Third and Fourth Testimony

Third Testimony

It is recorded in the most reliable Shia Tafsir which they attribute to Imam Hassan al ‘Askari rahimahu Llah:

ان الله اوحى الى ادم ان الله ليفيض على كل واحد من محبى محمد و ال محمد و اصحاب محمد ما لو قسمت على كل عدد ما خلق الله من طول الدهر الى اخره و كانوا كفارا لادهم الى عاقبة محمودة و ايمان بالله حتى يستحقوا به الجنة و ان رجلا ممن يبغض ال محمد و اصحابه او واحدا منهم لعذبه الله عذابا لو قسم على مثل خلق الله لاهلكهم اجمعين

Indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala revealed to Adam ‘alayh al Salam: “Certainly Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala will favour everyone who loves Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, his family and Sahabah to such an extent that if it were to be distributed to every creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala from the beginning of time to the end and they had been disbelievers, it would lead them to a pleasant ending and belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala so that they would be deserving of Jannat. And a man who hates the family of Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and his Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum or anyone of them will be punished by Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala with such a severe punishment that had it been distributed among all of Allah’s subhanahu wa ta ‘ala creation, it would have destroyed them all.”

Fourth Testimony

It is recorded in the same Tafsir:

لما بعث الله موسى بن عمران و اصطفاه نجيا و فلق له البحر و نجى بنى اسرائيل و اعطاه التوراة و الالواح راى مكانه من ربه عز و جل فقال يا رب لقد اكرمتنى بكرامة لم تكرم بها احدا من قبلى فهل فى انبيائك عندك من هو اكرم منى فقال الله تعالى يا موسى اما علمت ان محمدا افضل عندى من جميع خلقى فقال موسى فهل فى ال الانبياء اكرم من الى فقال عز و جل يا موسى اما علمت ان فضل ال محمد على ال جميع النبيين كفضل محمد على جميع المرسلين فقال يا رب ان كان فضل ال محمد عندك كذلك فهل فى صحابة الانبياء عندك اكرم من اصحابى فقال يا موسى اما علمت ان فضل صحابة محمد على جميع صحابة المرسلين كفضل ال محمد على ال جميع النبيين فقال موسى ان كان فضل محمد و ال محمد و اصحاب محمد كما وصفت فهل فى امم الانبياء افضل عندك من امتى ظللت عليهم الغمام و انزلت عليهم المن و السلوى و فللت لهم البحر فقال الله يا موسى ان فضل امة محمد على امم جميع الانبياء كفضلى على خلقى

When Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala appointed Musa ibn ‘Imran ‘alayh al Salam as a Rasul, selected him for His speech, split the sea for him, saved the Bani Isra’il and granted him the Torah and the Tablets, he recognised his lofty status by his Rabb and exclaimed: “O my Rabb! You have honoured me with such honour which You have not honoured anyone before me. Is there anyone among Your prophets who is more honoured than me?” Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala replied: “O Musa! Are you not aware that Muhammad is superior to the entire creation according to Me?” Musa asked: “Is there any Rusul’ family more honoured than my family?” Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala declared: “O Musa! Do you not know that the superiority of Muhammad’s family upon the family of all the Rusul is like the superiority of Muhammad upon all the Rusul?” He then supplicated: “O my Rabb! If the superiority of Muhammad’s family is so great, then are any of the companions of the prophets superior to my companions?” Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala stated: “O Musa! Are you not aware that the superiority of Muhammad’s Sahabah upon the companions of all the Rusul is like the superiority of Muhammad’s family upon the family of all the Rusul?” Musa then questioned: “If the superiority of Muhammad, his family and companions are as You have described, then is there anyone from the Rusul’ nations superior to my nation whom You shaded with the clouds and upon whom You sent manna and salwa, and split the sea for?” Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala declared: “O Musa! The superiority of Muhammad’s nation over the nations of the rest of the prophets is like My superiority over My creation.”

Two things are established from these two narrations:

Firstly, the one who has hatred for Rasulullah’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum is deserving of such a punishment which will destroy the entire universe while on the other hand those who love them are deserving of such a reward that will make the ending of the disbelievers pleasant. Secondly, the superiority of Rasulullah’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum upon the companions of the other Rusul is like the superiority of Rasulullah’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam family over the families of the rest of the Rusul. When these two things have been established, the Shia creed has been demolished and falsified since the base of their creed is hatred for the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum and considering them to be evil. Whoever hates them is a true believer and those who consider them the worst are the pure Shia.

