(The people of the Sunnah) accept what the Qur'an, the
Sunnah, and the consensus brought them of the Sahabah's virtues and high ranks;
So they prefer those who spent (their wealth) and fought before the victory
-which is the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah*35 - over those who spent and fought after
it. They prefer the Muhajirun (Immigrants) over the Ansar (Helpers). They
believe that Allah said to the people of Badr - they were over three hundred-:
"Do whatever you wish, I have already forgiven you." (Abu Dawud)
And "they believe that no one who pledged allegiance
to the Prophet (peace be upon him) under the tree36 will enter Hell"
(Muslim), as the Prophet (peace be upon him) had declared; but that Allah was
pleased with them and they with Him - and they were more than one thousand and
four hundred.
They assign to Paradise whoever the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) assigned there such as the ten**, and Thabit Ibn Qays Ibn
Shammas, and others of amongst the Sahabah.
They accept what has been reported continuously from the
Prince of the Believers, 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), and
from others, that the best men of this 'Ummah after its Prophet are: Abu Bakr;
then 'Umar; third, 'Uthman, and fourth, 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased
with them all). All Traditions have indicated, and all Sahabah (may Allah be
pleased with them all) have agreed upon giving priority to 'Uthman out of regard
for his allegiance (al-Bai'ah), although some of the people of the Sunnah are
disputing over whether 'Uthman or 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with both of them)
has the priority, after they (the people of the Sunnah) had agreed upon giving
priority to Abu Bakr and 'Umar. Some people gave the priority to 'Uthman and
kept silent and considered 'Ali to be the fourth. However, some people preferred
'Ali. And some remained neutral. But the people of the Sunnah settled on
preferring 'Uthman, even though this matter - the matter of 'Uthman and 'Ali -
is not of the fundamentals. The majority of the people of the Sunnah do not
consider disagreeing in this matter as being misled. Rather, it is in the matter
of the "Question of the Caliphate" where they consider the disagreeing
person to be misled.
Ahl as-Sunnah believe that the Caliph after the Messenger
of Allah (peace be upon him) is Abu Bakr; then 'Umar; then 'Uthman, then 'Ali,
and that whoever contests the Caliphate of any one of these Imams is indeed more
lost than an ass
Ahl as-Sunnah should not deal with what happened between
the Sahabah of the disagreement, and they must say: Part of the Traditions which
are narrated about their faults are untrue, and some of them added to or omitted
from, or distorted; The part of them which is true, they are excused from,
because either they expressed their personal opinion and were right, or they
expressed their personal opinion and were wrong.
Ahl as-Sunnah do not think that each of the Sahabah is
infallible of committing grave sins or light sins, but that they are liable to
commit general offenses. Nevertheless, to them belongs priority in accepting
Islam
and in doing good deeds which qualify them for
forgiveness of what they may have committed, to the extent that their offenses
are forgiven. The same offenses will not be forgiven of those who come after
them because they (as-Sahabah) have a credit of good deeds which erase the bad
deeds, a credit the generations after them do not have. It has been confirmed by
the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him):
"That they are the best of all generations,"
(al-Bukhari and Muslim) and: "That the pint of charity any one of them
might have given is better than a pile of gold the size of Mount 'Uhud if it is
given by anyone who comes after them." (al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Moreover, if anyone of them (as-Sahabah) committed any
act of offense, without doubt he repented from it, or he did good deeds which
wiped that offense from him, or he has been forgiven for the virtue of accepting
Islam from its start or by intercession of Muhammad (peace be upon him) since
they are deserving most his intercession, or a calamity inflicted upon him in
this world which covered for that offense. But if this is the case in actual
offenses, what about matters in which they were mujtahids (formulating
independent decision in legal or theological matters)? If they were correct in
their ijtihad they will receive double reward and if they missed they will
receive one reward and the missing is forgiven for them.