Ahl asSunnah & The Companions

Excerpt taken from: Al-’Aqidah Al-Wasitiyah

By: Sheikh Al-Islam Ahmad Ibn Taimihyah

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:

وَالَّذِينَ جَاءُوا مِن بَعْدِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

And [there is a share for] those who came after them, saying, “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful.” (Al-Hashr:10)

“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 – 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)

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).

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 a donkey of his own family.

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.

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 ijtihad 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.

1. Translated into English by: Assad Nimer Busool From IQRA’ International Educational Foundation