Adalat al-Sahaba Part VII: Other companions

We shall now mention a few other instances regarding other companions to see how well the belief of adalat al-sahaba upholds to them.

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Companions insulting Abdullah b. Amr

We read in Sahih al-Bukhari 3500:

Narrated Muhammad bin Jubair bin Mut`im: That while he was with a delegation from Quraish to Muawiya, the latter heard the news that `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As said that there would be a king from the tribe of Qahtan. On that Muawiya became angry, got up and then praised Allah as He deserved, and said, "Now then, I have heard that some men amongst you narrate things which are neither in the Holy Book, nor have been told by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Those men are the ignorant amongst you. Beware of such hopes as make the people go astray, for I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, 'Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, and whoever bears hostility to them, Allah will destroy him as long as they abide by the laws of the religion.' "

Here we see that Mu’awiya is claiming that ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr is a liar, and an ignorant man. Our opponents have two options:

• Defend ‘Amr and prove that his hadith is authentic, in which case they are accusing Mu’awiya of lying on the Prophet (saw) as he has claimed that the Prophet (saw) did not say this.

• Defend Mu’awiya, in which case they have conceded that ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr was a liar.

‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr was well known for his love of biblical scriptures. Should our opponents wish to argue otherwise, we would kindly remind them that ‘Aisha had raised this issue. We read in Ibn Mahmood's Qubul al-Akhbar (vol 1, pg. 193):

روح بن عبادة، أخبرنا يحيى بن أبى حسين، أخبرنا عبد الله بن أبى مليكة: أن ابن عامر أهدى إلى عائشة هدية، فظنت أنه عبد الله بن عمرو، فقالت: لا حاجة لي بهديته يتبع الكتب، والله عز وجل يقول: "أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِهِمْ أَنَّا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ". فقيل لها: إنه عبد الله بن عامر، فأذنت له.

Ruh b. 'Ubadah narrated to us, saying, Yahya b. Abi Husayn told us, saying, 'Abdullah b. Abi Mulaikah informed us that Ibn 'Amir sent a gift to 'A'ishah. She thought it was from 'Abdullah b. 'Amr, so she said, "I have no need for his gift; he follows (earlier) scriptures, while Allah Almighty says, 'Is it not sufficient for them that We have revealed to you the Book which is recited to them?' [Quran 29:51]." 

She was then told that it was from 'Abdullah b. 'Amir, so she allowed him to proceed. Similarly, even the tabi’in got sick of ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr’s obsession with the Bible, as it says on the next page of the same book (pg. 194):

وكان يقال: إنه وجد سفطين باليرموك فكان يحدث عنهما، فقال له قائل: حدثنا عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ودعنا من السفطين.

It was said that he found two boxes at Yarmouk and would narrate from their contents. Someone said to him, "Narrate to us from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and leave the boxes aside."

Abu Musa al-Ashari's false narrations

Abu Musa al-Ashari is famous for transmitting wrong narrations from the Prophet (saw). For example, he says in Sahih Muslim 1050:

We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara'at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it:" If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust."

Here Abu Musa himself testifies for his weak memory in memorising the Holy Qur'an, which has been made easy to memorise, yet he had forgotten it, so in what sense could we entrust him with memorising hadiths, which is harder to memorise? Moreover, we find that Abu Musa al-Ashari completely confused a Qur'an verse with a hadith, as the text that he remembers was also reported by Ibn Abbas as a hadith not a Qur'an verse in Sahih al-Bukhari 6436:

I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "If the son of Adam (the human being) had two valleys of money, he would wish for a third, for nothing can fill the belly of Adam's son except dust, and Allah forgives him who repents to Him."

How on earth could trust a man who could forget the Qur'an, forget the hadith, and mix them up together with narrating the traditions of Rasulullah (saw)? His unreliability in hadith is very apparent, and had any of the scholars of Shi'a done the same thing most certainly would we see that the Sunnis wouldn't stop to call us out in that, but excuse these flaws in their companions and continue transmitting reports from them.

In another narration, Abu Musa al-Ashari narrates the following in Sunan Ibn Majah 1594:

“The deceased is punished for the weeping of the living. If they say: ‘O my strength, O he who clothed us, O my help, O my rock,’ and so on, he is rebuked and it is said: ‘Were you really like that? Were you really like that?’” Asid said: "I said: 'Subhan-Allah! Allah says: "And no bearer of burdens shall another's burden (35:18)." He said: "Woe to you, I tell you that Abu Musa narrated to me from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and you think that Abu Musa was telling lies about the Prophet (ﷺ)? Or do you think that I am telling lies about Abu Musa?"

