If we research the subject of the sahaba without prejudice or
sensationalism, we will find the Shi`as viewing them as the Holy Qur'an,
the Prophet's Sunnah, and reason view them. They neither regard all of
them as unbelievers, as some extremists have done, nor do they accept all
of them as equitable, as "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" have done.
Imam Sharaf ad-Din al-Musawi[274]
says the following in this regard:
"Whoever researches our view with regard to the sahaba will find
it the most moderate of views. We neither go to extremes in this regard
as the ghulat have done, labelling them all as apostates, nor do
we go to extremes in accepting them as trusted authorities as most [Sunni]
Muslims have done. Those who attribute their perfection, as well as those
who go to the opposite extreme and label them as apostates, are all in
the same box. Sunnis are of the view that anyone who heard or saw the Prophet
is absolutely equitable. They support their view from the tradition saying,
`... whoever traversed or walked on the earth from them without any exception.'
But as far as we are concerned, although we regard keeping company with
the Prophet as a great honor, it, as is, does not render one infallible.
Like all other men, the sahaba included equitable persons who are
their scholars and greatest men, whereas some of them are hypocrites who
committed crimes. The condition of some of them is unknown; so, we rely
on the equitable ones among them and accept them as our masters in the
life of this world as well as in the life to come. As for those who oppressed
the wasi and the Prophet's brother, as well as all those who committed
crimes such as Hind's son [Abu Sufyan], the son of the genius, the son
of "the blue woman," the son of Uqbah, the son of Arta'a, etc., and their
likes, these have nothing to be honored for, nor does their hadith
hold water. It is of an undecided nature, and we have to carefully scrutinize
it.
"Such is our view with regard to the sahaba who narrate hadith.
The Qur'an and the Sunnah are our argument to pack this view as explained
wherever appropriate in our books that deal with the basics of jurisprudence.
But the majority of Muslims have gone too far in sanctifying the hadith
they hear from any sahabi, so much so that they swayed from moderation
and sought their arguments from those who are good as well as from those
who are bad, blindly emulating every Muslim individual who had heard or
seen the Prophet. They resented others who differed from them in going
to such extremes and went beyond all limits in denouncing them.
"How intense their denunciation of us when they find us rejecting the
hadith of many sahaba whose integrity we publicly challenge
or whose condition is not fully ascertained! While doing so, we simply
follow the binding legislative obligation in verifying religious facts
and looking for authentic Prophetic legacy.
"It is for this reason that they cast doubt about us, piling their accusations
on us, charging us with unfounded charges, vying with one another to remain
in ignorance about us. Had they recalled their wisdom and consulted the
bases of knowledge and scholarship, they would have come to know that equity
as a basic ingredient in all the sahaba cannot be proven. Had they
delved in depth into the meanings of the Qur'an, they would have found
it full of references to a number of sahabi hypocrites. Suffices
you, for example, Surat al-Tawbah and Surat al-Ahzab."
Dr. Hamid Hafni Dawood, Professor of Arabic Literature and Head of the
Department of Arabic at Ayn Shams University in Cairo says, "As for the
Shi`as, they view the sahaba as they view others: they do not distinguish
between them and between the Muslims who came later till the Day of Judgment."
The reason for that is their application of one set of rules whereby
the deeds of the sahaba, as well as those of other generations that
followed them, are measured. The mere quality of being a sahabi
does not award anyone a particular merit except when one qualifies himself
for such a merit and demonstrates his readiness to carry out the injunctions
set by the one who introduced the Shari`a. Among the sahaba are
those who are divinely protected against sinning, such as the Imams who
were blessed to be in the company of the one who introduced the Shari`a.
These include Ali and his sons (peace be upon them). And among them are
the men of equity who maintain a beautiful company with Ali following the
demise of the Messenger of Allah.
Among the sahaba are those who are accurate in their ijtihad,
while others among them erred in their ijtihad. Among them are those
who sinned, those who turned atheists and whose views are uglier and more
dangerous than those of the latter group. The circle of atheists includes
the hypocrites and those who worshipped Allah only marginally. And among
them were the disbelievers who never repented, as well as those who reneged
after having embraced the Islamic creed.
This means that the Shi`as, who constitute a great portion of the Muslim
population, place all Muslims in one balance without differentiating between
a sahabi, a tabi`i, or anyone else. To be a sahabi
is not to have immunity against wrong beliefs.
It is upon this strong foundation that they allowed themselves, out
of their own ijtihad, to criticize the sahaba and to research
the extent of their equity. They also permitted themselves to cast doubt
about a number of sahaba who violated the conditions of such companionship
and who deviated from the path of loving the Progeny of Muhammad.
Why not? The greatest Messenger, after all, has said, "I am leaving
among you that which, so long as you adhere to them both, you shall never
stray: the Book of Allah and my `itra, my Progeny. They shall never
part from one another till they rejoin me at the Pool [of Kawthar]; so,
see how you succeed me in faring with them."
Upon this and similar hadith, they find many sahaba as
having violated this hadith by oppressing Muhammad's Progeny, and
by cursing some members of such Progeny; so, how can the honor of companionship
be sound for such violators, and how can they be branded as equitable?
This is the summary of the view held by Shi`as in rejecting the equity
of some sahaba, and these are the factual scholarly proofs whereupon
they built their arguments.
Dr. Hamid Hafni Dawood admits somewhere else that to criticize the sahaba
and to find fault with them is not a bid`a invented by the Shi`as
alone. He goes further to say, "Since the beginning, the Mu`tazilites dealt
with the same while discussing the issues relevant to the creed. They did
not only criticize the sahaba in general, they even criticized the
caliphs themselves. In doing so, they won supporters and opponents."
The subject of criticizing the sahaba used to be confined, during
the first centuries, to those who were deeply immersed in knowledge, especially
Mu`tazilite scholars who were preceded in going in such a direction by
the heads of the Shi`as and by the leaders who were enthusiastically supporting
the Progeny of Muhammad.
I have already pointed out somewhere else that the scholars of Arabic,
and Mu`tazilite mentors, were a burden on Shi`a leaders from the first
Hijri century. Thereupon, the issue of criticizing the sahaba is
the child-birth of following Muhammad's Progeny. It was the result, not
the nature, of Shi`ism. Those who followed the Progeny of Muhammad came
to recognize the latter as having studied in depth all the branches of
knowledge relevant to the creed due to their enjoyment of the sources of
knowledge provided by the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt who are the pristine source
and the over-flowing spring from which Islamic scholarship is derived since
the inception of Islam and till our time.[275]
I personally think that one who seeks the truth has to open the door
for criticism and fault-finding; otherwise, he will remain veiled from
such faults. This is exactly what "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" have done:
They have exaggerated in their belief in the equity of all the sahaba
without researching the latter's conditions; they, therefore, remained
to our time distant from the truth.
[274] His full name is Sharaf
ad-Din Sadr ad-Din al-Musawi. He is author of the celebrated book Al-Muraja`at.
The translator of this book has translated it into English under the title:
Al-Muraja`at: A Shi`i-Sunni Dialogue. It was published (hard cover edition
only) in 1995 by Imam Hussain Foundation, P.O. Box 25/114, Beirut, Lebanon.
__ Tr. [275] This text was published
on p. 8 and its following pages of the book titled Al-Sahaba fi Nadar al-Shi`a
al-Imamiyya (the Prophet's companions as seen by Imamite Shi`as).