The Divine Selection Of Prophet Muhammad And His Blessed Companions

The Status of the Companions and Their Divine Selection

In a hadith reported in Musnad Ahmed, Imam Ahmed narrates from his teacher Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash, who reports from Asim ibn Abi al-Nujud, who reports from Zirr ibn Hubaysh, from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه — the great and famous companion — that he says that Allah Ta'ala looked at all people who were to be created, and he found that of all people, the heart — the blessed heart — of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the purest of all hearts. So he goes on to say:

(Musnad Ahmed)

So then Allah Ta'ala, due to the fact that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had the purest of all hearts, selected the Prophet ﷺ specifically for His own sake, and then made him His last, final, and most important messenger.

Then the narration goes on. It says:

(Musnad Ahmed)

After the Prophet ﷺ, Allah Ta'ala again looked at the hearts of people and found that the hearts of the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم were the purest of hearts — after the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

It then says:

(Musnad Ahmed)

So then, given that Allah Ta'ala saw that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم had the purest of hearts, Allah Ta'ala specifically chose them and put them around the Messenger ﷺ and made them the assistants and helpers of the Messenger ﷺ.

The Prophet's Unique and Universal Messengership

Now regarding the Messenger ﷺ, we know that Allah Ta'ala says:

That Allah Ta'ala has exalted some messengers, some prophets, in status over others. And then at the very head of all of these is the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ — Allah Ta'ala exalted him and put him ahead of all the other prophets. This is something that as Muslims we believe, accept, and acknowledge.

Now, what does it mean that Allah Ta'ala sent the Messenger ﷺ and put him at the head of all the other prophets? It means many things, but primarily two things. One of them — Allah Ta'ala says:

That Allah Ta'ala sent the Prophet ﷺ for all people. So now that means two things. One of them is that the messengership of the Prophet ﷺ was not localized but rather it was globalized — in other words, the Prophet ﷺ was sent as a messenger to the whole world.

Every other prophet was just sent to a specific group of people. As is commonly said about Sayyidina Isa عليه السلام, he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel — it wasn't meant to be a global message. Whereas for the Prophet ﷺ, Allah Ta'ala sent him to the whole world.

That's one thing. The second thing is that the message of the Prophet ﷺ was not only meant to transcend space — meaning extend not just to the Arabian Peninsula but the whole world — it was meant to transcend time as well.

Allah Ta'ala sent the Messenger ﷺ to the unlettered nation, to the Arabs, and then describes the functions of that Messenger ﷺ — which we'll speak about momentarily. But then Allah says that He didn't just send the Messenger ﷺ to the Arabs; rather, Allah sent this Messenger to another group that had not yet come into existence. That means Allah sent the Messenger ﷺ to a group that had not yet been born — meaning everyone after the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم, all the way throughout time, until me and you, and after us as well.

So the message of the Messenger ﷺ was meant to be global — that's one significant distinguishing factor. The second thing is that his message was meant to transcend time, in other words, last until the Day of Judgment. Whereas for all other prophets, their messages were not only localized in terms of space but also in terms of time — it was just for the immediate audience at that time, and then Allah would send another messenger thereafter. It wasn't meant to surpass or transcend that time.

How the Sahaba Fulfilled the Prophet's Mission

So now there's a question that arises. If the Messenger ﷺ was sent to all people and throughout all time, he certainly ﷺ did not live in all countries — he was living in the Arabian Peninsula. Similarly, Allah Ta'ala took him back. The Messenger ﷺ didn't live throughout time — Allah Ta'ala took him back — and yet his message is still meant to persist throughout time, but he is not living in our midst right now. So there seems to be some inconsistency.

The answer goes back to the very first hadith that we talked about. That Allah Ta'ala not only chose the Messenger but thereafter chose the people to be around the Messenger ﷺ. And even though Allah Ta'ala took the Messenger ﷺ back before he visited every country, and before all this time passed until now, the way that Allah Ta'ala fulfilled the mandate of the Prophet ﷺ was by placing people around him who were going to carry on that task and take it up for him ﷺ.

So from that we understand that the Prophet ﷺ was fundamentally different from all other prophets in his message — because he was meant to be present throughout all time and globally instead of locally. That means that since his purpose was fundamentally different, Allah Ta'ala put a fundamentally different group of people around this Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ enjoyed such companions that no other prophet had anything similar or even close to.