This narration was originally narrated by Umar, and also transmitted by Ibn Umar and Abu Musa, but when Ibn Abbas confronted Aisha about this, she said the following in Sahih al-Bukhari 1286:

Ibn `Abbas added, "When `Umar died I told all this to Aisha and she said, 'May Allah be merciful to `Umar. By Allah, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did not say that a believer is punished by the weeping of his relatives. But he said, Allah increases the punishment of a non-believer because of the weeping of his relatives." Aisha further added, "The Qur'an is sufficient for you (to clear up this point) as Allah has stated: 'No burdened soul will bear another's burden.' " (35.18). Ibn `Abbas then said, "Only Allah makes one laugh or cry." Ibn `Umar did not say anything after that.

Thus, we clearly see that Abu Musa al-'Ashari cannot be entrusted with narrating reports.

Samura entering Hell

We have mentioned in another article the following from Sahih al-Bukhari 2223

حَدَّثَنَا الْحُمَيْدِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي طَاوُسٌ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ يَقُولُ بَلَغَ عُمَرَ أَنَّ فُلاَنًا بَاعَ خَمْرًا فَقَالَ قَاتَلَ اللَّهُ فُلاَنًا، أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ قَاتَلَ اللَّهُ الْيَهُودَ، حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الشُّحُومُ فَجَمَلُوهَا فَبَاعُوهَا ‏"‏‏

Narrated by Humaydi from Sufyan from Amro bin Dinar from Tawus from Ibn `Abbas that he said: Once `Umar was informed that so-and-so sold alcohol. `Umar said, "May Allah destroy so-and-so! Doesn't he know that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, 'May Allah curse the Jews, for Allah had forbidden them to eat the fat of animals but they melted it and sold it."

We discussed before as well how Bukhari censored Samura, a companion, drinking alchohol and then being cursed by Umar. The original report is found from Musnad al-Humaydi, vol. 1, pg. 9:

حَدَّثَنَا الْحُمَيْدِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا سفيان، ثنا عمرو بن دينار، قال: أخبرني طاوس سمع ابن عباس يقول: بلغ عمر بن الخطاب أن سمرة باع خمراً فقال: قاتل الله سمرة، ألم يعلم أن رسول الله قال: «لعن الله اليهود حرمت عليهم الشحوم فجملوها فباعوها

Humaydi narrated from Sufyan from Amro bin Dinar from Tawus from Ibn `Abbas that he said: Once `Umar was informed that Samura sold alcohol. `Umar said, "May Allah destroy Samura! Doesn't he know that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, 'May Allah curse the Jews, for Allah had forbidden them to eat the fat of animals but they melted it and sold it.

What kind of reliability can be attributed to such a man? Moreover, he was claimed to go to hell by the Holy prophet (saw) himself as we read in Ansab al-Ashraf by al-Baladhuri (vol. 5, pg. 220)

حدثنا عفان حدثنا حماد بن سلمة أنبأنا علي بن زيد حدثنا أوس بن خالد قال : كنت أقدم على أبي محذورة فيسألني عن سمرة، وأقدم على سمرة فيسألني عن أبي محذورة، فقلت لأبي محذورة : إنك لتسألني عن سمرة فلم ذاك ؟ فقال : كنت أنا وسمرة وأبو هُرَيْرة في بيت واحد فأخذ النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم بعضادتي الباب ثم قال : «إنّ آخركم موتاً في النار»، قال: فمات أبو هُرَيْرَة ثم مات أبو محذورة ثم سمرة

Afan narrated to us, Hammad bin Salamah narrated to us, Ali bin Zaid informed us, Aws bin Khalid said: I used to go to Abu Mahzura and he would ask me about Samura, and I would go to Samura and he would ask me about Abu Mahzura. So, I said to Abu Mahzura: You ask me about Samura, why is that? He said: Samura, Abu Hurayrah, and I were in one house, then the Prophet (peace be upon him) took hold of the door frame, then he said: 'Indeed, the last of you will die in the fire.' He said: Abu Hurayrah died, then Abu Mahzura died, then Samura died.

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