Explaining the Virtue of Sending Blessings upon the Prophet and Expressing Satisfaction with His Companions

Question:
...from his questions in a previous session, and in this session he asks, along with his brother from Yemen, about expressing satisfaction with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) . So our brother from Baghdad, Al-Zafaraniyyah, Mahmoud Ahmad Al-Dousa, says: Is expressing satisfaction with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) obligatory or a recommended practice? He also asks the same question regarding sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
As for our brother Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Nahari from Al-Hudaydah, he asks the same question, roughly in words that convey the same meaning, and says: There are those who criticize expressing satisfaction with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), especially in the Friday sermons. We ask the Shaykh to guide our brothers Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Nahari from Al-Hudaydah and our brother Mahmoud from Iraq. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
Sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is among the best of the means of drawing near to Allah and among the most important acts of obedience, both in the sermons and outside of them. Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) says in His great Book: [Al-Ahzab: 56] May Allah send blessings and peace upon him, his family, and his Companions, with continuous blessings and peace until the Day of Judgment.
And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
In many hadiths that indicate the legitimacy of sending blessings and peace upon him (peace and blessings be upon him). When the Companions asked him, they said: . This is the most complete of what has been reported in this regard, and it came in other wordings, some of which are abbreviated, including: .
And so another wording: He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Muslim narrated it in his Sahih, and the first two were narrated by the two Shaykhs in the two Sahihs.
So the point is that all these types are among the prescribed types that came by explicit text from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The believer should send much of the blessings and peace upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the prayer and outside the prayer, in the sermons, the Friday and festival sermons, and the ordinary sermons in the gatherings. This is what the believer should do. And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) commanded him to do this and promised him much good for it: .
As for expressing satisfaction with the Companions, it is also a prescribed matter; because the Companions are the bearers of Islam, they are the bearers of the Shari'ah, and they are the best of this Ummah and the most excellent of them, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated it in the two Sahihs from the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud.
And in the other wording: . Al-Bukhari narrated it in the Sahih and Muslim also narrated it. The hadiths in this regard are many, all indicating that the Companions are the best of people and the best of people after the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them). The best of them and the highest in rank is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), then following him in excellence is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab al-Faruq (may Allah have mercy on him) , then following him in excellence is 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (may Allah have mercy on him) , then following the three in excellence is 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), then the rest of the ten from .... Talhah ibn 'Ubayd Allah al-Taymi and al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam al-Asadi, the Lion of Quraysh, and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf al-Zuhri, and Sa'd ibn Malik, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas al-Zuhri, and Sa'id ibn Zayd, the cousin of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them all), and the tenth is Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarah. These are among the best of the Companions after the Caliphs; they are the best of the Companions after the Caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) . So expressing satisfaction with them is among the most important of matters and among the best of acts of drawing near to Allah. It is obligatory to love them for the sake of Allah and to believe that the Companions are the best of people after the Prophets and Messengers; they are the best of people, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . They are the best of people and the best of the Ummah.
It is obligatory for the believer not to have any resentment in his heart toward them; rather, he should love them for the sake of Allah with a sincere love that surpasses his love for his family, his children, and all of mankind, after the love for the Prophets. The Prophets come first, followed by the Companions. He should give the Rightly Guided Caliphs a special increase in love; they are Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, and 'Ali. These four are the best of the Companions. He should beware of having resentment in his heart toward Abu Bakr, 'Umar, or 'Uthman, as the Rafidah and some of the sects of the Shi'ah who resemble them have done. Rather, it is obligatory for him to love them for the sake of Allah and to believe that they are the best of the Companions. He should believe that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and his satisfaction is the fourth of them, that he is the Commander of the Faithful, and that his virtues and good deeds are numerous. However, it is not permissible to exaggerate in his praise as the Rafidah do, or to say about him that he knows the unseen, or that he is infallible, or that he is better than the three. All of this is reprehensible and not permissible, especially the claim that he is better than Abu Bakr and 'Umar; that is the most severe.
As for his being better than 'Uthman, this is the saying of some of the people of the Sunnah, and the disagreement in it is well-known. But what the majority of the people of the Sunnah hold is that 'Uthman is the one who is preferred, then 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with them all). So it is obligatory upon the believer and the believing woman, wherever they are on the earth of Allah, to love the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) , to be loyal to them, to express satisfaction with them, and to accord them their stations. And that they not be afflicted with what afflicted the Rafidah of resentment and hatred for the Companions; for the saying of the Rafidah in this is a great deniable matter, and it is not permissible to agree with them in it or to follow them in it. Rather, they have gone astray therein from the straight path.
