Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

In order to gauge their merit and lofty rank, it is sufficient to note that Allah
E, knowing their inner realities, praised them, and announced His pleasure
for them, not to mention that he knew full well what their eventual condition
would be and what would transpire between them. Therefore there can be no one
superior to a people whom Allah E has declared as people of integrity and
deemed upright. Allah E says:
فَالَ‏ تُزَ‏ كُّ‏ وْ‏ ا أَنْفُ‏ سَ‏ كُ‏ مْ‏ هُ‏ وَ‏ أَعْ‏ لَمُ‏ بِمَ‏ نِ‏ اتاَّقٰ‏ ى
So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is Most Knowing of who fears Him. 1
Likewise, from the greatest attestations of the merit of their companionship of
Nabī H is the virtue which is established for a person who merely saw him,
believing in him. So what would be the status of those who were honoured with
much more than that? Imām Aḥmad mentions:
فأدناهم صحبة أفضل من القرن الذين لم يروه ولو لقوا الله بجميع العمال
The lowest amongst them, in companionship, is better than the entire
generation which did not see him even though they meet Allah E with
all deeds. 2
And Ibn Taymiyah mentions:
من نظر في سيرة القوم بعلم وبصيرة،‏ وما من الله عليهم من الضائل علم يقينا أنهم خير الخلق بعد النبياء،‏
ل كان ول يكون مثلهم،‏ وإنهم صفوة الصفوة من قرون هذه المة،‏ التي هي خير المم وأكرمها على الله
Whoever studies the biographies of these people and the virtues Allah
E favoured them with, with knowledge and insight, will learn with
certainty that they are the best of the creation after the Ambiyāʾ Q.
1 Sūrah al-Najm: 32.
2 Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah 1/160; Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah 1/243; Maqtal al-Shahīd
ʿUthmān p. 175.
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