What is the ruling when the statements of two Companions conflict on a legal issue?
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The Shaykh : ... If you have two scholars from among the Companions, you must look at the following facts: Which of them was earlier in companionship with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? Which of them was more knowledgeable of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? Which of them traveled and stayed with the Messenger (peace be upon him) more? And so on. There are other criteria for preference, and they involve a degree of precision. I will suffice with one example for now.
The issue differs depending on whether it occurred with the Messenger (peace be upon him) in his home, or whether it occurred in his mosque, or a third issue that occurred during his travels.
There is no doubt that the issue differs if one of the Mothers of the Believers speaks about a matter that did not occur with the Messenger except in his home, and a male Companion speaks with a statement contrary to the statement of the Mother of the Believers, and we have no criterion for preference as we mentioned before. Do you not see with me that in that case, the soul is more at ease with the statement of the Mother of the Believers than with the statement of the other Companion, because it is presumed that the people of the household are more knowledgeable about internal matters than the Companions who live with the Messenger outside the house. This is an approximate example. And the reverse is exactly the reverse: if, for example, it relates to his travels (peace be upon him), and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, or Ibn 'Umar, or Abu Hurayrah, or someone else says something different from what the Mother of the Believers says, and she is in her own home, and the matter is not related to her home, then at that time we will say that the statement of that Companion takes precedence over the statement of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her).
There is a report from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that is a very important example. She said: "Whoever tells you that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) urinated while standing has lied. I saw him urinate while sitting - or - crouching." But we found another hadith in the Sahih of al-Bukhari from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to a people's latrine and urinated while standing." And she says: "Whoever tells you that has lied." But Hudhayfah is truthful. However, Hudhayfah here saw something from the Messenger outside the house that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) did not see. So we take the statement of Hudhayfah and believe both reporters. Aisha is speaking about what she saw, but she exaggerated when she said: "And whoever tells you that the Messenger urinated while standing has lied." In this manner, the issue sometimes comes with extreme precision. So I will now limit the topic to an issue in which two Companions differed, and there is not such a disparity as I gave as an example between a domestic incident that cannot occur outside the house, where the people of the household speak with a statement contrary to a Companion who speaks about that matter but did not live with the people of the household. We said first that we prefer the statement of the people of the household when we have no criterion from the Book or the Sunnah, considering the known proverb: "The people of the house are more knowledgeable about what is in it," or "The people of Makkah are more knowledgeable about its valleys."
Now the matters become similar to us, and we do not find a criterion from any of the criteria, and there are many of them. But we find a man who is a scholar, advanced in knowledge, and among the Companions, one of the early ones, and we find another from the people of the conquest, for example, who became Muslim recently. Their statements conflict, and we have nothing to prefer. What do we do in this case? We take the statement of the earlier, advanced one. This is the criterion we have, and there is no other. The criteria for preference are many, and very many, but this is a clear example I presented earlier.
The issue differs depending on whether it occurred with the Messenger (peace be upon him) in his home, or whether it occurred in his mosque, or a third issue that occurred during his travels.
There is no doubt that the issue differs if one of the Mothers of the Believers speaks about a matter that did not occur with the Messenger except in his home, and a male Companion speaks with a statement contrary to the statement of the Mother of the Believers, and we have no criterion for preference as we mentioned before. Do you not see with me that in that case, the soul is more at ease with the statement of the Mother of the Believers than with the statement of the other Companion, because it is presumed that the people of the household are more knowledgeable about internal matters than the Companions who live with the Messenger outside the house. This is an approximate example. And the reverse is exactly the reverse: if, for example, it relates to his travels (peace be upon him), and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, or Ibn 'Umar, or Abu Hurayrah, or someone else says something different from what the Mother of the Believers says, and she is in her own home, and the matter is not related to her home, then at that time we will say that the statement of that Companion takes precedence over the statement of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her).
There is a report from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that is a very important example. She said: "Whoever tells you that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) urinated while standing has lied. I saw him urinate while sitting - or - crouching." But we found another hadith in the Sahih of al-Bukhari from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to a people's latrine and urinated while standing." And she says: "Whoever tells you that has lied." But Hudhayfah is truthful. However, Hudhayfah here saw something from the Messenger outside the house that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) did not see. So we take the statement of Hudhayfah and believe both reporters. Aisha is speaking about what she saw, but she exaggerated when she said: "And whoever tells you that the Messenger urinated while standing has lied." In this manner, the issue sometimes comes with extreme precision. So I will now limit the topic to an issue in which two Companions differed, and there is not such a disparity as I gave as an example between a domestic incident that cannot occur outside the house, where the people of the household speak with a statement contrary to a Companion who speaks about that matter but did not live with the people of the household. We said first that we prefer the statement of the people of the household when we have no criterion from the Book or the Sunnah, considering the known proverb: "The people of the house are more knowledgeable about what is in it," or "The people of Makkah are more knowledgeable about its valleys."
Now the matters become similar to us, and we do not find a criterion from any of the criteria, and there are many of them. But we find a man who is a scholar, advanced in knowledge, and among the Companions, one of the early ones, and we find another from the people of the conquest, for example, who became Muslim recently. Their statements conflict, and we have nothing to prefer. What do we do in this case? We take the statement of the earlier, advanced one. This is the criterion we have, and there is no other. The criteria for preference are many, and very many, but this is a clear example I presented earlier.
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