The claim that there is someone better than some of the Companions
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Some people claim that in the end times, there may be individuals who are better than some of the Companions, but the Companions as a whole are the best. He illustrates this by citing the faults of the Companions, stating that among the scholars and worshippers of the end times, there may be someone better than some of them. What is your opinion of this claim?
The Shaykh:
This is a statement [that is incorrect]. No one is better than the Companions who accompanied the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This status was not attained by the later generations, even if they were scholars or worshippers, because they did not have the vision of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, no one is better than the Companions, and this statement is absolutely not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This person says that in one of...
The Shaykh:
...what some people said to some of the Salaf: "What made 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz [great] was Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan." [It was said:] "The dust that entered the matter of Mu'awiyah with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is better than 'Umar ibn 'Abd Allah. Just the dust, because the Companions are not to be equaled by anyone."
He says: Some people claim that in the end times, there may be individuals who are better than some of the Companions, but the Companions as a whole are the best. He illustrates this by citing the faults of the Companions, stating that among the scholars and worshippers of the end times, there may be someone better than some of them. What is your opinion of this claim?
The Shaykh:
This is a statement [that is incorrect]. No one is better than the Companions who accompanied the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This status was not attained by the later generations, even if they were scholars or worshippers, because they did not have the vision of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, no one is better than the Companions, and this statement is absolutely not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This person says that in one of...
The Shaykh:
...what some people said to some of the Salaf: "What made 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz [great] was Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan." [It was said:] "The dust that entered the matter of Mu'awiyah with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is better than 'Umar ibn 'Abd Allah. Just the dust, because the Companions are not to be equaled by anyone."
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 55 من 64 / شرح القصيدة النونية / كذا الولاية كلها لله لا لسواه/صالح الفوزان /العقيدة / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:08:09)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.