The Prophet’s Companions

A number of muslims hold that anyone of the Prophet’s companions is just, and has reached the stage of religious leadership; he is therefore favored by God. If he has done something wrong he is excused and therefore could be followed in religious guidance.

But in the views of those who are just and will not go any path but that of truth, this opinion is considered as against wisdom and justice and in contradiction with the Holy Qur’an’s explicit verses and the Prophet’s authentic narrations. These scholars, with whom the sunni scholars agreed upon, hold that, being the Prophet’s companion by itself is not the required basis for justice, acceptance and salvage. We should pay attention to two issues here: Firstly, such followers have not become qualified for religious guidance.

Secondly, we should note that there were a lot of people who participated in the Prophet’s Islamic activities, but secretly had cooperation with Prophet’s foes and took part in the conspiracies against the Prophet (s.a.w). Superficially they could be called the Prophet’s followers since most of the time they had dialogues with the Prophet(s.a.w). Concerning this type of people, the Holy Qur’an states:

وَمِنْ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ  [1]

“And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers.”

يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّا أَنفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ  [2]

“They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, and they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive.”

فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ فَزَادَهُمْ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ  [3]

“There is a disease in their hearts, so Allah added to their disease and they shall have a painful chastisement because they lied.”

Based on the surah Hujurat(The Chambers, Qur’an 49) and other sacred surahs of the Holy Qur’an, the basis of honor and acceptability by Allah on the part of the believers is their chastity:

إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ  [4]

“Surely the most honorable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful of his duty.”

بَلَى مَنْ أَوْفَى بِعَهْدِهِ وَاتَّقَى فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ  [5]

“Yea, whoever fulfils his promise and guards against evil – then surely Allah loves those who guard against evil.”

وَإِنْ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا وَارِدُهَا كَانَ عَلَى رَبِّكَ حَتْمًا مَقْضِيًّا ثُمَّ نُنَجِّي الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَنَذَرُ الظَّالِمِينَ فِيهَا جِثِيًّا  [6]

“And there is not one of you but shall come to it; this is an unavoidable decree of your Lord. And We will deliver those who guarded against evil, and We will have the unjust therein on their knees.”

In His verses, The Almighty Allah explicitly sets the guard against evil as the criterion for the salvage against the painful chastisement. Therefore, those who do not meet this requirement could not be considered the Prophet’s genuine followers(companions).

In the verse18, Surah Fatih(Qur’an 48:18) Allah says:

لَقَدْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ فَعَلِمَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ فَأَنْزَلَ السَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَثَابَهُمْ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا

 “Certainly Allah was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquility on them and rewarded them with a near victory.”

In this sacred verse, the mere fact of being the Prophet’s companion is not emphasized; rather, God emphasizes that He is satisfied with the believers. Therefore, as it is stipulated in the ninth and tenth verses of the Surah Baqara(Qur’an 2:9-10), the hypocrites are outside the sphere of God’s satisfaction. Furthermore, God’s consent and satisfaction continue while the believer is steady in his belief in Islam and while he is loyal to his covenant and allegiance towards God.

The breach of one’s allegiance towards God is a major sin and the History of Islam reveals that many people broke their covenant with the Prophet (s.a.w) while they considered themselves as the Prophet’s companions.

Entering into the allegiance with God and His apostle is taken to mean that the participant in this allegiance has avoided taking part in blasphemy, homicide, plunder, adultery, usury (unlawful profit), escape from Holy War, and he is firm and steady in his obedience towards God’s commands.

It is narrated from Imam Musa Ibn Ja’afar (a.s):

ثَلاثٌ مُوبِقاتٌ: نَكْتُ الصَّفْقَةِ، وَتَرْكُ السُّنَّةِ، وَفِراقُ الْجَماعَةِ. [7]

“There are three sins whose chastisement is extremely painful: the breach of allegiance; the avoidance of Sunnah(tradition),and the isolation from congregation.”

By the avoidance of Sunnah is meant negligence towards the Proohet’s commands, and by the isolation from congregation is meant keeping aloof from people’s worldly affairs.