Allaah the Most High said:

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

And those who came after them say: "Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in Faith, and put not in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed full of kindness, Most Merciful. (Al-Hashr 59:10)

And the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said:

Whoever abuses my Companions, upon them is the curse of Allaah, the angels and the people.

Reported from Ibn Abbaas and Ibn Umar by at-Tabaraanee. The hadeeth is Hasan as declared by al-Albaanee in as-Saheehah (no. 2340).

Imaam Ahmad said: "If you see anyone speaking ill of the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), doubt his Islaam." (Al-Laalikaa'ee (d. 418H) in as-Sunnah, no.2359)

Imaam al-Barbahaaree (d. 329H) said in his Sharh us-Sunnah: "If you see a man criticising the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) know that he is a person of wicked speech and desires, since the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: 'When my Companions are mentioned then withhold'." The hadeeth is reported by at-Tabaraanee from Ibn Mas'ood and it is Saheeh. See Silsilatul Ahaadeeth is-Saheehah (no.34) of Shaikh al-Albaanee). Imaam al-Barbahaaree also said in Sharh us-Sunnah (Explanation of the Creed, p.84): Do not discuss about their slips or wars, nor that of which you have no knowledge. Do not listen to such talk from anyone, for if you do, your heart will not remain safe and sound.

And Harb bin Ismaa'eel al-Kirmani (d. 280H), in the treatise "Masaa'il Harb bin Ismaa'eel al-Kirmaanee Anil-Imaam Ahmad" said:

This is the madhhab of the People of Knowledge, the Ashaabul-Athar (People of the Narrations), Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah, those who stick fast to it [Ahl us-Sunnah] and who seek to guide themselves by [them i.e. the Ahl us-Sunnah] from among those in the presence of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) up until this day of ours. And I met whomever I met from among the Scholars of the people of Hijaaz and Shaam and others besides them. Whoever differs with and opposes a single matter from the madhaahib [of these People of Knowledge] or contests and defames them or criticizes the one who speaks [by what they speak with], then he is a mukhaalif (opposer), a mubtadi' (an innovator) and one who has left the Jamaa'ah, who has ceased to be upon the manhaj of the Sunnah and the Path of Truth.

And this [i.e. the path of the People of Knowledge] is the madhhab of [Imaam] Ahmad, Ishaaq bin Ibraaheem, Abdullaah bin Zubair al-Humaidee, Sa'eed bin Mansoor and others besides them amongst those with whom we have sat and taken knowledge from...

Then he says later in the treatise from that which is from the madhhab ijmaa' of the people of knowledge, Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah:

And the mentioning of the good qualities and deeds of the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) and refraining from mentioning their shortcomings and mistakes, those which occurred between them. Whoever reviles the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam), or a single one amongst them, or reduces [their worth and status] or insults them or exposes their faults or criticises a single one amongst them then he is a mubtadi' (an innovator), a raafidee (an extreme shi'ite), a khabeeth (vile and repugnant) and a mukhaalif (an opposer) and Allaah will not accept from him any of his efforts nor his fair dealings. Rather loving them is a sunnah, supplicating for them is nearness (Allaah), taking them as a model for guidance is a means (of nearness to Allaah) and accepting and taking from their narrations is an excellence

And then he mentions shortly afterwards:

It is not permissible for anyone to mention anything of their shortcomings, and nor to revile anyone of them on account of a fault or deficiency. Whoever does that, then it is obligatory upon the ruler to discipline him and punish him. It is not for him (the ruler) to pardon him, rather he should punish him and seek his repentance. So if he repents, it is accepted from him and if he does not repent, the punishment is repeated upon him, and he is kept in prison until he dies or recants.

