Importance Of The Sahaba r.a.

Of all the Sahâba, Hazrat Muhammad’s (alaihissalam) four Khalîfas ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ are the highest. Caliphates of all four of them lasted for thirty years. [It is a declared fact that all the Sahâba ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ shall go to Paradise. It is not permissible to speak ill of any one of them.]

The kerâmât of the Awliyâ are haqq, i.e. true. [It has been Allâhu ta’âlâ’s ’âdat-i-ilâhiyya (divine habit) to create things and events through means (sababs). For instance, something heavier than water sinks in water. Sometimes Allâhu ta’âlâ suspends His law of causation for the grace of His beloved slaves such as Prophets and Awliyâ, so that events that we call wonders and miracles happen through these blessed people. When a wonder happens through a Prophet it is a mu’jiza, and a wonder that happens through a Walî (pl. Awliyâ) is termed a kerâmat (pl. kerâmât).]

Hazrat Abû Bakr as-Siddîq ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ is the most virtuous and the highest of all Walîs (Awliyâ). His caliphate is haqq (rightful). That he is the first Khalîfa is a proven fact by the ijmâ’ (consensus, unanimity of the Sahâba). He is Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ father-in-law. He married his daughter ’Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ to Muhammad ‘alaihissalam’. He is well versed in the knowledge of Haqîqat. He spent his entire property in the way of haqq, (i.e. true way, Islam,) so much so that he did not have a scrap left. So he wrapped a cover made of date fibres around his waist. Jebrâîl(Gabriel) ‘alaihis-salâm’ donned the same kind of clothing and visited the Messenger of Allah. When the blessed Messenger saw the Archangel clad in the unusual apparel, he said: “O Jebrâîl, my sibling! I have never seen you like this before. I wonder what is happening.” Thereupon, Jebrâîl ‘alaihis-salâm’ explained: “Yâ Rasûlallah (O Messenger of Allah)! Now you see me in this state. All the angels also are in this state. Its reason is this: Allâhu ’adhîm-ush-shân declared: ‘My slave Abû Bakr has spent all his property for My grace and in My way. So he is clad in a cover made of date fibres. O My angels. You be clad like him!’ So all the angelsare clad like this.” From then on Hadrat Abû Bakr has been called ‘Siddîq’ (by Allâhu ta’âlâ and for that matter by all Muslims).

The second most virtuous Walî after him is Hazrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’. His caliphate is rightly guided according to the ijmâ’-i-ummat (consensus of the Sahâba). He is well versed in the Islamic branches of knowledge. One day a munâfiq [A munâfiq is an unbeliever who pretends to be a Muslim, lives among Muslims, joins them in some of their acts of worship that they perform together (in jamâ’at).] and a jew came to Hadrat Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, asking the blessed Messenger to adjudicate a dispute between them. Hadrat Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ listened to their claims. Justice came the jew’s way, (so the blessed Messenger of Allah made a judgment in the jew’s favour.) When the munâfiq did not acquiesce to the judgment, Muhammad ‘alaihissalam’ stated: “O you people! Go to ’Umar, and let him adjudicate between you!” So they went to Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’. When the blessed Sahâbî asked why they were there, the munâfiq said: “This jew and I have had a dispute.” Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ said: “How can I adjudicate the dispute in comtempt of the Owner of Islam (Messenger of Allah)?” The munâfiq explained: “We went to Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. He made a judgment in favour of the jew. I would not acquiesce to his judgment.” Presently ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “Wait here! I will be back with the solution,” and went in. After a while he was back with a cleaver hidden underneath his garment, and no sooner had he drawn the cleaver than the munâfiq was beheaded. “This is the just deserts of someone who will not acquiesce to Rasûlullah’s verdict,” was the great Sahâbî’s explanation. On account of this significal event was he called ‘’Umar-ul-Fârûq ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, and he has been called so ever since.

Hadrat Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “It is ’Umar who distinguishes right from wrong.”

The third most virtuous Walî after him is ’Uthmân-i-Zinnûreyn ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’. His caliphate is rightly-guided, righful. It is a fact ascertained by the ijmâ’-i-Ummat, (i.e. by consensus of the Sahâba.) Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ married two of his blessed daughters to him, one after the other. When his second daughter passed away, he stated: “If I had one more daughter, I would give him that one as well.”

