Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

They should overlook that which came forth from them at times of anger
and inattentiveness, and that which transpired at their hands when Shayṭān
tried to mislead them. We hold on to what Allah E has mentioned
in the Qurʾān when talking about them: ‘And [there is a share for] those
who came after them, saying, “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who
preceded us in faith…” 1 This is because there is no person who is exempted
from slipping, making mistakes, anger and immoderation, and Allah E
will forgive them. Any of this does not demand disassociation from them,
or opposing them. 2
Likewise al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī 3 mentions:
وليجتنب المحدث رواية ما شجر بين الصحابة ويمسك عن ذكر الحوادث التي كانت منهم،‏ ويعم
جميعهم بالصالة عليهم والستغفار.‏
A scholar of ḥadīth should refrain from narrating the conflicts which broke
out between the Ṣaḥābah M, and he should refrain from mentioning the
events which transpired between them; he should pray for all of them and
seek forgiveness for them. 4
Hereunder we discuss the reasons owing to which the pious predecessors have
refrained from delving into the conflicts which transpired between the Ṣaḥābah
M:
1 Sūrah al-Ḥashr: 10.
2 Al-Imāmah wa al-Radd ʿalā al-Rāfiḍah p. 341; al-Ghunyah ʿan al-Kalām wa Ahlih p. 59; Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād
p. 36.
3 Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad al-Baghdādī, Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb. A prominent ḥadīth scholar
and great historian. He was born in Ghuzayyah in 392 A.H. After al-Dār Quṭnī, there was no one like
him in Baghdād. He endowed all his books to the Muslims and distributed all his wealth in avenues
of good and upon the scholars in his fatal illness. He passed away in 463 A.H. Some of his works are:
Tārīkh Baghdād, al-Jāmiʿ and al-Kifāyah. See: Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 5/31; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 18/270;
Tārīkh al-Islām 31/86; Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah al-Kubrā 4/119.
4 Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq al-Rāwī wa Ādāb al-Sāmiʿ 2/119.
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