Our stance on Sahaba & Ahle Bayt

* Love for the Sahaba and the Ahl al-Bayt *

The Rightly-Guided Caliphs are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (radhiallahu anhum). Whoever loves them, is pleased with their caliphate and follows them, he is a follower of Allah’s book and the Sunna of his Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Whoever loves the pure Ahl al-Bayt (household) of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), befriends them, sticks to their characteristics and adopts their good manners, he is upon the clear way, the straight path and the correct affair. His salvation is hoped for, as the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, “The example of my household is like that of the ark of Nuh (alayhis salaam); Whoever boards it shall be saved and whoever stays behind shall be destroyed.”

If someone asks: what do you say regarding a person who claims to love Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman (radiyallahu anhum), but withdraws from the love of Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hasan and Husayn (radiyallahu anhum), and is displeased with the caliphate of Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib (radiyallahu anhu), will his love for Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Sayyiduna Umar and Sayyiduna Ali (radiyallahu anhum) benefit him?

He will be told: May Allah forbid. This is the quality of a hypocrite, not a believer. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said to Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib (radiyallahu anhu), “Only a believer loves you and only a hypocrite despises you.” He (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) also said, “Whoever hurts Ali has hurt me.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) attested khilafat and Jannah for Sayyiduna Ali (radiyallahu anhu), that he will be martyred, and that Sayyiduna Ali (radiyallahu anhu) loves Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and that Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) love him, along with all the other virtues Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) attested to and which have already been mentioned, and the Prophet’s love for Sayyiduna Hasan and Husayn (radiyallahu anhuma) which has already been mentioned.

Thus, whoever doesn’t love and befriend them, upon him is the curse of Allah in this life and the Hereafter. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Sayyiduna Umar and Sayyiduna Uthman (radiyallahu anhum) have nothing to do with him.

Likewise, is that person who claims to befriend Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib (radiyallahu anhu) and love the Ahl al-Bayt, but is displeased with the caliphate of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Sayyiduna Umar and Sayyiduna Uthman (radiyallahu anhum), doesn’t love them, absolves himself of them and criticises them. We swear by Allah with full conviction that Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hasan and Husayn (radhiallahu anhum) have nothing to do with him. His love for them will not benefit him until he loves Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman (radiyallahu anhum), just as Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib (radhiyallahu anhu) said when describing them, and when he mentioned their virtue and absolved himself of those who don’t love them. May Allah be pleased with him and his pure progeny.

This is the way of the intelligent Muslims. We seek Allah’s refuge against those who accuse the Ahl al-Bayt of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) of criticising Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman (radhiyallahu anhum). Such a person has slandered the Ahl al-Bayt and accused them of that which Allah protected them from.

And have you learnt most of the virtues of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman except through the narrations of Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib – may Allah be pleased with them all?

Taken from “As-Shari’ah” of Imam Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Al-Ajurri (rahimahullah).

My Ustad Hazrat mawlana Bilal Saheb madda zilluhu says “The similitude of Sahaba and Ahle Bayt is like our two eyes, we need both of them. If one is poked, we feel the pain. Similarly, we need the Sahaba and Ahle Bayt, both of them. If anyone speaks ill about anyone of them, we feel the pain”