Adalat al-Sahaba Part VIII: Conclusion and Final Objections

We shall now go over some final objections to the concept of ‘Adalat al-Sahaba in order to clarify to our readers that we not only have responses to the beliefs of our opponents, but also have objections that our opponents cannot answer.

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If they were capable of apostasy, they would be capable of lying

Often we hear our opponents claiming that the Shia believe all the sahaba went apostate except for three or four. They often quote the following narration from al-Kafi, Vol. 8:

Hanaan, from his father, who has said: Abu Ja’far (AS) has said: ‘The people turned away from all that is necessary to follow after the Prophet (saws) except for three’. So I said, ‘And which three?’ So he said: ‘Al-Miqdad Bin Al-Aswad, and Abu Dharr Al-Ghaffari, and Salman Al-Farsy, may the Mercy of Allah (azwj) and His (azwj) Blessing be upon them. Then the people realized after a while’. And he (AS) said: ‘They are the ones upon whom the grinding stone turned, but they still refused to pledge their allegiances until they went to Amir-ul-Mumineen (AS), so they pledged their allegiances under threat, and that is the Statement of Allah (azwj) the High: “[3:144] And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; the messengers have already passed away before him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least and Allah will reward the grateful”.’

However, we find a somewhat similar message expressed by the Prophet (saw) in the hadith corpus of the Sunnis, and we shall quote just a few:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6526: The Prophet (ﷺ) stood up among us and addressed (saying) "You will be gathered, barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised (as Allah says): 'As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it..' (21.104) And the first human being to be dressed on the Day of Resurrection will be (the Prophet) Abraham Al-Khalil. Then will be brought some men of my followers who will be taken towards the left (i.e., to the Fire), and I will say: 'O Lord! My companions whereupon Allah will say: You do not know what they did after you left them. I will then say as the pious slave, Jesus said, And I was witness over them while I dwelt amongst them… (up to) ...the All-Wise.' (5.117-118). The narrator added: Then it will be said that those people (relegated from Islam, that is) kept on turning on their heels (deserted Islam).

Sahih al-Bukhari 3349: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "You will be gathered (on the Day of Judgment), bare-footed, naked and not circumcised." He then recited:--'As We began the first creation, We, shall repeat it: A Promise We have undertaken: Truly we shall do it.' (21.104) He added, "The first to be dressed on the Day of Resurrection, will be Abraham, and some of my companions will be taken towards the left side (i.e. to the (Hell) Fire), and I will say: 'My companions! My companions!' It will be said: 'They renegade from Islam after you left them.' Then I will say as the Pious slave of Allah (i.e. Jesus) said. 'And I was a witness Over them while I dwelt amongst them. When You took me up You were the Watcher over them, And You are a witness to all things. If You punish them. They are Your slaves And if You forgive them, Verily you, only You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." (5.120-121)

Sahih Muslim 2860b: While Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver a sermon, he said: 0 people, Allah would make you assemble barefooted, naked and uncircumcised (and then recited the words of the Qur'an):" As We created you for the first time, We shall repeat it. (It is) a promise (binding) upon us. Lo! We are to perform it, and the first person who would be clothed on the Day of Resurrection would be (Hadrat) Ibrahim (peace be upon him)" and, behold! some persons of my Ummah would be brought and taken to the left and I would say: My Lord, they are my companions, and it would be said: You do not know what they did after you, and I would say just as the pious servant (Hadrat 'Isa) said:, I was a witness regarding them as I remained among them and Thou art a witness over everything, so if Thou chastisest them, they are Thy servants and if Thou for- givest them, Thou art Mighty, Wise" (v. 117-118). And it would be said to him: They constantly turned to their heels since you left them. This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Waki' and Mu'adh (and the words are):" What new things they fabricated."

Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2423: "The people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection bare-foot, naked and uncircumcised as they were created." Then he recited: "As we begin the first creation, we shall repeat it: A promise binding upon Us. Truly We shall do it. And the first of people to be clothed will be Ibrahim. Among my companions will be some men who are taken to the right and to the left. I will say: 'O my Lord! My companions!' It will be said: 'You do not know what they innovated after you, they continued to be apostates since you parted from them.' So I will say as the righteous worshipper said: If you punish them, they are your slaves, and if You forgive them, indeed You, only You are the Almighty, the All-Wise."

