The Integrity of the Companions (RA) and Their Status in Hadith Science

"Lo! Let the one who is present among you convey it to the one who is absent."

Ibn Hibban (RH) derived from this Hadith

a clear indication of the integrity of the Companions (RA),

saying (RH), in summary, that the Prophet ﷺ

generalized the command to convey to everyone present, without excluding anyone,

even if among them were those untrustworthy with the religion,

or suspected in transmission, he would have barred or excluded them.

Since he addressed them collectively, it proves the integrity of all of them,

and the endorsement of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is honor enough.

O seeker of excellence, seek your Lord, to win from Him the ultimate of aspirations.

O seeker of excellence, seek your Lord, to win from Him the ultimate of aspirations.

So look at the era of the Companions (RA) and what they were upon in times past.

Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah ﷻ be upon you.

“In the name of Allāh, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.”

“[All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Lord of the worlds -” (Quran 1:1-2)

And may Allah's peace, blessings, and prayers be upon the Messenger of Allah.

Welcome, my brothers and sisters. We are still with the first generation,

with these pearly stars and shining lights from the Companions of Muhammad ﷺ,

this golden generation, this exceptional generation,

this generation which Allah chose and selected to accompany the Prophet ﷺ,

whose memory Allah ﷻ has immortalized in the Quran,

and for whom He, Glorified and Exalted, decreed acceptance and approval.

In this meeting and in this gathering,

my brothers and sisters, I will speak about a matter of utmost importance,

which is the integrity of the Companions (RA),

and this issue is considered one of the greatest matters of creed,

and the most critical in its impact on the integrity of the religion. Why?

Because upon it depends the acceptance of the transmitted revelation,

the validity of the inherited Sharia,

and the correct understanding of Allah ﷻ and His Messenger ﷺ.

The integrity of the Companions (RA). What is integrity?

Integrity is a disposition that prompts a person to adhere to piety and chivalry.

This is how scholars and jurists define the issue of integrity.

The Companions (RA) are all people of integrity by the text of the Book and the Sunnah.

They are all of integrity by the text of the Book and the Sunnah.

And compromising this belief affects the Quran

and affects the Sunnah, so be mindful of that.

For this reason, we find that scholars gave great attention to the matter of the companions' uprightness (ʿadāla).

Rather, they established it in works of creed and made it an absolute principle that admits no dispute.

Whoever is not well-grounded in this principle

will certainly be exposed to doubts,

and may slip — without even realizing it — into casting aspersions on the religion of Allah ﷻ,

and on the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and on the Book of Allah ﷻ.

Why? Because impugning their integrity is impugning the transmitter.

And who transmitted the Book and the Sunnah to us?

Who transmitted the Book and the Sunnah to us? Was it not the Companions (RA)? Indeed.

Therefore, if a critic impugns the transmitter, he has impugned the transmitted message,

so the criticism reverts to the Book of Allah ﷻ and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Therefore, establishing this principle, which is the integrity of the Companions (RA),

is a matter agreed upon among the people of Islam,

Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah, the people of Hadith and Fiqh — those attributed to

agree that all the Companions (RA) are upright,

and their integrity is not investigated one by one, nor are their conditions scrutinized individual by individual,

as is done with other narrators in the chain of transmission.

Why? Because Allah ﷻ and His Messenger ﷺ...

declared these Companions (RA) upright with a general declaration.

And these are quotes from the giants of knowledge among the verifying scholars.

An-Nawawi (RH) said: "The Companions (RA) are all upright,

those involved in the tribulations and others, by the consensus of Ahl us-Sunnah.

He says: all the Companions are upright —

including those who were involved in the tribulations,

meaning those that occurred during the era of Ali and Mu'awiyah.

those involved in the tribulations and others, by the consensus of Ahl us-Sunnah.

Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi says: the uprightness of the Companions is established and known by Allah's ﷻ declaration of their uprightness,

His informing us of their purity, and His choosing them.

And Ibn Abd al-Barr (RH) says: Ahl us-Sunnah are in consensus that all the Companions are upright.

Do you see this consensus?

This consensus did not come from a vacuum, or from whims, or as a statement said without

knowing its meaning,

Rather, this statement is based on explicit texts, precise rules, and complete induction.

