2
What the Shiites Say
About
the Companions
of the Prophet (peace be upon him)
Dr. Umar Labdo
3
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Chapter One
The Sunni View of the Companions
Who Are the Companions?
Muslim scholars have given the definition of a Sahabi (plural:
Sahabah or As’hab), that is a Companion, as “Any person, male or female,
who met the Prophet (peace be upon him) while a Muslim and died as a
Muslim.”1
They used the word “met” instead of “seen” to include the blind who
met the Prophet, believed in him but never saw him. They also qualified
meeting him with “being a Muslim” to exclude those who met him but did
not believe in him. The last qualification, “died as a Muslim”, is meant to
exclude those who met him, believed in him but committed apostasy
afterwards and died as unbelievers. However, those who committed apostasy
after meeting him but reverted to Islam are considered Companions, as
consideration is given only to the state in which one dies.
Technically speaking, therefore, a Companion is any person, male or
female, who was favoured by divine providence to have met the Prophet and
believed in him. Such a meeting may be long or short, repeated or once. This
includes those who had association or relationship with him, such as his
family, including his wives, his relatives or friends. It also includes all those
who met him in whatever capacity, circumstance or occasion, provided they
were Muslims, however short the meeting was.
1 Ahmad bin Ali bin Hajar, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-Sahabah, Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, Beirut, n.d., vol. 1 p. 10.
4
Some scholars have stipulated that the individual must be an adult at
the time of the meeting, implying that underaged children who met the
Prophet did not qualify as Companions. The widely accepted opinion,
however, is that being of age is not a condition and that attaining the age of
discretion is sufficient. Therefore, children who met him at the age of seven
and above are considered as Companions.
The Merits of the Companions
The Contemporaries of the Prophet, who believed in him, did not live
with him by chance. They were especially chosen by Allah to help the
Messenger in conveying his message. They have distinguishing merits above
all men except the prophets and messengers of Allah. Confirming this, the
Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
Surely, Allah has chosen my Companions above all
humans and the jinns except the prophets and
messengers.1
In a corroborative statement, the renown Companion, Abdullah bin Mas’ud,
said:
Allah examined the hearts of mankind and he
found Muhammad’s heart as the best of hearts; so
he chose him and sent him with his Message. Then
he examined the hearts of men and he found the
hearts of the Companions as the best of hearts; so
he appointed themas the lieutenants of his Prophet
and defenders of his religion.2
Below are some of the merits:
1. Allah has confirmed their faith. He said, “Those who have believed and
emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah and those who gave shelter and
1 Ibn Hajar, ibid., vol. 1 p. 21. He attributed the Hadith to al-Bazzar and said its narrators are
authenticated.
2 Abu Umar Yusuf bin Abdullah bin Abdulbarr, al-Isti’ab fi Ma’rifah al-As’hab, al-Maktabah al-Asriyyah,
Beirut, 1431/2010, vol. 1 p. 25.
5
aided, it is they who are the believers truly. For them is forgiveness and
noble provision.” (8: 74) The reference in this verse is to Muhajirun (who
emigrated) and the Ansar (who gave shelter and aided).
2. He has confirmed their sincerity and honesty: “Muhammad is the
Messenger of Allah; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers,
merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and prostrating [in
prayer], seeking bounty from Allah and [His] pleasure.” (48: 29) In another
verse, he said: “For the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes
and their properties, seeking bounty from Allah and [His] approval and
supporting Allah and His Messenger. Those are the truthful.” (59: 8)
3. Because of their true faith and sincere devotion, Allah is pleased with
them and they are pleased with him: “And the first forerunners [in the faith]
among the Muhajireen and the Ansar and those who followed them with
good conduct – Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him,
and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein
they will abide forever. That is the great attainment.” (9: 100)
4. They are the best of mankind: “You are the best community that has been
raised up for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong
and believe in Allah.” (3: 110)
Commenting on the above verse, Ibn Kathir said, “This verse
addresses the whole Ummah, but the best generation of the Ummah is the
generation of the Prophet.”1 This is confirmed in Hadith. Ibn Mas’ud
narrates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) has said, “The best of all
generations is my generation, then those who followed them, then those who
followed them.”2
Companions Not Infallible
Despite their merits, the Companions of the Prophet were not
infallible. They were not holy in the sense of being above ordinary mortals.