Ali b. al-Athir explains the meaning of  “رِدَّةٍ” (apostasy) in those hadiths in his famous dictionary work, al-Nihayah Fi Gharib al-Hadith (pg. 354):

(س) وَفِي حَدِيثِ الْقِيَامَةِ والحَوْض «فَيُقَالُ إِنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَزَالُوا مُرْتَدِّينَ عَلَى أَعْقَابِهِمْ» أَيْ ‌مُتَخلِّفين ‌عَنْ ‌بَعْضِ ‌الْوَاجِبَاتِ، وَلَمْ يُردْ رِدَّة الكُفرِ، وَلِهَذَا قيَّده بأعْقابهم، لِأَنَّهُ لَمْ يَرْتَدَّ أحدٌ مِنَ الصَّحَابَةِ بَعْدَهُ، وَإِنَّمَا ارْتَدَّ قَوْمٌ مِنَ جُفَاة الْأَعْرَابِ.

In the hadith of the Resurrection and the Pool, it states, "It will be said, 'They continued to turn back on their heels.'" This means they fell short in fulfilling some obligations, not that they apostatized in disbelief. This is why it was qualified by "on their heels," because none of the Companions apostatized after him; rather, only some among the rough Bedouins turned back.

As evident, one of the most authoritative, if not the most authoritative, works on unique hadith terminology defines the term 'ridda' as failing to observe all of the ‘Wajibat’ (mandatory obligations), which is the definition that applies in this context. It may also mean complete apostasy, but that is not the case necessairily. Hence, in the hadith of al-Kafi, the same issue applies, and that ignores the many exceptions to that hadith. If God may will, we will write a separate article explaining this hadith in-depth.

Our opponents do believe that a Sahabi can in fact apostate from Islam and return to Islam. We read in Nukhbat al-Fikr pg. 63, as well as Nuzhat al-Nadhar pg. 189:

أو إلى الصحابي كذلك، وهو: من لقي النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم مؤمنا به ومات على الإسلام - ولو تخللت ردة في الأصح

Or, when it comes to the definition of a Companion, which is: "Someone who met the Prophet (saw) as a believer in him and died as a Muslim—even if there was a period of apostasy in between, according to the most accurate view."

To give an example of a companion who fit this criteria, we go to al-Mu'jam al-Kabir vol. 1, pg. 182, H # 648:

حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ سَلْمٍ الرَّازِيُّ، ثنا عَبْدُ الْمُؤْمِنِ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ، ثنا عَبْدُ السَّلَامِ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، عَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ أَبِي خَالِدٍ، عَنْ قَيْسِ بْنِ أَبِي حَازِمٍ، قَالَ: لَمَّا قُدِمَ بِالْأَشْعَثِ بْنِ قَيْسٍ أَسِيرًا عَلَى أَبِي بَكْرٍ الصِّدِّيقِ رضي الله عنه أَطْلَقَ وِثَاقَهُ وَزَوَّجَهُ أُخْتَهُ، فَاخْتَرَطَ سَيْفَهُ، وَدَخَلَ سُوقَ الْإِبِلِ، فَجَعَلَ لَا يَرَى جَمَلًا وَلَا نَاقَةً إِلَّا عَرْقَبَهُ، وَصَاحَ ‌النَّاسُ: ‌كَفَرَ ‌الْأَشْعَثُ، فَلَمَّا فَرَغَ، طَرَحَ سَيْفَهُ، وَقَالَ: «إِنِّي وَاللهِ مَا كَفَرْتُ، وَلَكِنْ زَوَّجَنِي هَذَا الرَّجُلُ أُخْتَهُ، وَلَوْ كُنَّا فِي بِلَادِنَا كَانَتْ لَنَا وَلِيمَةٌ غَيْرَ هَذِهِ، يَا أَهْلَ الْمَدِينَةِ، انْحَرُوا وَكُلُوا، وَيَا أَصْحَابَ الْإِبِلِ، تَعَالَوْا خُذُوا شَرْوَاهَا»

Abd al-Rahman b. Salm al-Razi narrated to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin b. ʿAli narrated to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Salam b. Harb narrated to us, from Ismaʿil b. Abi Khalid, from Qays b. Abi Hazim, who said:

When al-Ashʿath b. Qays was brought as a captive to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (RA), Abu Bakr released him and married him to his sister. Al-Ashʿath then unsheathed his sword, entered the camel market, and began to hamstring every camel he saw. People shouted, “Al-Ashʿath has apostatized!” When he was finished, he threw down his sword and said, “By Allah, I have not apostatized. Rather, this man married me to his sister, and had we been in our own land, we would have had a proper celebration different from this. O people of Madinah, slaughter and eat, and O camel owners, come and take replacements for what you have lost.”