These companions took the religion of the Prophet ﷺ in the very direction that Allah Ta'ala sent the Prophet ﷺ with — for all people. If we look at a map of how far Islam had spread in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, it was far, but relatively contained within the Arabian Peninsula. How did it surpass and transcend those borders? That wasn't in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ — that was in the lifetime of the Sahaba. So we see that Allah Ta'ala utilized the Sahaba to fulfill the very purpose with which Allah Ta'ala sent the Prophet ﷺ.

The Four Purposes of the Prophet's Mission in Surah al-Jumu'ah

To illustrate, let's look at some examples. The purposes with which Allah Ta'ala sent the Prophet ﷺ. The first thing — Allah says:

So the first purpose of the Prophet ﷺ is to recite to the people the verses of the Qur'an — in other words, to convey the Qur'an to the people. That's the first purpose.

Now, in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the Qur'an was taught to the people but it wasn't formally compiled. This only happened at the time of Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, and then thereafter, more formally, in the time of Sayyidina Uthman رضي الله عنه.

That means what Allah Ta'ala says:

We are the ones who are going to gather it, and we are the ones who are going to facilitate its recitation. Allah Ta'ala promised this. And:

That We will preserve the reminder that We have sent down. But how did Allah Ta'ala preserve it? Allah Ta'ala preserved it through certain people whom He selected and put around the Messenger ﷺ, and specifically preserved the Qur'an — the lasting, enduring message of the Prophet ﷺ — through the means of these people.

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه stepped up for this task. Umar رضي الله عنه suggested it. Zayd ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه carried it out. All the Sahaba contributed by offering the parts that they had written in front of the Prophet ﷺ. And then the same process repeated more formally in the time of Sayyidina Uthman. So Allah said that He is going to preserve this message — but Allah preserved it through the companions رضي الله عنهم.

So then, what do we think is the status of these people whom Allah Ta'ala selected to carry out the task of preserving the revelation that Allah Ta'ala sent to the Prophet ﷺ?

So now we can see that not only did they preserve the Qur'an, but the next purpose of the Prophet ﷺ — Allah says:

Number one — he recites to them the verses. Then he purifies them. And then he teaches them the book. And then he teaches them wisdom.

So now from this, we see that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم not only preserved the Qur'an and facilitated its recitation, but then they taught the Qur'an as well. One of the Tabi'een to illustrate — Mujahid — says that he recited the Qur'an to Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه no less than 30 times. He goes on to further say that three times he recited the Qur'an to Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه, and he stopped him at every single ayah, asking:

What is this ayah about? What was it revealed about? What was the occasion? — every single ayah of the Qur'an, over 6,000 of them. And he did this three times going through the Qur'an with him.

We see that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم not only preserved the legacy of the Prophet ﷺ in terms of the Qur'an — they preserved the words of it — but then they preserved its teachings as well. So Allah selected them to carry out this purpose of the Prophet ﷺ.

Keeping this ayah of Surah al-Jumu'ah in mind — Allah says that He sent the Prophet ﷺ to the Arabs with these four purposes: reciting the Qur'an, teaching it, teaching wisdom, and purifying them. Then Allah says that He sent the Prophet ﷺ with these same four purposes to another group that had not yet come. So obviously the Prophet ﷺ didn't physically witness these people — it was the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم who went, and Allah chose them to carry out the very same purposes of the Prophet ﷺ to the next generation and beyond.

So what then do we think is their status?

The Preservation of the Sunnah

Allah says in Surah al-Nahl:

Allah says that He has revealed the reminder to you so that you can explain to people what was revealed to them. So Allah revealed another revelation to the Prophet ﷺ. He says:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4604)

He says that I have been given the Qur'an and another form of revelation as well. So given this — that the Prophet ﷺ was given this other form of revelation which explains the Qur'an — this is the Hadith, or the Sunnah.

So the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم not only preserved the Qur'an — they preserved the Sunnah as well. And Allah Ta'ala employed them for this purpose. Keeping in mind the very first narration that we talked about: that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم being around the Prophet ﷺ was not random. Rather, Allah Ta'ala selected each and every one of them to carry out the task of the preservation of the two forms of wahi — the two revelations — that the Prophet ﷺ was given.