They possessed no supernatural abilities or qualities, nor did they lay claim
1 Abul Fida’ Isma’il bin Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Azim, Maktabah al-Safah, Cairo, 1423/2002 vol. 2 p. 55.
2 Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
6
to any. They were just ordinary men and women destined to attain high
moral altitude for their deep belief and sincere devotion to Allah. They
accepted Allah’s message, the Qur’an, internalized it and practiced it with
utmost sincerity and honesty. They loved the Prophet deeply, followed him
faithfully and renounced worldly desires, cravings and greed. Their ultimate
goal was Allah’s pleasure for which they lived and died. The Almighty
rewarded their devotion and sincerity, and was pleased with them.
In whatever they did, the Companions always strived towards the
ideal. Therefore, they set standards which were hard for the subsequent
generations to meet. But being human, their lives were not without travails
and tribulations, nor their actions unblemished. Individually, they were
capable of committing mistakes, and some of them did actually commit
mistakes, but collectively they were the most impeccable and faultless
community.
Because of divine favour, and for having the advantage of living at the
time of revelation, the Companions’ mistakes were always instantly righted
and their sins forgiven or met with expiation and atonement. For example,
when a section of the Companions fled the battle during the encounter of
Uhud, an act that amounted to a great sin, or kabirah, a verse was
immediately revealed, which diagnosed the problem, prescribed a cure and
declared Allah’s forgiveness: “Indeed, those of you who turned back on the
day the two armies met [at Uhud] – it was Satan who caused them to slip
because of some [blame] they had earned. Now Allah has forgiven them.
Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing.” (3: 155)
Another example is when a man named Ta’mah stole an item and
conspired with his clan, the Banu Ubairiq, to blame it on a Jew. The stolen
item was found with the Jew after it was thrown into his house without his
knowledge. The man was taken to the Prophet and he was about to sentence
him in error. Allah revealed a total of nine verses in defense of the Jew and
exposed the conspirators:
Indeed, we have revealed to you, [O Muhammad],
the Book in truth so you may judge between men
7
by that which Allah has shown you. And do not be
for the deceitful an advocate…But whoever earns
an offence or a sin and then blames it on an
innocent [person] has taken upon himself a
slander and manifest sin…” (4: 105-113)
Thus, the impending miscarriage of justice was averted. The Jew was
exonerated, the conspiring clan repented and the Prophet (peace be upon
him) was saved from punishing the innocent person.1
After the death of the Prophet, the Companions faced tremendous
challenges. In addition to consolidating the young Islamic state, they were
the bearers of a new message that was destined to change the world. They
stood at the threshold of a tremendous transformation unknown in the
history of mankind. This means that heavy responsibilities involving
momentous decisions and actions were thrust upon them.
In the decisions and actions that the Companions took unanimously,
they were always right. However, in those that they disagreed upon,
naturally some of them were right and others wrong. For instance, they were
unanimous in electing Abubakar as the first Caliph and the ensuing
developments proved them right. They were unanimous in fighting the
apostates and subsequent events proved them right. They were also
unanimous in compiling the Qur’an during the caliphateship of Abubakar,
and later standardizing it during Uthman’s time. In all this, history proved
them right. This is a confirmation of the Prophetic saying: “My Ummah
shall never agree on error.”2
When the Companions disagreed in the time of Fitnah (political
turmoil), their actions and utterances showed that their motives were noble
and sincere. First, at the outbreak of the Fitnah, the greatest majority of them
remained neutral and did not become involved. They supported neither side,
nor did they take part in the actual fighting.
