Those who speak ill of the Companions of Allāḥ’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) are judged with evil intentions and the desire to revile the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) through indirect means, to revile his character and integrity, and likewise to revile the Qurʾān and to intend evil for Islām and its adherents. This is what is related from the Righteous Salaf.
01 Imām al-Nasāʾī (رحمه الله) said, when asked about Muʿāwiyah (رضي الله عنه):[1]
Islām is like a house which has a door. The door of Islām is the Companions. Whoever abused the Companions, then he desired [to harm and abuse] Islām. Just like the one who breaks the door, he desired to enter the house. So whoever desired [to abuse] Muʿāwiyah, then he desired [to abuse] the Companions. (Arabic).
02 ʿAbd Allāh bin Muṣʿab said:[2]
Mahdī said: “What do you say aobut the one who reviles the Companions?” I said: “They are heretics (زنادقة) because they were unable to revile the Messenger of Allāh (صلى الله عليه وسلم) explicitly, so they reviled his Companions. It is as if they said: “He used to accompany companions of evil.” (Arabic).
03 Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said regarding the issues which occurred among the Companions, while outlining the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah:[3]
They withhold [from speaking] about that which occurred between the Companions and they say: “These reports which have been related about their shortcomings, among them are [what amount to] lies, among them are what have been added to or removed from and altered from their real context. And those which are authentic among them, then they are excused, they are either making ijtihād being correct therein, or making ijtihād and erring therein. (Arabic).
04 Imām Mālik (رحمه الله) said of those who revile the Companions:[4]
Indeed, they are a people who desired to revile the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) but were not able to do so. So they reviled his Companions so that it would be said: “An evil man, if he was a righteous man, his companions would have been righteous.” (Arabic).
05 Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī (رحمه الله) said:[5]
When you see a man belittling any of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم), then know that he is a heretic. This is because the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is truth to us, and the Qurʾān is truth. And the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) are the ones who conveyed the Qurʾān and the Sunnah to us. But they desire to disparage our witnesses so that they can invalidate the Qurʾān and the Sunnah. They are more worthy of disparagement [as] they are heretics. (Arabic).
06 Imām Abū Nuʿaym (رحمه الله) said:[6]
No one follows up the slips and errors of the Companions of Allāḥ’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and records against them what occurred from them, in the state of anger [towards them] and being emotionally upset [with them] except the one whose heart is put to trial with respect to his religion. (Arabic).
07 Imām Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal (رحمه الله) said:[7]
When you see a man mentioning any of the Companions with evil, then suspect him regarding Islām.[8] (Arabic).
Footnotes
1. Tahdhīb al-Kamāl of al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mizzī (1/339)2. Related by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī in al-Tārīkh (10/175).
3. Sharḥ al-ʿAqīdah al-Wāsiṭiyyah of Muḥammad Khalīl Harrās (p. 173).
4. Al-Ṣārim al-Maslūl of Ibn Taymiyyah (p.580).
5. Al-Kifāyah of al-Khaṭib al-Baghdādī (p.97).
6. Tathbīt al-Imāmah wa Tartīb al-Khilāfah of Abū Nuʿaym (p. 344).
7. Al-Bidāyah wal-Nihāyah of Ibn Kathir (8/142).
8. Meaning, that this is evidence that he has evil intentions towards Islām.
