Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

When Ḥudhayfah I was in Madāʾin, he would relate to the people
things which Nabī H said to some of his Companions when angry.
Subsequently some of those who heard from him would come to Salmān
I and inform him of what Ḥudhayfah I had said. Salmān I would
reply by merely saying, “Ḥudhayfah knows well what he is saying.” These
people would then return to Ḥudhayfah I and tell him, “We mentioned
what you related to Salmān, but he did not approve or disprove.” Hence
Ḥudhayfah I came to Salmān whilst he was in his farm and asked him,
“What prevents you from believing me in what I have heard from Rasūl
Allāh H?” To which Salmān I replied, “Rasūl Allāh H would
get angry and would say things in his anger to some of his Companions. He
would likewise be happy and would say things in his happiness to some of
his Companions. Will you not stop until you instil love for some men in the
hearts of some and hatred for some men in the hearts of others, thereby
engendering disputes and disunity? You know well that Rasūl Allāh H
delivered a sermon and said, ‘Any person in my Ummah whom I have
offended or cursed whilst angry, I am merely from the children of Ādam and
thus become angry just as they do, and Allah E has sent me as a mercy
to all the worlds; therefore, O Allah make that a source of blessings for them
on the Day of Judgment.’ By Allah you either stop or I will write to ʿUmar.” 1
Indeed, what many of the predecessors feared actually came to the fore amongst
the Shīʿah whose hearts are filled will hatred and ill-feelings for many of the
Ṣaḥābah M. Al-Aʿmash 2 says the following regarding the people of his city, the
people of Kufah:
1 Sunan Abī Dāwūd: Chapter of Sunnah; sub-chapter regarding the prohibition of cursing the Ṣaḥābah
of Rasūl Allah H: ḥadīth no. 4659. The ḥadīth is graded Ṣaḥīḥ by Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd.
2 Sulaymān ibn Mahrān al-Asadī al-Kāhilī (their client/ally), Abū Muḥammad al-Kūfī, famously
known as Aʿmash. He was the Muqriʾ (instructor of the Qurʾān) and a prolific and reliable scholar
of ḥadīth, except that he would do Tadlīs (conceal the name of the person from who he received a
particular transmission and narrate from the narrator above him). He is considered to be from junior
Tābiʿīn, successors of the Ṣaḥābah. He was well known for his excessive worship as well. He passed
away in 148 A.H. and his narrations feature in the six canonical works. See: al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā 6/342;
Tārīkh Baghdād 9/3; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 12/76; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 3/315.
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