This tradition was certified by al-Haythami in Majma’ al-Zawa'id, Vol. 9 pg. 512, Hadith # 16174. Should any one argue that the report does not explicitly say that al-Ash’ath apostated, we would simply ask them, why was he brought as a captive to Abu Bakr? Was it halal to take Muslims captive in Abu Bakr’s shari’a? This begs a very dangerous question; if our opponents believe it is possible for a companion to commit apostasy, then why is it impossible for them to lie on the Prophet (saw)?

The Dhabt of the Sahaba

When examining a narrator, there are two main qualities that scholars look for, and they are honesty and accuracy, known as dhabt. Even if we affirm that all the sahaba were honest, our opponents have absolutely no way to prove that everyone who saw the Prophet (saw) was accurate in their narration, as there are reports of Sahaba going senile later in life. 

We read in the following words of Abu Hanifa in Abu Shamah al-Maqdisi’s Mukhtasar al-Mu’ammal, pg. 63, Report # 149:

وَفِي رِوَايَة أقلد جَمِيع الصَّحَابَة وَلَا أستجيز خلافهم بِرَأْي إِلَّا ثَلَاثَة نفر أنس بن مَالك وَأَبُو هُرَيْرَة وَسمرَة بن جُنْدُب. فَقيل لَهُ فِي ذَلِك فَقَالَ ‌أما ‌أنس ‌فاختلط ‌فِي ‌آخر ‌عمره وَكَانَ يُفْتِي من عقله وَأَنا لَا أقلد عقله. وَأما أَبُو هُرَيْرَة فَكَانَ يروي كل مَا سمع من غير أَن يتَأَمَّل فِي الْمَعْنى وَمن غير أَن يعرف النَّاسِخ والمنسوخ

And in one narration: "I (Abu Hanifa) follow all the Companions and do not permit myself to go against them with my own opinion, except in the case of three individuals: Anas b. Malik, Abu Hurayra, and Samura b. Jundub." He was asked about this and replied, “As for Anas, he became confused in his later years and used to give rulings based on his own reasoning, and I do not follow his personal reasoning. As for Abu Hurayra, he would narrate everything he heard without pondering its meaning and without knowing the abrogating and the abrogated."

Interestingly, we see that even Abu Bakr and ‘Umar did not affirm the belief in ‘Adalat al-Sahaba, as we shall demonstrate from the most authentic books of our opponents.

Abu Bakr did not believe in ‘Adalat al-Sahaba

We read in Sahih al-Bukhari 2296:

Once the Prophet (ﷺ) said (to me), "If the money of Bahrain comes, I will give you a certain amount of it." The Prophet (ﷺ) had breathed his last before the money of Bahrain arrived. When the money of Bahrain reached, Abu Bakr announced, "Whoever was promised by the Prophet (ﷺ) should come to us." I went to Abu Bakr and said, "The Prophet (ﷺ) promised me so and so." Abu Bakr gave me a handful of coins and when I counted them, they were five-hundred in number. Abu Bakr then said, "Take twice the amount you have taken (besides).

We read in Ibn Shabbah's Tarikh al-Medina vol 1, pg. 124, Report # 554:

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا فُضَيْلُ بْنُ مَرْزُوقٍ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي النُّمَيْرِيُّ بْنُ حسان قَالَ: قُلْتُ لِزَيْدِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ رَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ: وَأَنَا أُرِيدُ أَنْ أُهَجِّنَ أَمْرَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ: إِنَّ أَبَا بَكْرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ انْتَزَعَ مِنْ فَاطِمَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا فَدَكَ. فَقَالَ: إِنَّ أَبَا بَكْرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ كَانَ رَجُلًا رَحِيمًا، وَكَانَ يَكْرَهُ أَنْ يُغَيِّرَ شَيْئًا تَرَكَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، فَأَتَتْهُ فَاطِمَةُ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا فَقَالَتْ: إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَعْطَانِي فَدَكَ فَقَالَ لَهَا: هَلْ لَكِ عَلَى هَذَا بَيِّنَةٌ؟ فَجَاءَتْ بِعَلِيٍّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ فَشَهِدَ لَهَا، ثُمَّ جَاءَتْ بِأُمِّ أَيْمَنَ فَقَالَتْ: أَلَيْسَ تَشْهَدُ أَنِّي مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى، قَالَ أَبُو أَحْمَدَ: يَعْنِي أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ ذَاكَ لِأَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَتْ: فَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَعْطَاهَا فَدَكَ فَقَالَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ: فَبِرَجُلٍ وَامْرَأَةٍ تَسْتَحِقِّينَهَا، أَوْ تَسْتَحِقِّينَ، بِهَا الْقَضِيَّةَ؟ قَالَ زَيْدُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ: وَايْمُ اللَّهِ، لَوْ رَجَعَ الْأَمْرُ إِلَيَّ لَقَضَيْتُ فِيهَا بِقَضَاءِ أَبِي بَكْرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ 

