Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil. 1
And the love for the fulfilment of passions is also inherent in each one:
زُ‏ يِّنَ‏ لِلناَّاسِ‏ حُ‏ بُّ‏ الشاَّ‏ هَ‏ وَ‏ اتِ‏ مِنَ‏ النِّسَ‏ آءِ‏ وَ‏ الْبَنِيْنَ‏ وَ‏ الْقَ‏ نَاطِ‏ يْرِ‏ الْمُ‏ قَ‏ نْطَ‏ رَ‏ ةِ‏ مِنَ‏ الذاَّ‏ هَ‏ بِ‏ وَ‏ الْفِضاَّ‏ ةِ‏ وَ‏ الْخَ‏ يْلِ‏
الْمُ‏ سَ‏ واَّ‏ مَ‏ ةِ‏ وَ‏ الْ‏ ‏َنْعَ‏ امِ‏ وَ‏ الْحَ‏ رْ‏ ثِ‏
Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire – of women and sons,
heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. 2
But because Allah E selected them for the companionship of His Nabī and
the propagation of His Dīn, He purified their hearts and cleansed their souls. As
a result, they were the most complete of the deficient human race, and the bad
deeds of any of them was like a droplet in comparison to his ocean of good.
Ibn al-Anbārī 3 mentions:
ليس المراد ب)عدالتهم(‏ ثبوت العصمة لهم واستحالة المعصية عليهم،‏ وإنما المراد قبول رواياتهم دون
تكلف بحث العدالة وطلب التزكية،‏ إل ان يثبت ارتكاب قادح.‏ ولم يثبت ذلك ولله الحمد،‏ فنحن على
استصحاب ما كانوا عليه في زمن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم حتى يثبت خالفه،‏ ول التفات إلى ما
يذكره أهل السير فإنه ل يصح،‏ وما يصح فله تأويل صحيح.‏
Their uprightness does not necessitate their infallibility and the impossibility
of them sinning. Rather it necessitates accepting their narrations without
taking the trouble of investigating their integrity and without ascertaining
1 Sūrah Yūsuf: 53.
2 Sūrah Āl ʿImrān: 14.
3 Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, Abū Bakr ibn al-Anbārī. A great scholar
and author. He was born in 271 A.H. and earned acclaim for his in depth knowledge of the sciences
of language. To the extent that it is said that he memorised three hundred thousand examples (for
various laws) from the Qurʾān. Al-Khaṭīb has described him saying, “A truthful person, pious and
virtuous. From the Ahl al-Sunnah.” He passed away in 328 A.H. Some of his works are: al-Waqf wa al-
Ibtidāʾ, Kitāb al-Mushkil, Kitāb al-Ẓāhir. See Tārīkh Baghdād 3/181; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 15/274; al-ʿIbar fī
Khabar man Ghabar 2/220; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/196.
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