1 See the story in Ibn Kathir, op. cit., vol. 2 pp. 245-249.
2 Tirmizi, Ibn Majah and Ahmad 3/445.
8
Contrary to popular perception, in the fight between the fourth Caliph,
Ali bin Abu Talib, and Talha, Zubair and A’isha on the one hand, and
between him and Mu’awiyyah on the other, not up to ten per cent of the
Companions who were then alive took part. Muhammad bin Sirin, a great
Tabi’ and an eye-witness to the events, had this to say about the issue, “The
Fitnah arose when there were ten thousand Companions alive, but those who
became involved were not up to a hundred.”1
In another testimony by ‘Amir bin Shurahil al-Sha’bi, another eyewitness,
no one from among the Muhajirun attended the battle of Jamal
except the following: Ali, Ammar bin Yasir, Talha and Zubair. In yet
another account by Shu’bah, also an eye-witness, only one Badri (a
Companion who attended the battle of Badr) was present at the battle of
Jamal.2 We may add here that, of the nine wives of the Prophet who
survived him, only A’isha got involved in the Fitnah.
The civil war that took place between the Companions was the most
humane and civilized ever seen in the history of mankind. It was not
motivated by primordial interests or feelings, but was fought purely on
principles. The rules of engagement, the actual conduct of the war and the
treatment of war captives – all point to the sublime motives and noble
objectives of the war. Each side was fighting for a cause they believed to be
just and dear to their hearts, but did not make them for a moment forget that
they were all brothers in Islam.
The details of the encounters sound fantastic to the modern ear used to
the destructive and hate-filled warfare of the twenty-first century. In between
battles, each side went to fetch water from the same source, overcrowding
the place and often helping one another. When it was time for prayer, they
stopped to pray. After each battle, each side entered the camp of the other,
mixing freely and mourning their dead together. When Ammar bin Yasir,
1 Ahmad bin Taimiyyah, Minhaj al-Sunnah, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, n.d., vol. 3 p. 186.
2 Ibid., vol. 3 pp. 186-7.
9
from Ali’s camp, was martyred, both sides performed the funeral prayers on
him!1
Thus, the civil war between the Companions of the Prophet did not
sever the bond of brotherhood between them, nor did it make them condemn
each other as unbelievers, contrary to false accusations of their detractors.
Passing Judgment on the Companions
Sunni scholars are unanimous that Ali bin Abu Talib (may Allah be
pleased with him) who was the legitimate Caliph at the time of the Fitnah,
was right and that his opponents, including A’isha, Talha, Zubair and
Mu’awiyyah (may Allah be pleased with them all), were wrong, even though
they were blameless because they were fighting what they honestly believed
to be a just cause and their motives were sound. According to them, both
sides were searching for the truth: Ali found it and the others missed it. So,
Ali had two rewards for searching and finding the truth, while the others had
one for the honest and sincere effort of searching.2
The position of the followers of Sunnah, therefore, is that Muslims
should not sit in judgment on the Companions of the Prophet or apportion
blame to any party. Instead, they should have respect, loyalty and high
opinion for all of them without any discrimination. They should also pray for
all as Allah has instructed:
For the poor emigrants who were expelled from
their homes and their properties, seeking bounty
from Allah and [His] approval and supporting
Allah and His Messenger, those are the truthful.
And those who were settled in the Home [i.e., al-
Madinah] and [adopted] the faith before them,
they love those who emigrated to them and find no
any want in their heart of what they [i.e., the
emigrants] were given but give [them] preference
1 Ali Muhammad Sallabi, Haqiqat al-Khilaf bain al-Sahabah, al-Maktabah al-Asriyyah, Beirut, 1429/2008,
pp. 123-4.
2 Ibid., p. 153.
10
over themselves, even though they were in
privation. And whoever is protected from the
stinginess of his soul – it is those who will be
successful.
And those who came after them, saying “Our Lord,
forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in
faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment
toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed
You are Kind and Merciful.” (59: 8-10)
The above three verses have classified the Ummah into three groups:
The emigrants who were the truthful, those who gave shelter to them who
were the successful and finally those who came after them. The first two
refer to the Companions of the Prophet, the Muhajirun and the Ansaar.
They have been given the stamp of approval: truth and success. The third
refers to all the subsequent generations of Muslims until the end of time.
They are waiting for theirs. Those to receive it are the ones who pray for the
former and have no resentment against them.
11
Chapter Two
The Shiite View of the Companions
In chapter one, we have seen the Sunni creed on the Companions of
the Prophet (peace be upon him). In this chapter, we are going to study the
Shiites’ view on the first generation of Muslims. We shall depend entirely on
Shi’ah sources in writing this section, and will be quoting directly from their
authorities whom they recognize and accept.
