The prophetic knowledge and practice have mainly reached the ummah through the Companions (rta), so they acquire a marked priority over the rest of the ummah. It is only the Prophet’s (sws) Companions (rta) through whom the rest of the people of the world have acquired the entire corupus of the religion of God. Their status and privilege is not shared by anyone coming after them. They alone are the enchanting flowers of the ummah. The Qur’ān itself awards them with such a high station. In fact, the importance the muḥaddithūn attached to them cannot be debated over even in the absence of the textual proofs of the fact.
5.1 Testimony of the Qur’ān
God
Almighty says that the Companions (rta) are the advance party of the ummah
and the witnesses to God in this world:
And similarly we have made you a
middle nation so that you may be witnesses over the people and the Messenger
becomes a witness over you. (Q 2:143)
This verse throws light on two important facts. First,
God has put the responsibility of communicating and disseminating His religion
on the Prophet (sws). He decreed that the Companions (rta) are responsible for
this task after the death of the Prophet (sws). This was their clear and
concrete responsibility. It was not an optional religious act they could
perform or leave aside on choice. Second, the high status and superiority the Companions
(rta) enjoy within the ummah owes itself to the fact that they are shu‘adā’
lillāhi ’alannās fī al-arḍ (God’s witnesses over the people on this
earth). It means that they inherited the prophetic knowledge and practice and stood
witnesses to it before the world.
5.2 Testimony of Aḥādīth
The
status of the Companions (rta), in the sight of the Prophet (sws), has been
preserved in the ḥadīth literature. It is clearly mentioned in many prophetic
traditions. I quote the following narrative from al-Kifāyah fī ‘ilm al riwāyah.
Ibn ‘Abbās (rta) reports that the Prophet (sws) said:
Whatever has been given to you
in the Book of God is obligatory for you. There is no valid excuse for anyone
to abandon the Qur’ānic edicts. If the issue facing you is not dealt with in
the Book of God, then you have to follow my practice. If you find that there is
no such practice of mine to guide you then you should follow what my Companions
tell you for my Companions are like stars in the sky; whoever of them you take
as a guide, you shall be rightly guided.[1]
This
shows that the Companions (rta) are the people who have transmitted the Sunnah
of the Prophet (sws) to the world and they themselves are the beacon of light.
They are the medium through which the knowledge and practice of the Prophet
(sws) has been handed down to the rest of the world. The basis of their exalted
status, as the Prophet (sws) pointed out, is that they are the source of guidance
for the world.
5.3 Muḥaddithūn’s Viewpoint
In
view of this extraordinary importance of the Companions (rta), the muḥaddithūn
decided that the principles of character and cognitive analysis of the
narrators will not be applied to them. In this regard, the muḥaddithūn
adopted the guiding principle that all the Companions (rta), without any
exception, are reliable. They are above customary analysis in this regard.
While deciding whether a narrative ascribed to the Prophet (sws) is reliable
and acceptable, an expert has to scrutinize the characters of all narrators in
its chain of transmission. Their good and bad have to be vigorously analyzed.
It is only after a thorough investigation that a narrative they report is
accepted or rejected. Contrarily, the Companions (rta) shall not be subjected
to such an investigation.
Once this principle applied to the practice of the
transmission of the prophetic aḥādīth is accepted, it leads to the
question of the definition of a ṣaḥābī (Companion of the Prophet). Who
is a ṣaḥābī? Would a person who has merely seen the Prophet (sws) and
has not enjoyed his company for a considerable time merit to be called a ṣaḥābī? Would such a person be
exempted from the principles of jarḥ wa ta‘dīl (the act of affirming or
disaffirming the narrators as reliable transmitters)? Would he be considered a
beacon of guidance? The muḥaddithūn have, quite naturally, differed over
this issue and three distinct groups of them emerged:
5.3.1 The First Group
The
view of the first group as represented by ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar (rta) follows:
I have observed that scholars
hold that every adult Muslim who met the Prophet (sws), even for a moment,
while he understood the religion and found it pleasing can be called a ṣaḥābī.
However, I believe that the Companions (rta) can be divided into different
categories according to taqaddum fī al-islām.[2]
By taqaddum fī al-islām, ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar
(rta) means that all the Companions (rta) are not equal; they are of different religious
status and should be put in different categories. Some are of a very high religious
status others are in the middle whilst some others hold a low status.
