8-Belief and Islam - Hakikat Kitabevi

that they were forgivable because they had an excuse, and that
they even gained thawâb. What can be said about that?”
Answer: Al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î and ’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz,
two great men of Islam, said that it was not permissible to use
the word ’wrong’ about any of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. For this
reason, it was said, “It is wrong to say ‘wrong’ about the
superiors.” It is not permissible for inferiors to say such words
as, “He did right,” “He did wrong,” “We approve,” or “We
disapprove,” about the superiors. As Allâhu ta’âlâ did not dirty
our hands with the blood of these great people, so we should
protect our tongues against uttering such words as ‘just’ and
‘unjust.’ Those profound scholars who studied the evidences
and events and said that Imâm ’Alî was right and his opponents
were mistaken, in fact, meant that if Hadrat ’Alî had had the
opportunity to talk with those on the other side, he would have
led them to employ ijtihâd in conformity with his ijtihâd. As a
matter of fact, Hadrat Zubair ibn Awwâm was against Hadrat
’Alî in the Battle of ‘Jamal’ but, after studying the facts more
deeply, he changed his ijtihâd and gave up fighting. The words
of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna who consider the mistake as
permissible should be taken as such. And it is not permissible to
say that Hadrat ’Alî and those who were with him were on the
just way and the other Companions of the Prophet, who were
on the other side with our mother ’Â’ishat as-Siddîqa, were on
the corrupt way.
These combats among as-Sahâbat al-kirâm were out of the
differences of ijtihâd in the branches of the Ahkâm ash-
Shar’iyya (the rules of Islam). They did not have any
disagreements on the fundamentals of Islam. Today, some
people speak ill and disrespectfully of the great men of Islam
such as Hadrat Mu’awiya and ’Amr ibn al-’Âs (radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anhumâ). They cannot realize that they in reality defame
and belittle Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) by
defaming as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. It is written in Shifâ’ ash-sherîf
that Imâm Mâlik ibn Anas said, “A person who swears at and
slanders Mu’âwiya [1] and ’Amr ibn al-’Âs [2] deserves the words
he says against them. It is necessary to punish severely those
[1]
Hadrat Muâwiya bin Abû Sufyân passed away in Damascus in 60 [680
A.D.].
[2]
’Amr Ibn al-Âs passed away in Egypt in 43 [663 A.D.].
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