First of all, I must say that Allah - praise be to Him the Most High -
commended, in many places in His Holy Book, the Companions of the
Messenger of Allah who loved. obeyed and followed the Messenger without
personal greed and without opposition or arrogance, and only wanted the
acceptance of Allah and His Messenger; those Companions have pleased Allah
and He pleased them, and that is the way for those who fear Allah.
This group of the Companions are appreciated by the Muslims because of
their attitudes towards the Prophet (saw) and their works with him,
therefore they are liked and respected by all Muslims, and they are
appreciated whenever people mention their names.
My study does not concern itself with this group of Companions who are
respected by both the Sunnis and the Shia, nor is it concerned, with those
who were well known for their hypocrisy, and who are cursed by all
Muslims, Shia and Sunnis, whenever their names are mentioned.
However, my study is concerned with the group of Companions about whom the
Muslims have expressed different views. There are verses in the Holy
Qur'an where they are rebuked and threatened because of their attitudes in
certain positions, and the Messenger of Allah (saw) warned them on many
occasions, and warned other people about them.
The outstanding differences between the Shia and the Sunnis is concerned
with this group of Companions, because the Shia criticize their sayings
and deeds and complain about their justice, whereas they are respected by
the Sunnis, in spite of their contradictions. My study is concerned with
this group of the Companions because through it I will be able to reach
the truth, or part of it. I say that, so that no one may think that I have
neglected the Quranic verses which commend the Companions to the Messenger
of Allah, and that I exposed the verses which criticize them. In fact
through my research I discovered that some verses contain praise for the
Companions, but if you read in between the lines you find that they
contain criticism of them, and vice versa.
I shall not write here about all the hard work that I have done in the
past three years in preparing this study, but I will confine myself to
some Qur'anic verses as examples, and not for any specific reason. For
those who want to go further, I advise them to research and compare, as I
did, in order that they may find the Right Faith by themselves, and
through their own work. That is what Allah wants for everybody, and that
is what the conscience of each individual wants. Thus, one would achieve
an absolute conviction that will not be shaken by any storm. After all,
the divine guidance which results from personal conviction is far better
than that which comes as a result of external factors.
Allah - the Most High - says in praise of His Prophet (saw): "And found
you unable to see [the way] then He showed you the way" [Holy Qur'an
93:7]. That is He found you searching for the truth, so He led you to it.
He also said: "And those who strive hard for Us, We will guide
them in Our ways" [Holy Qur'an 29:69].
1. The turning back verse
Allah - the Most High - says in His Glorious Book: "And Muhammad is no
more than a messenger, the messengers have already passed away before him,
if then he dies or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels? And
whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah in
the least, and Allah will reward the grateful." Allah, the Great, has told
the truth [Holy Qur'an 3:144].
This Qur'anic verse is clear about how the Companions will turn back upon
their heels, and only a few will stand their ground, as the above Qur'anic
verse indicated in the expression of Allah about them. Those who stand
their ground and do not turn back are the grateful, for the grateful are
only a small minority, as in the words of Allah- the Most High: "And very
few of My servants are grateful" [Holy Quran 34:13].
Also there are many sayings of the Holy Prophet (saw) which explain the
"turning back", and we will refer to some of them, and even if Allah - the
Most High - did not specify the punishment of those who turned back on
their heels in this Qur'anic verse: He glorified the grateful who deserve
His reward. However, it is important to know that those who turned back on
their heels do not deserve the reward of Allah and His forgiveness, as has
been emphasized by the Messenger of Allah (saw) in many of his sayings,
some of we will discuss - if Allah wills - in the course of this book. We
could not explain the Qur'anic verse with reference to Tulayha, Sujah and
al-Aswad al-Ansi, out of respect for the Companions, because the
above-mentioned Companions have turned back and abandoned Islam, and even
claimed the prophecy during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allahs who
fought them and finally defeated them. Nor indeed can we explain the
Qur'anic verse with reference to Malik Ibn Nuwayrah and his followers, who
refused to pay Zakat (alms) in the time of the caliph Abu Bakr, for many
reasons. They refused to pay al-Zakat (alms) and give it to Abu Bakr
because they wanted to wait and see what happened, for they had
accompanied the Messenger of Allah on his farewell pilgrimage, and voted
for Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib at Ghadir Khum after the Messenger of Allah
appointed him as Caliph after him, and indeed Abu Bakr himself voted for
Ali. Therefore, they were astonished when a messenger from the caliph
came to tell them the news of the holy Prophet's death and at the same
time asked them to pay Zakat in the name the new caliph, Abu Bakr. It is a
case in which history does not want to go too deep, for the sake of the
Companion's honour. Furthermore, Malik and his followers were Muslims
according to the testimony of Umar and Abu Bakr themselves and other
Companions who disapproved of Khalid ibn al-Walid's killing of Malik.
History testifies that Abu Bakr paid compensation for Malik's death to his
brother Mutammem out of the Muslim's treasury, and apologized for his
killing. It is well established that the apostate must be killed, and no
compensation be paid out of the Muslim's treasury for his killing, and no
apologies issued for killing him.