Dhul-Khuwaisrah at-Tamimi, Sayyid Qutb, Social Justice and the Companions of Allaah's Messenger

Dhul-Khuwaisarah at-Tamimi, the Munaafiq, when he saw the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) distributing booty, said, "Be just O Muhammad". Dhul-Khuwaisarah uttered this statement from the angle of "Social Justice", meaning that he did not see the distribution was fair. This man was the one from whose descendants the Khawaarij appeared, and they raised the banners of "Social Justice" and ruling with equity, fairness, with what Allaah revealed. They came out against the Companions of Allaah's Messenger with hatred, making Takfir of them, and Takfir of the rulers of the Muslims. The scholars have said that these people are characterized by a) pursuit of the worldly affairs (leadership, wealth) b) ignorance c) deviation in their religion (creed).

With his notion of "Social Justice" he reviled the Sahaabah, Uthmaan, Mu'aawiyyah, the Banu Umayyah and others - for if Dhul-Khuwaisarah reviled the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), then what is left for those besides him such as Sayyid Qutb except to make manifest their hatred and resentment towards those promised Paradise, under the same flag and banner of "the absence of social justice".

Then when a scholar amongst the Scholars (Shaykh Rabee' bin Haadee al-Madkhali) stood to defend the honours of Uthmaan, Mu'awiyah, Banee Umayyah, Abu Sufyaan bin Harb (radiallaahu anhum), and pointed out these excesses and vile attacks - a people claiming love of the Sahaabah and attachment to the aqidah of the Salaf arose to defame, revile, attack, abuse and to try to destroy, with every opportunity, stratagem, guile, trickery and deception, this particular Scholar. Not a method that represented baseness and vileness of character, except that they traversed it to aid and support the lot of the Rafidite heretics in disfavor of the honours of the illustrious Companions. And so they tried to incite others from the people of knowledge against this Scholar, trying to elicit verdicts against him - ringing this scholar and that scholar "O Shaykh there is a man who makes tajreeh...", "O Shaykh there are a group of people who follow a particular Shaykh and they revile the dead...", and so on, and at the same time trying to elicit defences of the Rafidite Heretic for whose sake they were prepared to dig into the earth, dive into the oceans and conquer the mountains.

And then a stake was driven into their support and defence of the promulgators of the deen of rafd through what emerged of the refutations of Allaamah Mahmood Shakir (rahimahullaah) against the Rafidite Heretic, and these were five refutations in number, published around 1952, which afforded the knowledge of the hujjah being established upon him. And it was not shortly after that Allaah decreed for him a ten-year stretch in the prison of the very Taaghootee Order that he helped to cement through the revolutionary manifestos of secular atheist Jews which he had been crafting, along with Jamal Abdul-Nasser, in his own house - and all the while his books containing revilement upon the Companions continued to be published and distributed with his knowledge and intent, throughout his stretch in prison - and thus the understanding of history is purely in the eye of the beholder!

Mahmood Shakir Refuting and Establishing the Hujjah Upon The Propounders of the aqidah of the Rafidah of Hatred and Revilement of the Companions

Mahmood Shakir wrote five articles in defence of the Companions of Allaah's Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam). Four of them appeared in the magazine "al-Muslimoon" which was edited by Sa'eed Ramadan al-Misree, who was one of the prominent figureheads of al-Ikhwaan al-Muslimeen, and the fifth was published in "ar-Risaalah", a magazine by Ahmad Hasan az-Zayyaat. These are the five articles:

• (حكم بلا بينة) "Hukmum bilaa Bayyinah" (Judgement without proof), published in the first edition of "al-Muslimoon", 1952

• (تاريخ بلا إيمان) "Taareekh bilaa Eemaan" (History Without Faith), published in the second edition of "al-Muslimoon", 1952

• (لا تسبوا أصحابي) "Laa Tasubboo Ashaabee" (Do not Revile My Companions), published in the third edition of "al-Muslimoon", 1952

• (ألسنة المفترين) "Alsinat al-Muftareen" (Tongues of the Liars), published in the fourth edition of "al-Muslimoon", 1952

• (ذو العقل يشقى) "Dhul-Aql Yashqaa" (Possessor of Intellect Becomes Miserable), published in "ar-Risaalah" in 1952

Do Not Revile My Companions! First Installment

"Do Not Revile my Companions" by Mahmood Muhammad Shakir
[A Refutation of Sayyid Qutb]

It is sufficient for a man submitting to Allaah that the saying of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaau alayhi wasallam) reaches him,

Do not revile my Companions. Do not revile my Companions. For if one of you spent the likes of [Mount] Uhud in gold, it would not reach the mudd (a quarter litre of volume) of one of them, nor half of it.

