And as regards spiritual experience, they point to spiritual perceptions and extraordinary miracles found among later righteous people, the like of which has not been reported from the early generations. At other times, they advance specious arguments from transmitted texts, such as his saying:

“Anyone among them who acts will have the reward of fifty of you.”

And his saying:

“My community is like rain: it is not known whether its beginning or its end is better.”

This, however, contradicts the Sunnah transmitted through numerous independent chains from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through Ibn Masʿūd and ʿImrān ibn Husayn (1). Among the reports recorded in both Sahih collections, or in one of them, is his saying:

“The best generation is the generation among whom I was sent, then those who follow them, then those who follow them.”

And his saying:

“By Him in whose hand is my soul, if any of you were to spend gold equal to Mount Uhud, it would not amount to a mudd given by one of them, nor even half of it.”

There are other hadiths to this effect.

It also contradicts the consensus of the early generations, as expressed in Ibn Masʿūd’s statement:

“Allah looked into the hearts of His servants and found Muhammad’s heart to be the best of His servants’ hearts. Then, after Muhammad’s heart, He looked into the hearts of His servants and found the hearts of his Companions to be the best of His servants’ hearts.”

And Hudhayfah’s statement:

“O company of Quran reciters, remain steadfast and follow the path of those who came before you. By Allah, if you follow them, you will have advanced far ahead; but if you turn to the right or the left, you will have strayed far away.”

And Ibn Masʿūd’s statement: “Whoever among you wishes to follow an example should follow those who have died. They were the Companions of Muhammad, the purest of this community in heart