Muhammad b. Abdullah b. al-Zubayr from Fudhayl b. Marzuq from al-Numayri b. Hissan who said: I said to Zayd b. Ali and I wanted to know the truth about Abu Bakr, so I said:

Abu Bakr took away Fadak, from Fatima (sa). He said: Abu Bakr was a merciful man and he disliked to change the way the Prophet (saw) used to do things, then Fatima (AS) came to him and said: "The Messenger of Allah (saw) gave me the Fadak." So he said: "Do you have witnesses for this?" So she brought Ali (as) and he bore witness for her.  Then she brought Umm Ayman and she said: "Don’t you bear witness that I am of the people of Paradise?" Abu Bakr said: "Yes." Abu Ahmad said: It means that she said it to Abi Bakr and Umar. The she (i.e. Umm Ayman) said: "So I bear witness that the Prophet (saw) gave her the Fadak.” Abu Bakr said: "With the testimony of a man and woman you cannot win this." Zayd said: "By Allah (swt)! If the judgment returned to me I would have judged the same way Abu Bakr did."

Here we see that Abu Bakr did not believe that simply being a sahabi would suffice with regards to testimony, as he rejected the testimony of three sahaba in one case, but accepted the testimony of Jabir in one case. Clearly, Abu Bakr did not believe that simply being a sahabi meant everything someone narrated from the Prophet (SAW) was true.

‘Umar b. al-Khattab did not believe in ‘Adalat al-Sahaba 

We read in Sahih al-Bukhari 7353:

Abu Musa asked permission to enter upon `Umar, but seeing that he was busy, he went away. `Umar then said, "Didn't I hear the voice of `Abdullah bin Qais? Allow him to come in." He was called in and `Umar said to him, "What made you do what you did." He replied, "We have been instructed thus by the Prophet" `Umar said, "Bring proof (witness) for this, otherwise I will do so-and-so to you." Then `Abdullah bin Qais went to a gathering of the Ansar who then said, "None but the youngest of us will give the witness for it." So Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri got up and said, "We used to be instructed thus (by the Prophet)." `Umar said, "This tradition of the Prophet (ﷺ) remained hidden from me. Business in the market kept me busy."

We read in Sahih Muslim 2153a:

I was sitting in Medina in the company of the Ansar when Abu Musa came trembling with fear. We said to him: What is the matter? He said: 'Umar (Allah be pleased with him) sent for me. I went to him and paid him salutation thrice at (his) door but he made no response to me and so I came back. Thereupon he ('Umar) said: What stood in your way that you did not turn up? I said: I did come to you and paid you salutations at your door three times but I was not given any response, so I came back as the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has said: When any one of you seeks permission three times and he is not granted permission, he should come back. Umar said: Bring a witness to support that you say, otherwise I shall take you to task. Ubayy b. Ka'b said: None should stand with him (as a witness) but the youngest amongst the people. Abu Sa'id said: I am the youngest amongst the people, whereupon he said: Then you go with him (to support his contention).

Here we see very clearly that ‘Umar did not believe Abu Musa’s testimony without supporting evidence, which clearly means he did not believe in ‘Adalat al-Sahaba.

In conclusion, we see that ‘Adalat al-Sahaba, which is one of the most important beliefs in the creed of the opponents of the Shia, is not only baseless, but absolutely absurd. In order to fully grasp just how baseless this belief is, one only needs to read through the arguments we have provided, and see for themselves our our opponents do everything in their power to avoid discussing this topic, as they know that any Muslim capable of critical thinking will conclude that to authenticate an entire generation based off of such weak arguments is ridiculous. Only a critical analysis of the lives of these companions, free of censorship and blind sectarianism can allow us to conclude which of the people around the Prophet (SAW) were reliable authorities worthy of taking our religion from.

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