The Diligence of the Sahaba in Conveying Knowledge

One thing to note about the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم is that they carried out this task with the utmost level of diligence. They conveyed every single thing that was imparted to them by the Prophet ﷺ. Allah Ta'ala tells the Prophet ﷺ:

O Messenger, convey everything that has been revealed to you from your Lord. So then the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم did exactly the same thing — every single thing that they learned from the Prophet ﷺ, they conveyed every single thing.

Sayyiduna Mu'adh رضي الله عنه — Mu'adh ibn Jabal — had a certain hadith that he hadn't narrated throughout his life. The hadith mentions, after he narrates it:

Mu'adh's رضي الله عنه very last words on his deathbed: he said, "Wait a minute — I just need to tell you one more hadith. This is one hadith that I didn't yet tell you. I don't want to fall into the sin of not conveying something that was imparted to us by the Prophet ﷺ."

Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, who was the very close student and nephew of Sayyiduna Aisha رضي الله عنها, says that everything that Sayyiduna Aisha رضي الله عنها has said — all the knowledge she had — he thought he had encapsulated everything, so there is nothing that she would say that he doesn't already know. What that shows is that every single thing that Sayyiduna Aisha رضي الله عنها learned from the Prophet ﷺ, she imparted to her students.

So the Sahaba — number one, we see that they conveyed every single thing. Number two, they not only conveyed it but throughout their life they would actively try to recall it as well.

Somebody may ask: is it that the Sahaba heard something from the Prophet ﷺ and then only reported it years later — how do we know that they would remember it? Number one, we'd say that there is long-term memory — something that settles in that a person doesn't forget. Number two, the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم were, all the time, reviewing it.

Imam ibn Kathir says about Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, reporting from Ibn Juraij, that Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه — the one who narrates the most hadith, 5,374 according to some counts — says that he divided his night into three different portions: one for sleeping, one for ibadah, and one for reviewing hadith.

Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه, another narrator who narrates a lot — over 2,000 hadith from the Prophet ﷺ — says:

We would be in the company of the Prophet ﷺ. We would hear a hadith. When the Prophet ﷺ would leave, we would immediately review it amongst ourselves so that we could remember it.

The Sahaba — number one, they conveyed everything. Number two, they would review it actively. Number three, if they were ever unsure about anything, they wouldn't narrate it — they would have extreme caution in narrating anything.

And number four — and the most important — Allah Ta'ala says:

Allah Ta'ala has inscribed faith in their hearts. So Allah Ta'ala, above all, selected the Sahaba and preserved them and protected them from lying. We have no account whatsoever of any Sahabi رضي الله عنه — be it inside the scope of hadith or outside the scope of hadith — ever saying anything untrue, any lie, throughout their life.

The Companions in the Qur'an: Their Description and Their Rank

And finally, to close with this — Allah Ta'ala says in the Qur'an, in Surah al-Fath:

In Hudaybiyyah, when they refused to write down his name on the treaty, Allah says, it's okay — I affirm it myself. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and sufficient is Allah as a witness. And his companions — they fight for his sake. They are very severe and stern when it comes to the non-believers, very lenient amongst themselves. You see them exerting themselves in ibadah. You see the marks of sujood on their faces.

Allah is saying: this is their description in the Torah, in the Injil. What that means is that thousands of years even before the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم came into existence, Allah was boasting about this group that was going to come — in the Torah, in the Injil — to groups of people that would never meet them. Thousands of years even before they were born, Allah Ta'ala is already speaking about such amazing people. What amazing people they were.

And then Allah goes on to give an example:

It's like a seedling that has sprouted — so this is the Prophet ﷺ setting the seeds of Islam and allowing it to sprout and blossom. Allah Ta'ala describes how this seedling that took sprout during the time of the Prophet ﷺ first became stronger, then became firm, then stood up by itself. Allah Ta'ala allowed the seed of Islam that had blossomed in the time of the Prophet ﷺ to firmly take root and spread out its branches through the Sahaba. Allah Ta'ala selected the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم for this task.

Our Perspective Towards the Companions

And finally — our perspective. There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim, narrated by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رضي الله عنه, where it says:

And then it says:

Never, ever, ever revile my companions. Why? Because Allah Ta'ala has selected them for a very important task. Allah honored them. Allah says:

Allah has promised every single one of them the best reward. If any one of us were to spend a mountain's worth of gold, it wouldn't even reach a handful of theirs. Allah appreciates their efforts. We ask that Allah Ta'ala also allow us to appreciate their efforts.

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