Being Polite Toward the Companions in Speech and Those Who Oppose Them in Action

The Shaykh : I am repeating the question to you. I am not asking about the difference between the error of the first and the last until this answer comes with this beautiful poetic language. I am asking: if some of the Companions did an action, or some issued a fatwa, and there is nothing in the Book and the Sunnah that contradicts them, do we prefer our understanding over their understanding, or do we relinquish our understanding for theirs, because their hearts are purer and their knowledge is more abundant, and so on, with the known attributes? Perhaps the question is clear.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Perhaps I will get the answer this time.

The questioner : The answer: The second issue is that they are more deserving, more deserving in methodology and understanding than others. But interpretation refuses to be anything but the first answer. As for the truth, it is that these people are more deserving in methodology and understanding.

The Shaykh : I am asking you, not about your opinion.

The questioner : Their opinion is their following answer, but interpretation refuses except by intention, or or or etc. They are too dignified and polite to answer this question with the first sentence.

The Shaykh : I am asking about their action.

The questioner : Interpretation.

The Shaykh : Their action.

The questioner : Their action.

The Shaykh : Ah

The questioner : This is what they do.

The Shaykh : Their action in the issue that the Companions act upon.

The questioner : By Allah, the answer.

The Shaykh : Because you are saying they are polite, meaning in speech.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : But there is a fatwa that was issued from them. Let us give an example. I said earlier, from the perspective of wanting to proceed gradually, I wanted to proceed gradually, and we have not yet reached the second level. We are still at the first level. I said "some of them," meaning it includes one or more.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Now I am giving an example from the practical side, such that it cannot be said about them, or reported about them, that they are polite in speech. I am asking now: what do they do in action? There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim: And in another wording: It was said to the narrator of the hadith, Anas ibn Malik, the servant of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), as is well known, about eating? He said, "It is worse." We are now those who prefer the Companion's understanding over our understanding, especially since we do not find in the Sunnah, before it the Qur'an, anything that contradicts this answer from this noble Companion, Anas ibn Malik. We are now, in action, not distinguishing between drinking while standing and eating while standing. Just as we do not drink while standing, but rather sitting, so we do not eat while standing, but rather sitting. What do they do? What do they do?

The questioner : I think in these rulings they are followers, following the way of the Salaf.

The Shaykh : I do not think so, because they argue at that time. And I hope that your report is a correct report and not from the perspective of assuming the best.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I hope that this is a report about them that matches their reality, because then we take them from here, from this detail, and establish the argument against them: Why are you now following the Salaf in this detail? In fact, you are following one person, while my previous statement was "some of them," which includes one, two, and more than that. You answered with an answer that contradicts this answer. Now why? Because I developed the question. I developed the question based on the development of your answer about them. You said they are polite in speech. So what do they do in the action they performed? This is what they did. One Companion did it. He said, "Eating is worse." So we are truly followers of the Salaf, if Allah wills. We also do not eat while standing. What do they do? I said about them, and I hope this is correct about them, that they follow the Salaf. We say: By what proof are you following the Salaf in this detail? You are obligated and tasked to follow the Salaf in what is much more important than this detail, especially in matters related to 'aqidah, and more specifically, what is related to takfir... That is enough, my brother Abu al-Harith, let us move on, hmm.

The questioner : Remaining...

The Shaykh : Because it is possible that some of our brothers... .

The questioner : ... .
Al-Halabi : A word in support of our Shaykh's statement.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
Al-Halabi : In the issue of the understanding of the Salaf, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Yes.
Al-Halabi : A word of two lines from Imam al-Shatibi.

The Shaykh: May Allah bless you.
Al-Halabi : Very wonderful. He says in the book al-Muwafaqat.

The Shaykh : Yes.
Al-Halabi : Part three, page seventy-seven, he says: "It is obligatory for every one who looks at the evidence of the Shari'ah to consider what the first ones understood from it."

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.
Al-Halabi : "And what they were upon in acting upon it is more likely to be correct and more upright in knowledge and action."

The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah, I believe in Allah and what the Messenger of Allah brought, and what our righteous Salaf followed.
Al-Halabi : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Ibn 'Abd al-Barr in the book al-Istidhkar quotes a phrase and attributes it to Abu Hanifah, Hammad ibn Salim, and Rabi' al-Ra'i, saying: "They used to say: Our opinion is better for those after us than their opinion for themselves."

The Shaykh : ... So what about the opinion of the Salaf, the Companion, for those after him? It is even more so.