and He, the Exalted, also says:

“Until, when he reaches full strength and attains forty years, he says, ‘My Lord, inspire me to be grateful for the favor You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteous deeds that please You. Grant me uprightness in my offspring. Indeed, I repent to You, and truly I am of the Muslims.’ Such are the ones from whom We accept the best of what they did and overlook their misdeeds; they will be among the companions of Paradise.” (al-Ahqaf 15–16) (1)

The enemies of Allah have seized upon the differences and fighting that occurred among the Companions during the time of fitnah, using it as a pretext to disparage them and diminish their honor. Some contemporary writers—who claim knowledge yet possess none—have adopted this malicious program. They have set themselves up as judges over the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, declaring some to be right and others wrong without any evidence, driven only by ignorance, caprice, and the recycled slanders of spiteful Orientalists and their cronies. In the process they have unsettled certain Muslim youths whose acquaintance with their glorious history and their righteous predecessors—the best of generations—is shallow, thereby paving the way for them, in turn, to launch attacks on