A Definition of the Companions
The renowned Shiite scholar, Abdullah al-Mamiqani, defines a
Companion of the Prophet (Sahabi) as “Any person who met the Prophet
(peace be upon him), while believing in him, and died a believer even if he
[or she] committed apostasy in-between.”1 This means that the Shiites, like
the Sunnis, consider as Companions those who committed apostasy after
meeting the Prophet and believing in him, but reverted to Islam before their
death.
It will be noted that there is no difference in the definitions of the
Sunnis and the Shiites. In fact, Shi’ah scholars adopted the Sunni definition,
as admitted by the editor of Miqbas al-Hidayah.2
But when we come to their views on the Companions, we find a world
of difference. Unlike the Sunnah followers, the Shiites maintain a very
negative, aggressive and contemptuous attitude toward this exemplary
generation of men and women who supported the Prophet and aided him in
conveying the message of Islam. The views, very harsh and extreme, are
scattered in books written by their ancient as well as modern and
contemporary scholars. Below, we shall outline some of these views,
quoting directly from their bona fide religious authorities.
1 Abdullah al-Mamiqani, Miqbas al-Hidayah fi Ilm al-Dirayah, Mu’assasah Aal al-Bait li Ihya’ al-Turath,
1411/1991, vol. 3 p. 301.
2 See ibid., vol. 3 p. 300, footnote No. 2.
12
Companions Commit Apostasy!
Shiites believe that majority of the Companions committed apostasy
after the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The foremost Shi’ah
authority on Hadith, Muhammad bin Ya’qub al-Kulaini, reports that Abu
Ja’afar, the fifth Shi’ah Imam, has said: “People became apostates after the
death of the Prophet, except three. I said: Who are the three? He replied:
Miqdad bin al-Aswad, Abu Zarr al-Ghifari and Salman al-Farisi.”1
Another Shi’ah authority, Nurullah Tustari, wrote: “Muhammad
(peace be upon him), came and guided many people but, after his death, they
turned on their heels.”2 [Meaning: they reverted to unbelief].
The belief that majority of the Companions of the Prophet committed
apostasy immediately after his death, is very popular among Shiite scholars
and religious authorities. Some even believe that most of the Companions
never accepted Islam in the first place, but they were acting hypocritically
and deceiving the Prophet. A noted Shi’ah scholar and jurist, Faid al-
Kashani, wrote: “Most of them [the Companions] were hiding their
hypocricy.”3 Imam Khumaini, leader of the Iranian revolution, also shared
this opinion. He wrote in his famous book, al-Hukumah al-Islamiyya, “The
Companions were [all] hypocrites.”4
Shiite scholars are particularly harsh in their accusations against the
most prominent Companions of the Prophet, namely Abubakar and Umar.
They mention them by name and accuse them of abominable acts of
hypocrisy and unbelief. Notable Shi’ah scholar and prolific writer,
Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi, said this about them, “Surely, Abubakar and
Umar were unbelievers.”5 Another Shi’ah scholar of note, Abdul Hussain al-
1 Muhammad bin Ya’qub al-Kulaini, al-Raudah min al-Kafi, Dar al-Murtadi, Beirut, 1428 A.H., vol. 8 p.
2084.
2 Nur Allah al-Hussaini al-Tustari, Ihqaq al-Haqq wa Izhaq al-Batil, al-Matba’ah al-Islamiyyah, Tehran, n.d.,
p. 316.
3 Faid al-Kashani, Tafsir al-Safi, Maktabah al-Sadr, Tehran, 1374 A.H., vol. 1 p. 9.
4 Ayatullah Ruhullah Khumaini, al-Hukumah al-Islamiyyah, published by the Ministry of Guidance, Islamic
Republic of Iran, n.d., p. 69.
5 Ayatullah Ruhullah Khumaini, Kashf al-Asrar, Tehran, 1363 A.H., p. 112. After quoting al-Majlisi,
Khumaini concurred with him.
