abu Bakr and 'Umar. Some
people gave the priority to 'Uthman and kept silent and considered 'Ali
to be the fourth. However, some people preferred 'Ali. And some
remained neutral. But the people of the Sunnah settled on preferring 'Uthman,
even though this matter - the matter of 'Uthman and 'Ali - is
not of the fundamentals. The majority of the people of the Sunnah do
not consider disagreeing in this matter as being misled. Rather, it is in the
matter of the "Question of the Caliphate" where they consider the disagreeing
person to be misled.
Ahl as-Sunnah believe that the Caliph after the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) is Abu Bakr; then 'Umar; then 'Uthman,
then 'Ali, and that whoever contests the Caliphate of any one of these
Imams is indeed more lost than an ass
Ahl as-Sunnah should not deal with what happened between the
Sahabah
of the disagreement, and they must say: Part of the Traditions
which are narrated about their faults are untrue, and some of them added to or
omitted from, or distorted; The part of them which is true, they are excused
from, because either they expressed their personal opinion and were right, or
they expressed their personal opinion and were wrong.
Ahl as-Sunnah do not think that each of the Sahabah
is
infallible of committing grave sins or light sins, but that they are liable to
commit general offenses. Nevertheless, to them belongs priority in accepting
Islam and in doing good deeds which qualify them for forgiveness of what they may have
committed, to the extent that their offenses are forgiven. The same offenses
will not be forgiven of those who come after them because they (as-Sahabah
)
have a credit of good deeds which erase the bad deeds, a credit the generations
after them do not have. It has been confirmed by the saying of the Messenger of
Allah (peace be upon him):
"That they are the best of all generations,"
(al-Bukhari and
Muslim)
And: "That the pint of charity any one of them might have given
is better than a pile of gold the size of Mount 'Uhud if it is given by anyone
who comes after them." (al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Moreover, if anyone of them (as-Sahabah
) committed any act of offense,
without doubt he repented from it, or he did good deeds which wiped that offense
from him, or he has been forgiven for the virtue of accepting Islam from its
start or by intercession of Muhammad (peace be upon him) since they are
deserving most his intercession, or a calamity inflicted upon him in this world
which covered for that offense. But if this is the case in actual offenses, what
about matters in which they were mujtahids (formulating independent
decision in legal or theological matters)? If they were correct in their
ijtihaad
they will receive double reward and if they missed they will receive one reward
and the missing is forgiven for them.
Furthermore, the objectionable amount of their deeds is negligible in comparison
to their virtues, their merit is in belief in Allah and His Messenger, the
jihad in His Path, the Hijrah (emigration) from Makkah to
al-Madinah, the support for the Prophet and the faith, the valuable
knowledge and the good deeds. Whoever studies the life of the Sahabah
objectively, with insight and with what Allah bestowed upon them of virtues,
will no doubt discover that they are the best of all people after the Prophet
(peace be upon him), that there never was and never will be their like and that
indeed they are the choicest of the generations of the 'Ummah which is
in itself the best of all nations and the most honorable in the eyes of Allah
,The Exalted.
Footnotes
1-2 In the year 628 C.E., the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) led a band of believers to perform 'umrah
(smaller pilgrimage) to Makkah, but the non-believers of Makkah
prevented him and his followers from entering Makkah by blocking their
way with a large army at a place called al-Hudaibiyah located nine
miles out of Makkah. As a result, a war almost broke out between the
two parties, but negotiations took place instead. The Prophet (peace be upon
him) sent 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) to Makkah to
represent him at the negotiations, but he did not return for three days and
rumors reached the Prophet and his followers that 'Uthman was killed by
the Makkans. Although unprepared for battle, the Prophet could not
leave the Makkans unpunished for their treacherous act. So, he
assembled his followers and, standing under a large tree, they pledged
allegiance to him to fight the Makkans. Therefore, Allah praised them
in the Qur'an:
"Lo! Those who swear allegiance unto
you (Muhammad),
swear allegiance only unto Allah. The Hand of Allah is above their hands..."(al-Fat-h
48/10)
In the same chapter, verse 18, Allah
expressed His pleasure with the believers who pledged allegiance to the Prophet
(peace be upon him) under the tree in Hudaibiyah, He said:
"Allah was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance unto you
beneath the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down peace
of reassurance on them, and has rewarded them with a near victory."
* Some traditionalists
believe the victory (al-Fat-h) is the liberation of Makkah.
(See Tafsir Ibn Kathir, VIII, pp.37-39 in his commentary on verse 10 of
Suratal-Hadid 57.)
** They are: Abu Bakr, 'Umar,
'Uthman, 'Ali, Talhah, Az-Zubair, Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa'idibn Zayd, 'Abd
ar-Rahman Ibn 'Awf and Abu 'Ubaidah Ibn al-Jarrah.
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