5.3.2 The Second Group
The
view of the second group of the scholars in this regard has been represented by
Sa‘īd b. al-Musayyab as follows:
We do not consider someone a ṣaḥābī
(Companion) unless he has remained in the company of the Prophet (sws) for a
year or two and has fought with him a couple of ghazwahs.[3]
5.3.3 The Third Group
Khaṭīb
has recorded the opinion of another scholar. His view represents the third
group in this regard. This view, by its nature, criticizes the previous views
and points out the true picture of the matter. This view follows:
The lexicographers unanimously
hold that the word ṣaḥābī is a derivation of the root Ṣ Ḥ B. The
meaning of the word does not hinge upon the duration of the company. It can equally
be applied to company of a very short as well as a long duration. As for the
lexicon, the word applies to any such person as blessed with the company of the
Prophet (sws), no matter how long. However, it is a known reality that it is
customary among the Muslims to refer to a person as a ṣaḥābī who has
been in the company of the Prophet (sws) for a long time and has been meeting
him continuously. Customarily, this word is not used for someone who had a
short meeting with the Prophet (sws), or walked along with him a few steps or
heard him say something. This entails that we restrict the application of the
word to those only who can appropriately be called ṣaḥābī. Still,
however, the aḥādīth transmitted by reliable and trustworthy
individuals (among the first generation) shall be accepted even though the
narrator has not been blessed with a longer company of the Prophet (sws) and
has heard him only once.[4]
The
first part of the assertion is quite weak. The scholar holds that the duration
of the company has no bearing on the meaning of the word ṣaḥābī
whatsoever. We know that if somebody accidently happens to confront someone,
neither of them is called a companion of the other. Similarly, it is not
applied to a person who walks a few steps with us. The word, by its nature,
implies company of a longer duration. However, the second part of the statement
is very strong. It proves that the great scholars of the past considered the
duration of the company of a man before declaring him a ṣaḥābī of the
Propeht (sws). Besides, he must have rendered services in the cause of the
religion. If we consider this fact in our definition of the term ṣaḥābī
we come to know that the decision of the muḥaddithūn regarding the
exemption of the Companions (rta) from jarḥ wa ta‘dīl is justified.
5.4 Ṣaḥābiyyah
According to the Qur’ān
We
have learnt that the muḥaddithūn would not subject the Companions (rta)
to jarḥ wa ta‘dīl. They invoked certain Qur’ānic verses which praise
the Companions (rta) of the Prophet (sws). Such verses refer to and praise only
those individuals who embraced the religion first of all and stood with the
Prophet (sws) in good and bad times. They spent their wealth in the cause of
the religion of God and fought the enemies of God in the holy wars bravely.
These verses do not refer to those who happened to have seen the Prophet (sws)
accidently. While exposing the evil of the hypocrites from among the Bedouin
people, the Qur’ān has clearly stated that they had not enjoyed the company of
the Prophet (sws) in spite of the fact that they had seen him and vehemently
professed belief in him.
An
inductive survey of the Qur’ānic verses dealing with the Companions (rta) and
their virtues is imperative in this study. We have to ascertain whether the
Almighty gives any importance to merely and accidentally seeing the Prophet
(sws). We have to see whether it is their long company, help and support that
raises their status over the rest of the ummah. It may be their endeavours
to seek knowledge and get training from the Prophet (sws) that holds the
primary importance in this regard. In the foregoing pages I have referred to a
verse from Sūrah al-Baqarah (Q 2). It can prove to be a decisive verdict in
this regard. The verse tells us that the real significance, the Companions
(rta) draw, is grounded in that they received and transmitted the knowledge and
practice of the Prophet (sws); they obtained, taught and preached it. This,
however, is not possible without relatively long company, full commitment and
sincere devotion.
Another
relevant verse discusses the devoted Companions (rta) who pledged to give their
lives at the prophetic call to jihād, even though they were hundreds of
miles away from their homes, were not properly armed and were direly exposed to
the enemy.
God became pleased
with the believers when they were pledging allegiance to you under the tree.
God knew the state of their hearts. And God sent down on their hearts tranquillity
and He decreed for them a victory in the near future. (Q 48:18)
This
theme has again been repeated in Sūrah al-Tawbah (Q 9) in the following words:
Those of the Emigrants and the Helpers
who have outreached others and have embraced Islam first of all and the ones
who have beautifully followed their example, God is pleased with them all while
they are pleased with God. (Q 9:100)
These
qualities of the Companions (rta) of the Prophet (sws) have been mentioned in
the following verses of Sūrah al-Ḥashr (Q 59):
[This is specifically] for those
of the needy Emigrants who have been forced to abandon their homes and assets
while they were helping the Messenger of God, seeking God’s blessings and His
pleasure. Such are the real upholders of truth. Those who are already settled
in their abodes and are maintaining their faith love those who migrate to them.
