SAHÂBAH – صحابة

Literally: A possessor. An owner, or responsible master. A protector.

The male Muslims who saw Prophet Muhammad (asm) as a mu’min and passed away as a mu’min.

 

“مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُۤ اَشِدَّۤاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَۤاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ تَرٰيهُمْ رُكّعًا سُجَّدًا 1 Through telling of the elevated qualities and characteristics which were the reason for the Sahâbah being the most elevated of humankind after the prophets, the start of this âyah describes through its ma’nâ as-sarîh the excellent qualities which would mark the class of the Sahâbah. And through its ma’nâ al-isharî, the âyah alludes to the Rightly-Guided Khalîfahs, who would succeed to the office of the Prophet (asm) after his death through the institution of the Khilâfah, and gives news of the fine attributes which were what most distinguished each of them and marked them out. It is as follows: وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ 2 alludes to Hazrat Abu Bakr al-Siddîq, who was distinguished and famous for being among the Prophet's special followers and party to his conversation, and again for entering among his special followers by being the first to die. اَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ 3 points to Hazrat ‘Umar, who in the future would cause the countries of the globe to tremble at his conquests, and with his justice would descend on dhâlims like a thunderbolt. And رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ   4 gives news of Hazrat Uthman, who, in the future when the most serious fitnah was being fomented, would sacrifice his own life and nafs out of perfect kindness and compassion so that the blood of Muslims should not be spilt, preferring to be shahîd unjustly while reading the Qur'an. And so too, تَرَيهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلاً مِنَ اللّٰهِ وَ رِضْوَانًا   5 tells that with his complete worthiness to undertake the Khilâfah and government, and his heroism, and his choosing perfect asceticism, ‘ibâdah, poverty, and frugality, and whose continuous and much-repeated ruku’ and sujûd was corroborated by everyone, Hazrat ‘Ali (ra) was not responsible for his position in the future and his wars in that fitnah and his intention and wish was for Ilahî fadl.

THE SIXTH

The phrase, ذلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِى التَّوْرَيةِ 6 is giving news of the ghayb in two respects:

The First: It gives news of the qualities of the Sahâbah mentioned in the Tawrah, which was as though the ghayb for an unlettered person like the Hazrat Prophet ‘Alayhissalâtu Wassalâm. Yes, as described in the Nineteenth Letter, in the Tawrah are the following lines about the Sahâbah of the Prophet who was to come at the âkhirzaman: "The flags of the holy ones are together with them." That is, his Sahâbah would be pious, the people of ‘ibâdah righteous, and walâyah so that their qualities were described with the term "the holy ones," that is, "sacred." Although the Tawrah has been corrupted through being translated into numerous languages, it corroborates with many of its âyahs the statement of Surah al-Fath, 7 مَثَلُهُمْ فِى التَّوْرَيةِ .

The Second: aspect of it giving news of the ghayb is this: with the phrase مَثَلُهُمْ فِى التَّوْرَيةِ 8   it is giving news of that "The Sahâbah and Tâbi’în would achieve such a degree of ‘ibâdah that the luminosity of their rûhs would shine in their faces, and that marks would be apparent on their foreheads, like a sort of stamp of walâyah, caused by their repeated sujûd." And indeed the future proved this brilliantly, with complete clarity and certainty. Numerous important persons within that strange fitnah and political upheaval demonstrated the mystery of  مَثَلُهُمْ فِى التَّوْرَيةِ 9 who day and night performed salâh of a thousand rakats like Zaynu'l-‘Abidin, and performed the morning salâh with the wudû of the previous ‘îsha, like Tavus al-Yamani….

…it indicates through the word مَغْفِرَةً 10 that, although while praising the Sahâbah’s excellent qualities they should have been promised the greatest rewards, in the future serious faults would arise among the Sahâbah due to fitnah. For maghfirah indicates the existence of faults. And at that time the thing most demanded by the Sahâbah, the greatest bounty, would be maghfirah. The greatest reward would be the absence of punishment, due to forgiveness. Just as the word مَغْفِرَةً 11 makes this subtle allusion, so too it is connected with the âyah at the beginning of the Surah, لِيَغْفِرَلَكَ اللّٰهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِكَ وَمَا تَاَخَّرَ 12 Through giving the good news of maghfirah at the start of the Surah for not true sins, because the Prophet is exempt from sin (‘ismat) and does not commit them, but maghfirah for a meaning in keeping with the rank of nubuwwah, and giving the good news of maghfirah for the Sahâbah at the end of the Surah, it adds a further subtlety to the allusion.” The Flashes (47-50 )

 

“the vast majority of the Sahâbah were at the highest level of human perfections. For at that time in the mighty revolution of Islam, khayr and haqq appeared in all their beauty, and sharr and bâtil, in all their ugliness, and they were felt physically. Such a difference was apparent between khayr and sharr and such a distance opened up between truth and falsehood that they drew as distant from one another as îmân is from kufr, and even Jahannam is from Jannah. The Sahâbah, who by fitrah possessed elevated feelings, were captivated by the highest morality, and inclined towards dignity and virtue, would not voluntarily stretch out their hands to falsehood, sharr and bâtil, and so fall to the level of Musaylima the Liar and his ridiculous utterances. For he was the herald of bâtil, sharr, and lies, and their embodiment. Their characters demanded that they looked to the rank of the perfections, those of Habibullah (asm) at the a’lâ ‘illiyyin, who was the herald and embodiment of truthfulness, khayr, and haqq, and that they hastened in that way with all their strength and endeavour.

For example, it sometimes happens that in the market of human civilization and shop of social life, everyone flees in disgust from the fearsome results and ugly consequences of certain things, like from a deadly poison, let alone buying them, while the beautiful results and valuable consequences of certain other things and of ma’nawî goods attract the general view and demand to themselves like a universal panacea and a sparkling brilliant; everyone tries their utmost to buy them. In just the same way, in the Era of Bliss in the market of human social life, since goods like lying, sharr, and kufr gave rise to results like everlasting misery and base buffoons like Musaylima the Liar, it is certain and clear that the Sahâbah, who were captivated by elevated characteristics and love of exalted things, would flee from them with loathing as from fatal poison And of a necessity, the Sahâbah, with their pure fitrah and praiseworthy moral, would, with all their strength, feelings and subtle faculties,  be desirous of and customers for haqq, truthfulness and iman, which yielded results like eternal happiness and luminous fruits like Ar-Rasûl Al-Akram ‘Alayhissalatu Wassalam, as though for the most effective panacea and precious diamond. However, after that time, the distance between truthfulness and lying has gradually and by degrees diminished, until they have become shoulder to shoulder. Having begun to be sold together in the same shop, social morality has become corrupted. The propaganda of politics has caused greater demand for lying. At a time when the awesome ugliness of lying has begun to be concealed and the shining beauty of truthfulness has begun not to be apparent, who can attain to the strength, constancy, and taqwâ of the Sahâbah in the matters of justice, truthfulness, exaltedness, and haqq, or surpass their level?” The Words ( 505 )