Does one who slanders the wives of the Prophet ﷺ or the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) become a disbeliever?

Question:
These are many questions; I will present to your eminence whatever is feasible of them. This questioner says: Does one who slanders the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and insults them, and slanders the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and insults them, become a disbeliever? And why?

Answer:
Yes, because one who slanders the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is slandering Allah (Mighty and Majestic), for it is Allah who chose these wives for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). How would Allah choose wives for His Prophet who are slandered? Likewise, he is slandering the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). How can the wives of the Messenger, the mothers of the believers, have speech about them, or a defect, or a shortcoming?
And he is slandering the consensus of the Ummah, which agreed upon the virtue of the mothers of the believers, and that they are the mothers of the believers and the wives of their mothers. What is in the Qur'an? The mothers of the believers. Does anyone slander? Do you accept that someone slanders your mother? Huh? Your mother by blood, you do not accept that anyone slanders her. So how about your mother in religion?
The wife of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), how do you accept that someone slanders her? Your mother in religion is greater than your mother by blood, this is without doubt. So there is no doubt that one who intentionally slanders the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), one who intends this, is a disbeliever. And likewise the Companions; one who intentionally slanders them is a disbeliever, for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: "To make the disbelievers grieve by them." Yes.