The important thing is that the "turning back" verse refers to the
Companions who lived with the Messenger of Allah in al-Medinah al-
Munawwarah, and indicates the immediate "turning back" after the Prophet's
death. The Prophet's sayings explain all these things in such a clear way,
that no one could doubt it. We shall deal with these matters soon, if
Allah wills. History also testifies for the "turning back" that happened
after the death of the Messenger of Allah, and when we view the events
which took place among the ranks of the Companions we notice that only a
few managed to come out unscathed.
2. The Holy War [Jihad] Verse
Allah - the Most High - said: "O You who believe, what (excuse) have you
that when it is said to you: Go forth in Allah 's way, you should incline
heavily to earth; are you contented with this world's life instead of the
Hereafter? But the provision of this world's life compared with the
Hereafter is but little. If you do not go forth, He will chastise you with
a painful chastisement and bring in your place a people other than you,
and you will do Him no harm; and Allah has power over all things" (Holy
Qur'an 9:38-39).
This Qur'anic verse is clear about the reluctance of the Companions to go
and fight in the Holy War [Jihad], and how they chose to be content with
the life on earth, in spite of their knowledge of its short duration.
Their action warranted a rebuke and a threat from Allah - the Almighty -
that a terrible torture was awaiting them, and that He would change them
for others who were true believers.
The threat to change them came in many Qur'anic verses which indicate
clearly that they showed their reluctance to fight in al-Jihad- Holy War -
more than once, and Allah- the Most High - says: "And if you turn back He
will bring in your place another people, they will not be like you" (Holy
Qur'an 47:38).
Also the Almighty says: O You who believe! Whoever from among you turns
back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people, He shall love them
and they shall love Him, lowly before the believers, mighty against the
unbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah's way and shall not fear the
censure of any censurer, this is Allah's grace, He gives it to whom He
pleases, and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing (Holy Qur'an 5:54).
If we want to investigate the Qur'anic verses which emphasize this issue
and talk about the classification of the Companions, which the Shia
advocate, then we would need a special book for it. The Holy Qur'an
expressed all that in the most direct and eloquent way: Let there arise
out of you a nation, inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is
right, and forbidding what is wrong, and these it is that shall be
successful.
And be not like those who became divided and disagreed after receiving
clear signs, and these it is that shall have a grievous chastisement.
On the day, some faces will be white (lit up) and some faces will
be black (in the gloom), to those whose faces will be black (will be
said): Did you reject the faith after accepting it? Taste then the
chastisement for rejecting the faith. But those whose faces will be
white, they will be in Allah's mercy, therein to dwell" (Holy
Qur'an 3:106-107).
These Qur'anic verses, as every intelligent scholar knows, are addressing
the Companions, and warning them of the division and disagreement among
themselves after they have already been shown the Right Path. They also
tell them that a great torture is awaiting them, and divide them in two
groups: The first group: when they will be resurrected on the Day of
Judgement, everyone of them would have a white face, and those are the
grateful who deserve the mercy of Allah. The second group: when they will
be resurrected on the Day of Judgement, everyone of them would have a
black face, and those are the apostates, whom Allah - the Almighty -
promised the great torture.
It is well-known that the Companions were divided after the death of the
Messenger of Allah. They disagreed among themselves to such an extent that
they fought each other bloody wars which led to the regression and the
backwardness of the Muslims and made them easy target for their enemies.
The above Qur'anic verse could not be interpreted in any other way except
that which is readily accepted by people.
3. The Submissiveness
Allah - the most High - said: "Has not the time yet come for those who
believe that their hearts should be submissive for the remembrance of
Allah and what has come down of the truth? And [that] they should not be
like those who were given the book before, but the time became prolonged
to them, so their hearts hardened, and most of them are transgressors".
(Holy Qur'an 57:16).
In al-Durr al-Manthur by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, the author says: when the
Companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw) came to al-Medinah and started
to enjoy a higher standard of living after having lived through many
hardships, they seemed to slow down, so they were punished for that, and
hence the verse "Has not the time yet come for those who believe" was
revealed. Another version of the story, which came from the Prophet (saw),
was that Allah- the Most High- found some reluctance in the Muhajereen
seventeen years after the first revelation of the Holy Qur'an, and
therefore Allah revealed the verse "Has not the time yet come for those
who believe". If those Companions - who are the best people according to
the Sunnis - did not feel humble before the name of Allah or His right
revelation of seventeen years, so that Allah found them slowing down, and
rebuked and warned them for their hardened hearts which were leading them
to corruption, we cannot blame the people of Quraysh who only entered
Islam in the seventh Hijri year after the conquest of Makkah.
These were some examples which I have selected from the Glorious Book of
Allah which give us clear indications that not all the Companions were
right, as the Sunnis believe.
If we study the sayings of the Prophet (saw), then we will find many more
examples, but just to be brief, I shall refer to some of those examples
and the interested reader may further his own knowledge if he so wishes.