[The Rāfidī’s assertion:
“There are numerous charges against the Companions, except for the Prophet’s Household,”
and the response to it]

Chapter (1)

The Rāfidī (2) said: “As for the charges against the general body of the Companions, the majority have transmitted so many such reports (3) that al-Kalbī even compiled a book on the faults (4) of the Companions, yet did not mention in it a single shortcoming of the Prophet’s Household (5).”

The response is as follows:

Before (6) giving detailed answers to the charges he mentions, it should be noted that reports of faults attributed to the Companions fall into two categories. The first consists of what is false—either entirely fabricated or distorted by additions and omissions that turn it into censure and defamation. Most transmitted reports containing explicit attacks fall into this category. They are narrated by liars known for lying, such as Abū Mikhnaf, Lūt ibn Yahyā (7), and Hishām ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sā’ib al-Kalbī, as well as others like them. That is why this Rāfidī cited what Hishām al-Kalbī compiled on the subject, even though he is among the most mendacious of