The explicit prophetic evidence for their integrity,

which is one of the greatest Hadiths indicating this principle, is the saying of the Prophet ﷺ in his famous sermon:

"Let those of you who are present convey it to those who are absent."

Ibn Hibban (RH) deduced from this Hadith a clear indication of the integrity of the Companions.

He (RH) said, in summary,

that the Prophet ﷺ generalized the command to convey

to everyone who was present, without excluding any of them.

For if there were among them anyone untrustworthy with the religion or suspected in transmission,

he would have specified them with prohibition or exception.

So when he addressed them collectively, it indicated the established integrity of all of them.

And the commendation of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is sufficient as an honor.

This is a precise deduction by Ibn Hibban (RA), may Allah Almighty have mercy on him,

because conveying from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is a great trust,

which is only carried by one who is upright and trustworthy.

And the Companions are a security for this Ummah.

And what indicates this is what is narrated in the authentic Hadith,

that the Prophet ﷺ said: "The stars are a source of security for the heaven,

and when the stars disappear, there comes to the heaven what it was promised,

and I am a source of security for my Companions; when I am gone, there will come to them what they were promised,

and my Companions are a source of security for my Ummah; when they are gone, there will come to my Ummah what they were promised.

This Hadith establishes a great principle, which is that the presence of the Companions in the Ummah is a means of its preservation,

and that the departure of these Companions is an indication of the appearance of trials and division.

For this reason, Abu al-Abbas Taqi ad-Din, Shaykh al-Islam (RH), says:

He says, "The Hadith shows that the Sahabah (RA) are a means of preserving the religion,"

"and that defaming them is defaming the trustworthiness of the Ummah."

So how can those whom Allah ﷻ made a source of security be accused?

And how can those whom Allah ﷻ made a means of preservation be disparaged?

Therefore, it is prohibited to revile them or offend them.

For this reason, our Lord ﷻ elevated their status and raised their rank.

Among the clearest texts in this regard is what occurred between Khalid ibn al-Walid (RA)

and Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf (RA). They were two noble companions. Abdur-Rahman (RA)

was one of the ten promised Paradise,

and Khalid (RA) was the unsheathed Sword of Allah, as witnessed by the Prophet ﷺ.

A verbal dispute occurred; they exchanged words.

Khalid (RA) insulted Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf (RA).

What did the Prophet ﷺ say? He became angry.

He ﷺ became angry and said, "Do not revile my companions (RA),

for if one of you were to spend the like of Uhud in gold, it would not reach a mudd of one of them, nor half of it."

Surely you have seen Mount Uhud,

this great, massive mountain in Medina, about which the Prophet ﷺ said,

"Uhud is a mountain that loves us and we love it."

He says: if one of you spent gold like this mountain, it would not equal...

...even a single mudd spent by one of the companions (RA) of the Prophet ﷺ.

A mudd is what fills the two cupped hands of an average man, nor even half a mudd.

What does this indicate? This is one of the strongest proofs of the integrity and virtue of the companions (RA).

Therefore, the Prophet ﷺ absolutely forbade insulting them.

He coupled this prohibition with showing an unattainable disparity, even though the speaker

was Khalid, a senior Companion and a sword among the swords of Allah, as I mentioned.

Yet, the Prophet ﷺ did not accept from him

any disparagement of those who preceded him among the Companions (RA).

Therefore, Imam Ahmad (RH) also has a great saying. He says:

"If a man mentions the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with evil, then suspect his Islam."

And Al-Dhahabi (RH) says: "Whoever defames the Companions is a zindiq,

because his objective is to invalidate the Book and the Sunnah."

Why?

Because the purpose is not a personal matter

concerning the man or the Companion, but rather it is a matter of religion.

Therefore, we have the issue of, for example, the uprightness of the Companion.

It does not preclude the occurrence of error.

Some people might get confused, for instance,

thinking that asserting the uprightness of the Companions implies absolute infallibility,

and this is a confusion between...

And I believe that in a previous episode, I mentioned this issue and detailed it,

because when Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah establish the rule of the integrity of the Companions (RA), and that they are trustworthy as a whole,

they also believe that they are not infallible.

The infallible one is Muhammad ibn Abdullah ﷺ in what he conveys from Allah ﷻ.

Integrity does not mean errorlessness; rather, it means truthfulness in transmission.

Therefore, it is very important...

