It is well known that the people of hadith and the Sunnah have the closest ties to the Messenger and his followers. They therefore enjoy Allah’s favor, His singling them out for knowledge and forbearance, and multiplied rewards in a measure not granted to others. As one of the early generations said:
“The people of the Sunnah stand within Islam as the people of Islam stand among the religions.”
These remarks draw attention to what ignorant and misguided people imagine to be the Companions’ shortcomings in knowledge and exposition, or in strength and prowess in battle. This is not the place for a detailed treatment of the matter.
The point is to emphasize that anyone who claims, through his conduct or his words, that a group other than the people of hadith has grasped hidden, unseen realities that the people of hadith have not—concerning creation and resurrection, the beginning and the final return, faith in Allah and the Last Day, knowledge of the Necessary Existent and the rational soul, and the knowledge and moral qualities through which souls are purified, reformed, and perfected—is, if he believes in the messengers, an ignorant person with a pronounced trait of hypocrisy. Otherwise, he is an outright hypocrite, among those described in the words:
“When it is said to them, ‘Believe as the people have believed,’ they say, ‘Should we believe as the foolish have believed?’ Indeed, it is they who are the foolish, but they do not know.”
He may also be among “those who dispute concerning Allah’s signs without any authority having come to them,” and among those described in the words:
“As for those who argue concerning Allah after He has been acknowledged, their argument is invalid before their Lord; wrath is upon them, and a severe punishment awaits them.”
This can also be demonstrated through sound rational reasoning that admits of no doubt—even though it is evident by natural disposition to everyone whose disposition is sound. For if the Messenger is the most perfect of all creation and the most knowledgeable