This is confirmed by the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “They are the best of generations.”

He also said: “If any one of them were to give a single mudd in charity, it would outweigh Mount Uhud of gold given by someone who came after them.”

Should a sin have proceeded from any one of them, then he either repented, performed good deeds that erased it, was forgiven because of his earlier precedence, benefited from the intercession of Muḥammad ﷺ—for they are the people most entitled to his intercession—or was tried with an affliction in this world that expiated it.

If this is the case with sins whose commission is certain, then how much more so regarding matters in which they exercised independent judgment: if they were correct, they receive two rewards; if they erred, they receive one reward, and the error itself is forgiven.

Furthermore, whatever may justly be criticized in the deeds of some of them is but scant and insignificant when set beside the companions’ immense virtues and noble qualities—such as their faith in Allah and His Messenger and their striving in His cause.