They do not feel unease at heart for whatever is given to them (the Emigrants).
They (the Helpers) prefer them (the Emigrants) over themselves even when they
themselves are in need. (Q 59:8-9)
If we carefully
ponder over these verses, we learn that they not only establish veracity and
justness of the Companions (rta) but also award them an exalted status, both in
this and the next world. This quality cannot be shared with them by any other
group of people from among the ummah. The Qur’ān does not state that
this status is granted to them because they happened to have seen the Prophet
(sws). Contrarily, their blessed status draws on their outreaching others in
accepting the faith. They migrated from their homeland, abandoned their assets
and wealth for the cause of Islam and risked their lives in fighting for the
cause of God. They sacrificed everything they possessed in helping God’s
religion and His Messenger. The helpers too participated in this noble cause by
sharing their homes and wealth with the Emigrants.
If we keep
the above discussion in mind, we can justly claim that the soundest view
regarding the position of those who happened to have seen the Prophet (sws) is
the one that has been ascribed to ‘Ᾱṣim Aḥwal:
‘Abd Allāh b. Sarjis has seen
the Prophet (sws). However, he is not a Companion of him.[5]
According
to ‘Ᾱṣim, one does not become a ṣaḥābī by merely seeing the Prophet
(sws). Ṣaḥābiyyat does not hinge upon one’s accidental meeting with
the Prophet (sws). Thus, about the position of those who merely saw the Prophet
(sws), we can, at best, adopt the following careful view ascribed to Shu‘bah:
Jundub b. Sufyān came to meet
the Prophet (sws) and you can say, if you insist, that he has been blessed with
the ṣuḥbah (company) of the Prophet (sws).[6]
Some
other scholars express the true status and position of a person who accidently
or rarely met the Prophet (sws) as follows: kāna lahū ru’yah [he saw the
Prophet (sws)].
5.5 Conclusion
I
believe that the opportunity to have seen the Prophet (sws) is a great blessing
of God. However, the Qur’ān has not attached any importance to this fact alone.
According to the Qur’ān, the high status of the Companions (rta) of the Prophet
(sws), is due to their services to the religion, valour and bravery they showed
in defending, upholding and preaching the religion and helping the Messenger of
God (sws). The Companions (rta) are categorized and grouped by analyzing the
degree and extent of their services to the religion and the Messenger (sws). If
it is only seeing the Prophet (sws) that makes somebody his Companion (rta)
then the deserters in the battles of Aḥzāb and Tabūk and the hypocrites of
Madīnah and those from among the Bedouin, and those who established Masjid-i
Ḍarār are no less deserving of this status. These people not only saw the
Prophet (sws) but also fought some of the battles with him. They have been
spending in the way of God though hypocritically. Yet, the way the Qur’ān
condemns their behaviour and rejects their faith is not unclear to anyone, the
details of which can be found in Sūrah al-Munāfiqūn (Q 63), al-Tawbah (Q 9) and
al-Anfāl (Q 8). As far as the transmission of aḥādīth is concerned, we
accept narrators from all the groups and categories of the Companions (rta) of
the Prophet (sws). Still, however, in the exercise of interpreting aḥādīth
we may only consider the views, wordings and analysis of the narratives of
those Companions who are most prominent and famous for their understanding of
the words of the Prophet (sws). For example, Abū Bakr (rta), ‘Umar (rta),
‘Uthmān (rta), ‘Alī (rta), ‘Ᾱ’ishah (rta), Abū Dardā’ (rta), Mu‘ādh b. Jabal
(rta), ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar (rta), and ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Abbās (rta) etc. It is
extremely important for the students of the ḥadīth literature to
appreciate who are more knowledgeable and experts in the ḥadīth
literature among the first generation of the believers.
_____________
[1]. Ibid., 48.
[2]. Ibid.,
50-1.
[3]. Ibid., 50. Ghazwah usually refers to the wars in which the
Prophet (sws) participated.
[4]. Ibid., 51.
[5]. Ibid.,
50.
[6]. Ibid.
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