—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—beyond any doubt that the people of the Suffah were with the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, just like the other believers; that none of the Companions had any path to Allah except through following His Messenger; and that the best Companions were those who followed him most faithfully, such as Abū Bakr and ‘Umar. Abū Bakr was superior to ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, and was the greatest of the utterly truthful.

It is established in the two Sahīh collections that he said:
“Among the nations before you were people who received inspiration. If there is anyone like that in my community, it is ‘Umar.”

Although ‘Umar received inspiration, al-Siddīq (the utterly truthful), who draws his light from the lamp of prophethood, was superior to him and more complete. For whatever is firmly established as having been brought by the Messenger is protected from error and admits of no mistake, whereas what comes to someone who receives inspiration can contain errors that need correction by the light of prophethood. Thus Abū Bakr would correct ‘Umar: ‘Umar would hold certain views, then discover that the truth was otherwise, as happened to him on several occasions.