Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

ما جاء لحد من أصحاب رسول الله من الفضائل ما جاء لعلي بن أبي طالب
The merits of any of the Companions of Rasūl Allah H have not reached
us as much as the merits of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib have reached us. 1
He is also reported to have said:
ما بلغنا عن أحد من الصحابة ما بلغنا عن علي بن أبي طالب
The merits of any of the Ṣaḥābah M have not reached us as much as the
merits of ʿAlī ibn Ṭālib have reached us. 2
Several scholars are also reported to have said:
لم يرد في حق أحد من الصحابة بالسانيد الحسان أكثر مما جاء في علي
The merits of any of the Ṣaḥābah M have not featured with admissible
transmissions more than those that have featured regarding ʿAlī I. 3
It should not be understood from these quotes and others of their kind that the
Khulafāʾ who preceded ʿAlī I did not enjoy many merits. Instead, the fact of the
matter is that each one of them enjoyed merits and privileges which were unique
to him. But because the need of the time was combatting the prevailing aversion
towards ʿAlī, those who remained of the Ṣaḥābah M dispensed the merits they
knew about him; and the scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah channelled their efforts
toward documenting them preserving them and propagating them. As opposed
to many of the other Ṣaḥābah I who were not impugned at all, or very little.
Hence it is vital to note that these matters are not from the distinctions of ʿAlī
I, but are rather from his merits and virtues which point to his virtuousness;
1 Mustadrak Ḥākim 3/116, Tafsīr al-Thaʿlabī 4/81; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 3/263; Minhāj al-Sunnah al-
Nabawiyyah 8/421.
2 Fatḥ al-Bārī 7/74.
3 Al-Istīʿāb 3/1115; Fatḥ al-Bārī 7/71; al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Muḥriqah 2/353; Fayḍ al-Qadīr 4/355.
238