Owing to these two narrations whose narrator is Imam Hassan al ‘Askari rahimahu Llah and which are authentic and reliable according to the Shia, the Shia have no third option. Either they accept the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum as the best, agree to their virtue and love them so that they become deserving of reward or they consider them as evil and harbour hatred for them thus becoming deserving of punishment. However, the Shia will not agree to the Sahabah’s radiya Llahu ‘anhum virtue until and unless they do not abandon their Shia creed and join up with the Ahl al Sunnah. No one can remain a Shia by admitting the Sahabah’s radiya Llahu ‘anhum virtue. All the Shia scholars from ‘Abdullah ibn Saba’s time till Mujtahid’s time have wasted their entire lives trying to locate the faults of the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum, establish their evils and deny their virtues. If anyone denies this fact, he should take the pain to study Shia books and will not find a page free from the Sahabah’s radiya Llahu ‘anhum evils and expressing exemption from them. Mujtahid Qiblah states in Sawarim:

اما احادیث فضائل صحابہ رضی اللہ عنہم از طریق امامیہ باوجود کثرت احادیث مختلفہ در ہر امر جزئی از جزئیات اصلیہ و فرعیہ اگر تمام کتب احادیث امامیہ ورقا ورقا بہ نیت تفحص بمطالعہ در آرند مظنون آنست کہ زیادہ از سہ چہار حدیث کہ سرو پادر ست نداشتہ باشد دست بہم ندہد اما احادیث مثالب و معائب آں ہا بلا اغراق ایں ست کہ متجاوز از ہزار حدیث باشد

Ahadith extolling the virtues of the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum with regards to details and concerning principles and divisions are plenty. However, if every page of all the ahadith books of the Shia are studied thoroughly, then only three to four ahadith (mentioning their virtue) will be found. Moreover, the quality and authenticity of these ahadith is questionable. On the other hand, those ahadith which mention the Sahabah’s radiya Llahu ‘anhum evils are well over thousand in number.

O sound minded! Open your eyes and wake up from your sleep. Look at the Shia. They narrated from their Imams that the status of Rasulullah’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum is the highest which cannot be reached by the companions of any other Nabi and the one who loves them attains salvation while the one who hates them enters into destruction, yet they say that there is no verse, no hadith and no narration mentioning their virtue and wherever this is found, it is baseless. On the contrary, there are thousands of ahadith exposing their evils. Even if we think for a thousand years and try to solve this puzzle, we will not be able to fathom it nor be able to unscramble it.

If the truth is that our Rasul’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum are the greatest to the extent that the companions of other Rusul cannot reach their rank and their hatred leads to punishment and their love is a source of reward, then it should mean that the Sunni’s belief is true and if hundreds of thousands of ahadith and narrations are in their praise, then too this is little. On the contrary, if the Shia’s belief is correct, then it ought to be that their enmity is a means of salvation and their friendship is destruction. The truth is that Mujtahid’s statement is utterly baseless and incorrect because I can extract thousands of ahadith and statements praising the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum from Shia sources. I will prove my claim from this very treatise and extract thousands of narrations in favour of the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum from Shia books and present them in front of Mujtahid’s followers thereby debunking his statement. If any Shia is amazed as to why his scholars mention the Sahabah’s radiya Llahu ‘anhum virtue and how did they acknowledge the authenticity of those narrations in praise of them, I will present an accepted principle of Mujtahid which he has stated in his Sawarim. These are his words:

ہر چند از اہل مذہبے کہ روایات مطاعن شخصی کند توقع روایات فضائل آں شخص داشتن بیجاست و ہم چنیں بالعکس لیکن جناب حق سبحان و تعالی اتماما للحجۃ قلوب مخالفین جناب امیر المومنین علیہ السلام چناں مسخر گردانیدہ کہ باوجود اینکہ بنا پر پیش آمد و تقرب سلاطین بنی عدی و تیم و بنی امیہ اخبار فضائل آں ہارا بسیار وضع نمودہ اند چوں دروغگورا حافظہ نمی باشد ہماں مخالفین از غایت نا قباحت فہمی باعجاز جناب امیر المؤمنین باز مثالب اصحاب ثلاثہ و اتباع ایشاں را ہم مذکور ساختہ اند و علماء و محدثین ایشاں چنیں احادیث و اخبار را در کتب و مصنفات خود مندرج فرمودہ اند

Although it is impossible to hope that one who believes in the vices of an individual will enumerate the virtues of the same personality and vice versa, yet Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala — in order to establish His proof — has disfigured the hearts of Amir al Mu’minin’s opposition to the extent that notwithstanding their proximity to the kings of Banu ‘Adi Taym and Banu Umayyah, they mentioned innumerable virtues of Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu. And since liars cannot remember, their scholars and muhaddithin, owing to Amir al Mu’minin’s miracle, have included the vices of the three companions and their allies in their works.

We also accept this principle and declare that Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala — in order to establish proof against them — has coerced the Shia to narrate the virtues and merits of the Sahabah in their books from the tongues of the noble Imams, thus we too say:

Although it is impossible to hope that one who believes in the vices of an individual will enumerate the virtues of the same personality and vice versa, yet Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala — in order to establish His proof — has disfigured the hearts of the enemies of the great Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum to the extent that notwithstanding their propagation and belief in ‘Abdullah ibn Saba’s beliefs, they praise the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum abundantly. And since liars do not remember, these enemies of Islam — due to ignorance of Sayyidina ‘Ali’s radiya Llahu ‘anhu miracle — have mentioned the virtues of the three Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum and their followers to prove their obliviousness and Shia scholars and muhaddithin have recorded these types of ahadith, incidents and biographies in their works.

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