...for people to pay attention to this matter, and that what occurred...

by the Companions (RA) is among the forgiven errors of ijtihad.

For this reason, Shaykh al-Islam (RH) says:

“The Companions (RA) may commit sins, but they possess such precedence and virtues

as to necessitate the forgiveness of whatever else they did.

And for this reason, Allah ﷻ said regarding them, after mentioning their slip:

“And Allah has already forgiven them.”

So whomever Allah has forgiven, no one may hold them accountable.

In general, my brothers and sisters, the integrity of the Companions (RA)

is a definitive principle proven by the Quran, the Sunnah, and consensus.

Their integrity is not investigated individually, as I mentioned,

because Allah Almighty praised them collectively.

The occurrence of errors by some Companions (RA) does not negate their integrity,

nor does it open the door to defamation.

For defaming the Companions (RA) is, in reality, defaming the religion.

...defaming the religion.

I have already mentioned to you how Imam Al-Bukhari (RH) categorized the Hadith: "Do not abuse my Companions."

In this great chapter, he made this Hadith a matter of creed, not a historical issue.

It is not merely history being transmitted.

Therefore, one of the most important matters of belief is the integrity of the Companions.

Hence, one of the important issues that fall under this discussion,

and is studied in the science of Hadith terminology and this discipline,

and in which the distinctiveness of the Hadith scholars' methodology and their precise insight are shown,

is the ruling on the narration of an unnamed Companion.

Does not naming the Companion affect the authenticity or acceptability of the Hadith?

The general rule among the scholars of Hadith is that the narration of an unknown narrator—

The basic principle among Hadith scholars is that the narration of an unknown narrator is rejected,

because accepting a report is based on knowing the narrator's integrity and precision,

If his identity or state is unknown, it is impossible to judge his narration,

so suspending judgment on it is the default, to safeguard the Sunnah from what is not part of it,

However, who is excluded from this principle?

The Companions (RA)—an exception upon which the scholars have unanimously agreed,

because the Companions' integrity is established by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah,

so their integrity did not need validation from individual critics,

Rather, Allah ﷻ declared them trustworthy in His Book,

and His Messenger ﷺ praised them,

and testified to their goodness, precedence, and virtue.

For this reason, what do the scholars say? They say: The anonymity of a specific Companion does not harm.

If the isnad is authentic up to the Companion,

and the narrator says, "On the authority of a man from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ,"

or "On the authority of a man who accompanied the Prophet ﷺ,"

then the Hadith is accepted, and it is authentic in terms of the isnad,

because the anonymity here does not concern the integrity of the narrator,

but only his name, and the integrity of the Companions is established from the outset.

Therefore, we find the scholars of Hadith distinguishing between the anonymity of a Companion and that of a non-Companion.

Thus, not naming the Companion does not affect the Hadith, unlike those after them in the isnad.

For the anonymous among them, their narration is not accepted until their status is known, whether they are majhul al-ayn or majhul al-hal.

Majhul al-ayn is one from whom only one narrator has narrated, for example,

or majhul al-hal, for example, who is one whose name is known, but his precision and integrity are not.

What is the reason for this difference?

the Companions (RA) conveyed the religion directly from the Prophet ﷺ,

and they were the trusted ones of the Ummah,

and scholars have transmitted the consensus of Ahl al-Sunnah

on their uprightness, as I mentioned.

For this reason, what is required of others is not required of them—

namely, establishing the uprightness of narrators or the authentication by the Imams.

As for those after the Companions, narration is built upon verification and investigation,

because prophetic infallibility had ceased, making it necessary to know the narrators' condition.

For this reason, one cannot use as evidence

the narration of an unknown Tabi'i or those after them, until their integrity and precision are established.

My brothers and sisters, to summarize this issue: the narration of a Companion,

even if unnamed, is acceptable and authentic, as long as the chain of narration...

is connected — meaning, as long as the chain of narration is connected

and sound, because an unknown name does not affect it

when integrity is established — unlike non-Companions (RA).

This issue is in fact discussed in the books of hadith terminology,

and also mentioned by the scholars in the books of hadith.

I ask Allah ﷻ to grant us and you beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds.

This hadith also has remaining topics regarding the first generation of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ.

In our next session, I will meet you, God willing.

And peace

and blessings of Allah ﷻ be upon you.