Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

204 'Ali ibn Abi Triib in Makkah
go astray.' Some of them said: 'The Messenger of Allah (g) is
overcome with pain, and you have the Qur'an; the Book of Allah is
sufficient for us.' The people in the house disagreed and argued.
Some of them said: 'Bring @en and paper) and let him write a
document, after which you will never go astray'; and some of them
said something different. When their idle talk and argument became
too much, the Messenger of Allah (g) said: 'Get up and leave."'
Abdullah said: Ibn 'Abbk used to say: "What a calamity it was when
the Messenger of Allah (g) was prevented from writing that
document because of their disagreement and noise."526
According to another report from Ibn 'Abbb (&), he said:
'"I'hursday and what a Thursday! The Messenger of Allah (g) took a
hun for the worse, and he said: 'Bring me @en and paper) and I will
write for you a document, so you will not go astray after I am gone.'
But they argued (about that), and it is not appropriate to argue in the
presence of a Prophet. They said: 'What is the matter with him? Is he
delirious?527 Try to find out from him.' He said: 'Let me be, for the
state in which I am now is better. I instruct yon to do three things:
expel the polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula and reward the
delegations as I used to do.' Then he remained silent about the third,
or it was said he forgot it."528 There is no reason to criticise the
companions of the Messenger of AUah regarding what is proven in
this hadith and other sound reports. As for what the R Z ~ mention s
of criticism, it is false and known to be flawed. The scholars
answered some of it a long time ago, and among their responses were
the following points:
1. Difference of opinion among the Companions is proven to have
happened, and the reason for it was the different ways in which they
understood the words of the Messenger (@J and what he meant; they
did not intend to disobey him. AI-~u~bi,
the author of al-Mufhim,
said: "The reason for all of that was difference in interpretation,