Muhammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd said: Ibn al-Mubārak was asked about Muʿāwiyah. He replied, “What am I to say about a man for whom the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Allah hears the one who praises Him,’ and who, standing behind him, responded, ‘Our Lord, to You belongs the praise’? Someone then asked him, ‘Which of the two is superior, he or ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz?’ He answered, ‘A speck of dust in Muʿāwiyah’s nostrils while he was with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, is better and more excellent than ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.’ (1)

Another scholar reported Ibn al-Mubārak as saying, “Muʿāwiyah is, for us, a touchstone; whoever we see casting a hostile glance at him, we suspect with regard to the Companions.” (2)

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmmār al-Mawṣilī and others related: al-Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān was asked, “Which is better, Muʿāwiyah or ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz?” He became angry and said to the questioner, “Do you equate a man from the Companions with a man from the Followers? Muʿāwiyah was the Prophet’s companion, his in-law, his scribe, and the trustee of Allah’s revelation. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Leave for me my Companions and my in-laws.’ (3) Whoever reviles them, upon him is the curse of Allah, the angels, and all people.” Al-Faḍl ibn ʿAnbasah expressed the same view. (4)

Abū Tawbah al-Rabīʿ ibn Nāfiʿ al-Ḥalabī said, “Muʿāwiyah is a veil for the Companions of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him; when a man tears away the veil, he will dare to strike at whatever lies behind it.” (5)

Al-Maymūnī reported that Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said to him, “O Abū al-Ḥasan! If you see a man speaking ill of any one of the Companions, suspect him concerning his Islam.”

Al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allah (Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal) asked about a man who belittles Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ—should he be called a rāfiḍī? He replied, “No one would dare speak against them unless he harbors some hidden wickedness. No one maligns any of the Companions except that some inner corruption lurks within him.”

Ibn al-Mubārak narrated—from Muḥammad ibn Muslim, from Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah—who said: “I never saw ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz strike anyone except a man who cursed Muʿāwiyah; he had him whipped with lashes.”