13
Rashti, wrote, “Abubakar and Umar were the major cause for misguiding
this Ummah.”1
But why do the Shiites regard the Companions as unbelievers? The
reason is simple. The Companions, according to them, conspired against Ali
and denied him his legitimate right to be the Caliph, or Imam, after the death
of the Prophet. By this act, they willfully disobeyed the Prophet’s explicit
instruction and will that Ali should inherit him in the leadership of the
Ummah. It is by this purported usurpation of Ali’s right and disobedience to
the Prophet that the Companions committed apostasy.
The foremost Shi’ah authority on Hadith, al-Kulaini, reports that Abu
Abdullah, the sixth Shi’ah Imam, has said: “There are three people whom
Allah will not speak to on the Day of Judgment, nor will he purify them, and
for them will be hellfire: The one who claims Imamah that is not due to him,
the one who denies a true Imam and the one who regards the former two as
Muslims.”2 Thus, Abubakar, Umar and Usman, who were Caliphs before Ali
and who, in the Shiite view, usurped the imamate from him, as well as the
rest of the Companions who recognized them as Caliphs and supported
them, are all apostates and unbelievers. This means that virtually all
Muslims, except those who reject the first three Caliphs, are unbelievers.
And that precisely is the essence of the dogma of denunciation.
The Doctrine of Denunciation (Bara’ah)
Shiites renounce the generality of the Companions. This
denunciation, known as Bara’ah, is a cardinal principle of their faith and
includes all those who pay allegiance to the Companions, love them or are
devoted to them. It also includes all those who recognize the Caliphateship
of the first three Caliphs.
Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi, the great Shi’ah authority and influential
scholar, writes: “Our doctrine of Bara’ah is that we denounce the four idols:
Abubakar, Umar, Uthman and Mu’awiyyah; and the four women: A’isha,
Hafsah, Hind and Umm al-Hakam. We also denounce all their followers and
1 Abdul Hussain al-Rashti, Kashf al-Ishtibah, al-Matba’ah al-Askariyyah, Tehran, 1468 A.H., p. 98.
2 Muhammad bin Ya’qub al-Kulaini, Usul al-Kafi, Dar al-Murtadi, Beirut, 1426 A.H., vol. 1 p. 279.
14
supporters. We consider them the most evil of Allah’s creation on the face of
the earth; and that belief in Allah, his Messenger and the Imams will not be
valid until after denouncing them.”1
The four men mentioned in the above quote are well known. Of the
women, however, the first two are well known, but the rest may not be
known to some. Hind was Mu’awiyya’s mother and she accepted Islam
before her death and died as a Muslim. Umm al-Hakam, perhaps, was the
grandmother of Marwan bin al-Hakam, a pillar in the much-hated, muchmaligned
Umayyad clan. The crime of the first three men, Abubakar, Umar
and Usman, is that they usurped Ali’s right to the Caliphateship, and
Mu’awiyyah fought Ali at the battle of Siffain. For these serious
‘culpabilities’, they are condemned as the most evil of Allah’s creatures in
the world!! As for the women, it seems that their association with the men
made them culpable also, although the Shiites accuse A’isha and Hafsah of a
variety of crimes of their own into which we shall not delve here.
Cursing the Companions is Ibadah
According to the Shiites, cursing the Companions of the Prophet is a
form of worship by which one can gain Allah’s favour and win multitudes of
rewards. Therefore, followers of the sect repeat curses, especially on the two
Caliphs Abubakar and Umar (may Allah be pleased with both), a specific
number of times in the morning and evening just as Muslims recite
glorifications of God, Tasbih, or benedictions for the Prophet, Salatun
Nabiyy, at daybreak and at sunset. And they are doing this, according to
them, on the instructions of their Imams whose words are akin to a Prophetic
command!
A well-known Shi’ah scholar and religious authority, Mullah Kazim,
reports, attributing same to Ali Zain al-Abidin, the fourth Imam, that he said:
“Whoever curses Jibt and Tagut once Allah will award him a million
1 Haqq al-Yaqin by al-Majlisi trans. from the Persian by Abdussatar al-Tunisi, Maktabah al-Ghuraba, al-
Madinah al-Munawwarah, 1419/1999, p. 53.