So the people of the Sunnah and the community hold that al-Siddiq is the best of them, and the many texts indicate this, and the Muslims have agreed upon it. Then after him is 'Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with them both). And 'Ali (may Allah have mercy on him) approved of this; he preached about it in the presence of the witnesses, and it was mass-transmitted from him (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: . His son Muhammad ibn 'Ali asked him about it, so he preached with this in the presence of the witnesses, and said: . Thus says this great Imam 'Ali (may Allah have mercy on him) , knowing the people of truth and being just. And only the people of truth, the noble ones, know the virtue for its people; so one does not know the virtue for its people except those who possess virtue. So he (may Allah have mercy on him) knew the virtue of al-Siddiq and 'Umar and the virtue of 'Uthman, and he did not resent that al-Siddiq and 'Umar were preferred over him. And so 'Uthman was preferred over him, and he was pledged allegiance to, and the people pledged allegiance with him, and the people pledged allegiance to 'Uthman; 'Ali (may Allah have mercy on him) pledged allegiance with the people to 'Uthman when the Muslims pledged allegiance to him and supported him in his caliphate (may Allah be pleased with them all).
And only those who deviated from this are those whom Allah has distanced by their defective belief, the Rafidah. So it is obligatory upon the believer to beware of their saying and to be upright upon what the people of the Sunnah and the community said, and to love all the Companions and express satisfaction with all of them, and to believe that they are the best of creation after the Prophets, and that they are the bearers of the Shari'ah, and that disparaging them is a great deniable matter. For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
When something occurred between 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf and Khalid ibn al-Walid, he said: . This is an explicit text from him (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the prohibition of cursing them. So it is not permissible to curse any of them, neither their elders nor their juniors. It is obligatory to express satisfaction with them and to love them with sincere love and to believe that they are the best of people, and the best of people after the Prophets. And it is not permissible to curse any of them (may Allah be pleased with them) and may He be pleased with them. For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) explained their virtue, and said: . After he prohibited cursing them, he said: . This indicates the prohibition of cursing them and that it is a great deniable matter, and that their expenditures are multiplied (may Allah be pleased with them) and may He be pleased with them. And if one of us were to spend like Mount Uhud—this great mountain—in gold, it would not reach the mudd of one of them or its half. So how is it permissible for anyone after this to disparage them, or curse them, or criticize them, or belittle them?
And I call upon all the Shi'ah, I call upon them all, to return from what they are upon of falsehood, and to fear Allah, and to know the rank of the Companions and express satisfaction with all of them, and to agree with the people of the Sunnah in expressing satisfaction with them, loving them, and believing in their station with Allah, and that they are the Companions of his Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that they are the transmitters of the reports to us in tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and in the prayer, and in the zakah, and in the fasting, and in the Hajj, and in the other matters of the religion. They are the transmitters, they are the trustworthy ones (may Allah be pleased with them) and may He be pleased with them. And 'Ali is among them, and so are al-Hasan and al-Husayn among them (may Allah be pleased with them all).
It is obligatory to love them and to accord them their due status. It is obligatory for every Shi'i in any land of Allah to fear Allah, to return to the truth, to believe in Allah alone, and to believe His Messenger in what he said (peace and blessings be upon him). They must affirm the oneness of Allah and single Him out for worship, and not worship anyone from the People of the House, neither Ali nor anyone else, for worship is the right of Allah alone . They must know that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and the rest of the People of the House are all not infallible and do not know the unseen; rather, they are like everyone else, such as al-Siddiq, 'Umar, 'Uthman, Talhah, and others. None of them know the unseen, and each one of them may make a mistake and is not infallible. However, despite all this, they are the best of people and the most excellent of people.
As for any slip or sin that may occur from some of them, they have such great good deeds, abundant virtues, and great nearness to Allah that we hope Allah will erase their slip and forgive their sin thereby. They have a favor with Allah that no one can match.
It is obligatory for the Shi'ah and others to know the status of these righteous ones, to honor them as Allah has honored them, to acknowledge their virtue, to be pleased with them, and not to exaggerate regarding the People of the House. They must not worship any of them besides Allah, neither by calling for aid, nor by supplication, nor by claiming that they are infallible, or that they know the unseen, or by disparaging the rule of al-Siddiq, or the rule of 'Uthman, or 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) . Rather, it is obligatory for them all to follow the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and to proceed upon the methodology of the people of the Sunnah, for it is the truth in which there is no doubt. As for what the Rafidah or others of the Shi'ah have claimed by disparaging the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is false, a great abomination, and a widespread evil. They must hasten to repent to Allah from it as quickly as possible before they die. We ask Allah for guidance for everyone.

The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good, benefit us with your knowledge, and accept from you.