The Ruling on Speaking About the Companions and the Fitan That Occurred in Their Time
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Allah has sent you, and this is the beginning of his question, out of his love for you. He says that we follow your responses in the newspapers and read them in our gatherings with our fathers, sons, brothers, and loved ones, and they raise their supplications for you in your absence. We ask Allah to help you, to guide you, and to increase among the Muslims those like you. His question says: Is there a word about the biographies of some of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) regarding their stance on the fitan (trials, discord or temptation) that occurred in their time, such as Siffin and al-Jamal, regarding the killing, so that we forget them and follow the path they took? They are our Salaf (the earliest generations), the Companions of our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). May Allah reward you with good. Perhaps this is the last question.
Answer:
The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them): the door is closed regarding speaking about them, and one never speaks about them in a way that implies criticizing them or accusing them of error. The door is closed on this finally, because they are the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
As for what happened between them, they were mujtahids (scholars qualified to derive rulings), mujtahids, and they were people qualified for ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) (may Allah be pleased with them). The mujtahid, if he is correct, has two rewards, and if he errs, he has one reward, and the error is forgiven. This is regarding non-Companions, so what about the Companions? They are even more deserving of that. The Companions have virtues and nobilities that cover any unintentional error that may occur from some of them.
They have virtues and nobilities that cover the error, if any of them has an unintentional error, and it is also forgiven. So it is not permissible to speak about the Companions finally, and it is not permissible to enter into the fitan (trials, discord or temptation) that occurred in their time. The scholars have pointed this out in the books of 'aqidah (creed), and that is to hold back from what happened between them.
And that we say as Allah commanded us:[Al-Hashr 59:10]. (Exalted and Majestic is He) mentioned in this verse the purity of the hearts and tongues of the believers regarding the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes. May Allah raise your rank, elevate your mention, and make us and you among those who listen to the word and then follow the best of it. We thank our Honorable Shaykh, and we ask Allah to make him a blessing to what they were, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.
Allah has sent you, and this is the beginning of his question, out of his love for you. He says that we follow your responses in the newspapers and read them in our gatherings with our fathers, sons, brothers, and loved ones, and they raise their supplications for you in your absence. We ask Allah to help you, to guide you, and to increase among the Muslims those like you. His question says: Is there a word about the biographies of some of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) regarding their stance on the fitan (trials, discord or temptation) that occurred in their time, such as Siffin and al-Jamal, regarding the killing, so that we forget them and follow the path they took? They are our Salaf (the earliest generations), the Companions of our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). May Allah reward you with good. Perhaps this is the last question.
Answer:
The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them): the door is closed regarding speaking about them, and one never speaks about them in a way that implies criticizing them or accusing them of error. The door is closed on this finally, because they are the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
As for what happened between them, they were mujtahids (scholars qualified to derive rulings), mujtahids, and they were people qualified for ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) (may Allah be pleased with them). The mujtahid, if he is correct, has two rewards, and if he errs, he has one reward, and the error is forgiven. This is regarding non-Companions, so what about the Companions? They are even more deserving of that. The Companions have virtues and nobilities that cover any unintentional error that may occur from some of them.
They have virtues and nobilities that cover the error, if any of them has an unintentional error, and it is also forgiven. So it is not permissible to speak about the Companions finally, and it is not permissible to enter into the fitan (trials, discord or temptation) that occurred in their time. The scholars have pointed this out in the books of 'aqidah (creed), and that is to hold back from what happened between them.
And that we say as Allah commanded us:
"Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful."
رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Source
الفوزان - لقاء مفتوح - الجديد في الإرهاب — archive.org (1:10:31)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.