(1) The opinion of the School of Caliphate regarding the Justice of the Companion.

According to the School of Caliphate, all the Companions are just. They refer to all of them and take their tenets of their faith from them.

Imam of the polemics, Al Hafiz Abu Hatim Al-Razi¹ writes in his Preface:

As far as the Companions of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) are concerned they are those who have witnessed the revelation of the Quran and understood the tafsir (exegesis) and taveel (explanation) of the revelation. They are those who had been selected by Allah for the company of the Prophet (s.a.); to help him in the establishment and spread of the religion.

Allah was pleased at their being Companions. Allah made them exemplars for us. They memorised all those things from the Prophet (s.a.) which had reached him from Allah, and all those things which Allah had made as the law of faith and indicated to be the correct path. He also revealed His orders and prohibitions. The Companions were properly warned and their morals were perfected. So they grasped the rules of faith in a proper way and became well versed in religion. They were knowledgeable of the orders and prohibitions of Allah, and His wish and will by the help of the Prophet (s.a.); and whatever Tafsir and Taveel they had learnt of the Quran. So Allah exalted their status and made them an example for us. He protected them from doubt, mistake and pride etc. He made them the just ones of the Ummat. The Almighty Allah says: "And we have made you a medium nation that you may be bearers to the people......" (Surah Baqarah 2:143)

The Prophet (s.a.) has given the meaning of ‘medium’ as ‘just’. So they are the just ones of Ummat and the leaders of guidance and the proofs of religion and copies of Quran and Sunnat.

The Almighty Allah made it permissible for us to follow them and tread their path. He says, "…and follows other than the way of believers, We will turn him to that to which he has (himself) turned..."² (Surah Nisa 4:115)

We saw the Prophet (s.a.) that he used to emphasize the propagation of religion, and that he used to address them and pray for them and say: "May the Almighty bless the one who listens to me, learns the message and remembers it, till he propagates it to others;" and he said in his sermon, "Those of you who are present should convey this to those who are absent."

Then the Companions spread to all the regions and countries and settled down in various cities. They went to various wars and became officers in various departments and manned various jobs. Each of them was sent to his respective field. Wherever they went, they propagated whatever they had heard from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.); and gave verdicts to whatever they were asked. They based their replies on whatever they had remembered from the teachings of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.). They segregated themselves from the limelight to the maintain the sincerity of intention and avoided to show themselves high in the eyes of the people. So that they can teach the obligations and prohibitions and other Divine orders. Till the time the Almighty Allah called them to Himself.

Ibne Abde Barr in the Preface of his book
Al Istiab ³ says: "The Justice of the Companions is confirmed."

Then he has presented the ayats and hadiths with regard to the believers as we have presented above.

Ibne Katheer in the Preface of Usud al-Ghaba⁴ says: "Certainly those Sunnats on whom depend the haraam and halal and the tenets of religion are proved by the authenticity of the chains of narrators. The foremost of them are the Companions of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.). If someone does not recognise them, he cannot recognise others. He is absolutely ignorant. They should be recognised with their lineage and situations...

The Companions are common in all the narrators. So all of them should be accepted without doubting their integrity. All of them are just. We should not even doubt their character.

Hafiz ibne Hajar in the Preface of his book Isabah in the discussion of the circumstances of the Sahaba says in the third chapter regarding the Justice of Companions⁵ :

Except for some innovators all the Ahle Sunant agree that all Companions are just. Abu Zara says that "When you see a person who is relating the defect of a Sahabi, know that he is a Zindiq. Because the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) is truth, the Quran is truth and whatever is in it, is truth, and all these things which have reached us from the Companions (are truth). These people want to criticise the Companions in order that they may later refute the Quran and Sunnat; and prove them to be invalid. Therefore it is more preferable to criticize the one who criticizes the Sahabi. As they

are from the Zandiqa."⁶

This was the opinion of the scholars of the School of Caliphate as regards the Justice of Companions.

In the coming pages we will present the opinion of the School of Ahlul Bayt. (a.s.)

The opinion of School of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) is in consonance with the teachings of the Holy Quran. That is, Companions are those believers whom the Quran has praised. For example with reference to the allegiance of the tree Allah says: "Certainly Allah was well-pleased with the believers when they swore allegience to you under the tree, and He knows what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquility on them and rewarded them with a near victory." (Surah Fateh 48:18)

Allah has specially praised the believers who were present at the allegiance of the tree but the hypocrites were not included; like Abdulla ibn Ubay and Aws bin Kahwli.⁷ In the same way, the hypocrites have been flayed at many a times in the Quran. For example:

"And from among those who are round about you of the dwellers of the desert there are hypocrites and from among the people of Madinah (also); they are stubborn in hypocrisy; you do not know them; We know them; We
will chastise them twice, they shall be
turned back to a grievous chastisement."
(Surah Taubah 9:101)

Some of them are those whom Allah has called liars. Also those who had made allegations against the wives of the Prophet.⁸ We seek Allah’s refuge from all this !