Such that he humbles himself to the Lord of the Worlds, hears the Prophet of Allaah, obeys, and withholds his tongue, and the voracity of his thought from (reviling) the Companions of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), and then that he know [with sure] knowledge - with which no doubt or wavering mixes - that there is no way for anyone from the people of the Earth, past or present, to reach the level of the lowest amongst the Companions (in rank), no matter how much he strives in worship, and no matter how much godfearingness (tawarru') he shows in his religion, and no matter how much he purifies his heart from evil whisperings in secret and in open.

وما أين يشك وكيف يطمع ورسول الله لا ينطق عن الهوى ، ولا يداهن في دين ، ولا يأمر الناس بما يعلم أن الحق في خلافه ، ولا يحدث بخبر ولا ينعت أحداً بصفة ؛ إلا بما علمه ربه وبما نبأه؟! وربه الذي يقول له ولأصحابه :

والّذي جاءَ بالصِّدقِ وَصدَّقَ به أولِئكَ هُمُ المُتَّقون . لَهُمْ ما يَشاؤونَ عِنْدَ رَبِّهمْ ذَلِكَ جَزاءُ المُحْسِنِينَ . لِيُكَفِّرَ اللهُ عَنْهُم أَسْوَأَ الذي عَمِلوا ويَجْزِيَهُمْ بأَحسَنِ الذِي كانوا يَعْمَلونَ

ثم يبين (صلى الله عليه وسلم) كتاب ربه ، فيقول : "خير الناس قرني ، ثم الذي يلونهم ، ثم الذي يلونهم ، ثم يجيء قومُ تسبق شهادة أحدهم يمينه ، ويمينه شهادته".

And how can he doubt and how can he covet (what is besides this) whilst the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) does not speak from his desire, and nor does he compromise in the religion, and does he order the people with something that he knows to be in opposition to the truth, and nor does he narrate a report, and nor describe anyone with a characteristic, except with what his Lord taught him and informed him with?! And his Lord is the one who says to him (the Prophet) and his companions:

And he (Muhammad) who has brought the truth (this Qur'an and Islamic Monotheism) and (those who) believed therein (i.e. the companions). They shall have all that they will desire with their Lord. That is the reward of the doers of good. So that Allah may remit from them the evil of what they did and give them the reward, according to the best of what they used to do. (Az-Zumar 39:33-35)

Then he (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) explained the Book of his Lord, saying: "The best of people are my generation, then those that follow them, then those that follow them. Then there will come a people whose testimony will precede his oath, and his oath (preceding) his testimony."

Then he (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) increased the matter with further clarification, so he indicated the position that Allaah had bestowed upon the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah, so he says: "There will come upon the people a time when a faction will go out on an expedition and they will be victorious. Then there will come upon the people a time when a faction a mongst the people will go out on an expedition and it will be said, 'Is there amongst you a companion, of a companion of the Companions of Allaah's Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)?' And they will say, 'Yes' and they will be granted victory.

So when this is the level of the companionship of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), then which Muslim is able after this to roll his tongue against anyone amongst the Companions of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allaah?! And with which tongue will he try to make excuse on the day when he (the companion) will dispute with him in front of their Lord?! And what will he say when the hujjah has already been established upon him from the Book of Allaah, and from the report of His Prophet?! And to where will a man flee on that day from the punishment of his Lord?