When the blessed Messenger married his blessed second daughter to ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, he praised his blessed son-in-law highly. After the tejwîj (matrimony, event of marriage), the valuable daughter said: “O my beloved father! You praised Hadrat ’Uthmân so much. He is not so good as (to deserve) your blessed praise!” Thereupon Hadrat Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ said to his daughter: “O my daughter! Angels in heaven feel hayâ (shame) towards Hadrat ’Uthmân!”

Because Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ gave him two of his daughters in marriage, (one after the passing of the first one,) he was called ’Uthmân-i-Zinnûreyn. Zinnûreyn means owner of two Nûrs. He is well versed in the knowledge of Ma’rifat (Spiritual knowledge pertaining to Allâhu ta’âlâ).

The fourth most virtuous Walî after him is ’Alî ‘kerrem-Allâhu wejheh wa radiy-Allâhu ’anh’. His caliphate is rightful, a fact ascertained by the ijmâ’-i-ummat. He is Rasûlullah’s son-in-law. The beloved Messenger of Allâhu ta’âlâ gave his daughter Hadrat Fâtima ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ in marriage to him. He is well versed in the knowledge of Tarîqat. He had a ghulâm (man slave). One day his ghulâm intended to test his master. Hadrat ’Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ was outdoors at that time. When he came in and asked the ghulâm for some service, the latter remained silent. Thereafter, Hadrat ’Alî ‘kerrem-Allâhu wejheh’ inquired: “O ghulâm! What wrong have I done to you to offend you and what on my part has hurt you?” The ghulâm replied: “You have done nothing wrong towards me. I am your slave. I have behaved so only to test you. You are a true Walî.”

[Muslims who love all the Ashâb-i-kirâm (Sahâba) and who follow in their footsteps are called Ahl as-sunnat (or Sunnî Muslims). Those who say that they love some of them and who hate most of the Sahâba are called Shî’îs (Shiites). Those who are inimical towards all the Sahâba are called Râfidîs. A person who claims to love all the Sahâba but who does not follow any one of them is called a Wahhâbî. Wahhâbîism is a mixture of the ideas of the heretical man of religion named Ahmad ibni Taymiyya and the lies of the British spy named Hempher. They call the Ahl as-sunnat Muslims ‘disbelievers’ because those true Muslims reject the Wahhâbî tenets of belief. [This stigmatization on their part bounces back on them, making them disbelievers themselves.]

The Wahhâbî doctrines were concocted by British plotters in the Arabian peninsula in 1150 [1737 A.D.] They shed a considerable amount of Muslim blood in their efforts to spread the British plans. Today also, they are establishing Wahhâbî centers which they call Râbita-t-ul ’âlam-il-islâmî in every country and hunting unlearned men of religion by showering gold onto them. Through these mercenaries they are misguiding Muslims. They are blackening the scholars of Ahl as-sunnat who have been defending Islam for more than fourteen hundred years and their protectors, the Ottomans. They are falsifying the true Islamic teachings which those blessed scholars extracted from the Nass (âyats and hadîths).

Some Wahhâbîs say, “We, too, are in a Sunnî Madhhab. We are in the Hanbalî Madhhab.” This claim of theirs is similar to the claim of the adherents of the heretical group called Mu’tazila, who say, “We, too, are Sunnî Muslims. We are in the Hanafî Madhhab.” They say so because they know that people who are not in the Sunnî group shall go to Hell. The fact, however, is that the harmonizing of the religious practices and acts of worship of a certain group of people with those of one of the four Madhhabs does not necessarily show that those people are in that Madhhab. Being in a certain Madhhab requires adapting oneself to that Madhhab both in tenets of belief and in practices. All four Madhhabs are identical in their tenets of belief. All four of them are in the Madhhab of Ahl as-sunnat in respect of belief. A certain person’s being in the Hanafî or Hanbalî Madhhab requires his holding a belief agreeable with that of the (credal) Madhhab called Ahl as-sunnat. Wahhâbîs do not hold the Sunnî belief.]