Regarding some of them Allah says:

"And when they see merchandise or sport they break up for it and leave you standing."
(Surah Jumah 62:11)

This happened when the Prophet was giving the sermon of Friday in the mosque.

Moreover some of them planned to kill the Prophet at Uqba when he was returning from Tabuk⁹ and also at Farewell Hajj.¹⁰

Leave alone Companions. The Holy Quran has denounced even the wives of the Prophet (s.a.) when they acted in an objectionable manner.

Though marriage to the Prophet is more deserving of honour than the Companionship of the Holy Prophet. Because the Companionship of the wife was superior to other Companionships. Yet Allah says:

O wives of the Prophet ! You are not like any other of the women; …" (Surah Ahzab 33:30-32)

And about the two wives of Prophet (s.a.), the Almighty says:

"If you both turn to Allah, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this); and if you back up each other against him, then surely Allah it is Who is his Guardian, and Jibraeel and the believers that do good and the angels after that are the aiders." (Surah Tahrim 66:4)

Allah continues:

And Allah sets forth an example to those who disbelieve the wife of Firon when she said: My Lord! build for me a house with Thee in the garden … And Mariyam the daughter of Imran … (Surah Tahrim 66:10-12)

Thus we see that even though the wives were higher in status to Companions even they are not spared the ire of Allah if they dared to disobey Him. So how can we say that all Companions were just?

Also, regarding some of the Companions on the Day of Qiyamat, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said:

"And they will bring some people from my Ummat who would be led towards the punishment. I will say, "My Lord they were my Companions."

I will be told, "You don’t know what they did after you." I will reply like Isa (a.s.) "…and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst took me up, Thou wert the Watcher over them, and Thou are witness of all things." (Surah Maidah 5:117)

It will be said: They all renegaded after you left them.¹¹

In another tradition the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.) says:

Some of my Companions will come near the pool and I will recognise them. They will be jerked away from me. I will say, ‘My Companions’. It will be said: ‘You don’t know what they did after you.’¹²

There is a remarkable tradition in Sahih Muslim : The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.) said : "I would be on the Hauz (cistern) and so that I would be seeing those who would be coming to me from you, but some people would be detained (prevented) from reaching me. I would say : My Lord, they are my followers and belong to my Umma, and it would be said to me: Do you know what they did after you? By Allah, they did not do good after you, and they turned back upon their heels."¹³

When the hypocrites were present among the Companions and only Allah knew them, how can we judge, who is a believer and who is a hypocrite? Allah has provided a criterion for us when the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.)
informed that none loves Ali (a.s.) except the believer and none hates him except the
hypocrite. This fact has been mentioned in the traditions related by Ali (a.s.)¹⁴, Ummul
Momineen Umme Salma,¹⁵ Abdullah Ibne Abbas,¹⁶
Abu Zar Ghiffari,¹⁷ Anas ibne Malik,¹⁸ Imran bin Haseen.¹⁹ The above tradition was well-known during the time of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.).

Abu Zar says:

"We did not recognise the hypocrites except by their denial of Allah and His Messenger, their aversion towards the ritual prayers; and their hatred towards Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.)."²⁰

And Abu Saeed Khudri²¹ says:

"We know the hypocrites - we were from the Ansar - by their hatred towards Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.)."

Abdullah Ibne Abbas says:

"During the time of the Prophet (s.a.), we recognised a hypocrite by his malice towards Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.)."²²

Jabir Ibne Abdullah Ansari²³ says:

"We did not recognise the hypocrites except by their hatred towards Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.)."

All these traditions clearly mention the position of Ali (a.s.) vis-a-vis the hypocrites. It is for this very reason that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.) said regarding Ali (a.s.):

"O Allah Love the one who loves him (Ali) and be inimical to the one who has enimity towards him."²⁴

The righteous Companions of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) exercised caution while learning the tenets of faith. They refrained from obtaining any guidance from the enemies of Ali (a.s.), as they could have been the hypocrites whom Allah alone knew.

Therefore, we must also follow the righteous Companions. We must also learn the tenets of faith from those who loved Ali (a.s.). This way we can rest assured that the one whom we follow is a true believer; and thus we may avoid the deviation of hypocrites.