2819 – Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Sahl and Ahmad ibn Harun reported to us. They said: Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ibrahim narrated to us. He said: Abu ʿImran Musa ibn Harun, Abu ʿAbd Allah, narrated to us. He said: Abu Bishr Harun ibn Hatim al-Bazzar al-Kufi narrated to us. He said: I heard Muhammad ibn Subayh al-Sammak say:

“I know that the Jews do not curse the companions of Moses, and that the Christians do not revile the companions of Jesus. So what is the matter with you, O ignorant one, that you insult the companions of Muhammad? Do you not realize where your failure came from? Your own sin has not preoccupied you. Had your sin occupied you, you would have feared your Lord. Truly, in your own wrongdoing there was enough to keep you busy with the offenders—woe to you!—so how has it not kept you from attacking the righteous?

If you yourself had been among the righteous, you would never have assailed the sinners; rather, you would have hoped for them in the mercy of the Most Merciful. But you are one of the sinners, and that is why you find fault with the martyrs and the god-fearing.

O critic of the companions of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, if you had slept through the night and broken your fast during the day, it would have been better for you than your night prayer and daytime fasting while you malign the companions of your Prophet. Woe to you! No night vigil and no day-long fast is accepted while you attack the virtuous. Expect, then, the opposite of good news unless you repent of what you hear and see.

Woe to you! Some of them were honored at Badr and others were honored at Uhud; indeed, concerning both groups Allah has pronounced His pardon, for He said: “Indeed, those of you who turned away on the day the two armies met, it was Satan who caused them to slip because of something they had earned; but Allah has already pardoned them” (Al ʿImran 3:155) ⦗1548⦘. What, then, will you say about those whom Allah has pardoned?

We cite in evidence the plea of Abraham, the Friend of the All-Merciful, who said: “So whoever follows me is truly of me; and whoever disobeys me—then You are Forgiving, Merciful” (Ibrahim 14:36). In this he alluded to forgiveness for the disobedient. Had he instead said, “You are Almighty, All-Wise,” or “Your punishment is a painful punishment,” he would have alluded to vengeance.

As for you, O ignorant one, on whose behalf can you argue except on behalf of the ignorant? How wretched is a later generation that curses the earliest generation! One of the predecessors is better than a thousand of those who came later. And with regard to these men, the pardon has already come down for them, for He said: “Indeed, those of you who turned away on the day the two armies met, it was Satan who caused them to slip because of something they had earned; but Allah has already pardoned them” (Al ʿImran 3:155). So what do you say about those whom Allah has pardoned? What—indeed—do you say about those whom Allah has pardoned?