15
rewards, erase a million of his sins and raise him to seventy million ranks.”1
Jibt and Tagut are Shiite slang names for Abubakar and Umar.
Kazim also reports from Muhammad al-Baqir, the fifth Shi’ah Imam,
that he said: “Whoever curses them [Abubakar and Umar] once in the
morning, no sin shall be recorded against him for the day and whoever
curses them in the evening no sin shall be recorded against him until the next
morning.”2
Important Notice:
Sunni Muslims consider the twelve Shi’ah Imams and other members
of the Prophet’s household as belonging to the rank of the leadership of
Ahlus Sunnah. They also believe that statements attributed to them by the
Shiites that are contrary to the teachings of the Qur’an and Hadith, such as
the ones above, are mere lies and the Imams are innocent of them.
The Reaction Theory
What we have seen of the Shiite belief and attitude towards the
Companions of the Prophet is hardly believable, but unfortunately it is true.
The average Muslim reader will find it difficult to comprehend how anyone
who claims to be a Muslim would condemn Abubakar and Umar (may Allah
be pleased with both), as apostates, denounce them and regard cursing them
as ibadah. He will find himself compelled to ask: What kind of Islam is this?
And what is the rationale behind this strange belief and bizarre attitude?
Many researchers have investigated these questions. They tried to
offer explanations one of which is the reaction theory.
The essence of the theory is that Shiism was founded by Jews and the
Persians as a reaction to Islam’s destruction of their civilizations and
effectively wiping them off the map of the world.3 The Prophet fought the
1 Mullah Kazim Ajma’ al-Fada’ih, p 513 as quoted by Ihsan Ilahi Zahir, al-Shi’ah wa Ahl al-Bait, Idarah
Turjuman al-Sunnah, Lahore-Pakista, n.d., p. 157.
2 Ibid.
3 See the following sources by Shiite scholars who admit that the first to teach the doctrines of Shiism
were the Jewish and Persian converts to Islam: Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Hassan al-Mamiqani, Tanqih
16
Jews at Madina and Khaybar and dislodged them from the Arabian
Peninsula. The Companions of the Prophet, under the leadership of the
second Caliph Umar bin al-Khattab, fought the Persian Empire in a series of
battles, dispossessing it of territories until they destroyed it completely. All
this was accomplished in 25 years.
It is understandable if these great peoples, the Jews and the Persians,
were angry at having their millennia old civilizations destroyed in just 25
years, something unprecedented in history. But it was a reality in the face of
which they could do little. They had been vanquished at the battlefield.
But would they give up? No. They changed tactics. They embraced
Islam en masse with the intention of fighting the faith from within. The
result was the founding and development of the Shi’ah sect, which took as a
cover the love of the family of the Prophet, Ahlul Bait.
Shiism was founded as a secret movement with the avowed objective
of destroying Islam. This is why their teachings and beliefs contradict the
basic tenets of Islam, as contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah. They made
secrecy a cardinal principle of the movement in what they call Taqiyyah
(dissimulation or hidden identity). The earliest activities of the movement
led to the assassination of the second and third Caliphs, Umar bin al-Khattab
and Uthman bin Affan. They also precipitated the first internal disagreement
between the Muslims which culminated in the two civil wars of Jamal and
Siffain. This constituted the first crack in the wall of Islam which has never
quite been mended till today.
Important Notices:
1. Sunni Muslims consider the twelve Shi’ah Imams and other members of
the Prophet’s household, Ahlul Bait, as belonging to the rank of the
leadership of Ahlus Sunnah. They also believe that statements attributed to
them by the Shiites, which are contrary to the teachings of the Qur’an and
Hadith, such as the ones we have seen, are mere lies and the Imams are
innocent of them.
al-Maqal, al-Matba’ah al-Murtadawiyyah, Najaf-Iraq, 1348 A.H., vol. 2 p. 184; Sa’ad bin Abdillah al-Ash’ari
al-Qummi, al-Maqalat wa al-Firaq, Matba’ah Haidari, Tehran-Iran, 1963, p. 61.
17
2. Shiite sources consulted in preparing this booklet are available at the
library of Markazus Sahabah in Sokoto. The library is open to the public.
