What is the degree of authenticity of the hadith: "Do not revile my Companions," and what is the ruling on one who reviles a Companion?

The questioner : What is the degree of authenticity of the hadith and what is the ruling of the prohibition here.

The Shaykh: What is the difference between the first and second question?

The questioner : I mean, suppose a person falls into reviling the Companions, what is the ruling on him that follows from this reviling?

The Shaykh : Of course, he has opposed the prohibition. I mean, when he (peace be upon him) said , if he reviles, that means he opposed the prohibition and did not obey the command of the Messenger (peace be upon him), which necessitates ceasing from what he was prohibited from, which is not reviling his Companions. And Allah the Exalted said . On this occasion, I must draw attention to the fact that the command in this hadith, I mean in his (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibition of all Muslims from reviling any of his Companions, does not mean from the perspective called by the jurists of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) the "concept of the opposite" (mufaham al-mukhalafah). This hadith does not have a concept of the opposite, because it is not permissible to revile any Muslim, it is not permissible to revile any Muslim on the face of the earth, because the Muslim shares in the status of the reviler, and it is supposed that he is also a Muslim like him. It is not permissible for him to revile a Muslim, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says . He also said . Tubba' had already embraced Islam. So, Islam alone is sufficient to deter the Muslim who is committed to the rulings of his religion from directing his reviling at a Muslim like him. So, a fortiori, it is not permissible to revile a Muslim from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), even if he was, as some of the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions) said, a Bedouin who swore by his heels. Because you know that those who believed in the unlettered Prophet and followed him, and who were of the first generation, meaning of the first century, about which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said . There is no doubt that the people of the first century, and they are the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and others as well who shared the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) but it was not possible for them to come to him, but they believed in him unseenly, all of these are from the people of the first century. So, if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited the Muslim from reviling Tubba' with a legal cause, which is that he had already embraced Islam, then a fortiori, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited reviling any of the people of the first century, because they are the best of people, and then those who follow them, and then those who follow them. So, a fortiori, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited reviling any of the people of the first century who came or sent a delegation to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and believed in him, then returned to their village, to their town, to their desert. And finally, more so, and more so, and more so, is it that one reviles any of the Companions who have, I mean, a precedence in Islam, or who have efforts in jihad in the path of Allah, and the like. So, all of these are degrees, and although they are different, they fall under the prohibition of reviling any Muslim, even if it is Tubba' who did not meet the Messenger (peace be upon him) but he embraced Islam like the first ones. So how, when it came in Sunan Abu Dawud and Musnad Imam Ahmad and others, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) admonished, I think, Abu Tamim al-Juhaymi or something like that.

The questioner : Abu Tamimah al-Hujaymi.

The Shaykh : Abu Tamimah al-Hujaymi. You have done well. He said to him, admonishing him: . So, if the topic ends, and if the Messenger says , I am saying this detail because I know that from the sayings of some of the commentators, that this hadith directed the prohibition to some of the Companions who were late in their Islam, when they had insulted some of the early ones, the predecessors in Islam. This is a plausible opinion. But if you remember this sequence in relying on other hadiths, the last of which is the prohibition of reviling any Muslim, then we know the misguidance of many of the Shi'ah who shout and openly revile not only some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who are said to be those who embraced Islam in the Year of the Conquest, but they go beyond that to reviling the elite of the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), such as Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Aishah, and the like. The important thing is that directing oneself to reviling any of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), whatever their ranks, is a Shi'ah misguidance, if we do not say it is Rafidah (Twelver Shi'ah) misguidance, if we do not say something else that we hear today in the Muslim world, even from this vile al-Siqaf, who announced, and I heard one of the Americans who had embraced Islam, and the one mentioned was sitting, saying that this one says that Mu'awiyah is in the Fire, so he reviles him with ugly reviling. So I refuted him in his presence, and he did not give a clear answer, as it is said. So, it is necessary for every Muslim to guard his tongue from harming the honor of any of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and to remember with me: "Guard your tongue, O human being, it will not bite you, for it is a serpent." And better than this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . And this is sufficient.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good and bless you.

The Shaykh: And with you