Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (7/369)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

one of the Companions or Followers ever disagreed about the superiority of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and their precedence over all the Companions.” (1)

Mālik narrated from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: “During the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, we used to compare people in merit and say: ‘The best of people after Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is Abū Bakr, then ʿUmar.’” (2)

Al-Bukhārī’s transmission of this same statement from ʿAlī has already been cited (3). The Shīʿa who accompanied ʿAlī used to say the same. It was also mass-transmitted from ʿAlī through approximately eighty routes. This is a matter scholars regard as certain; it is not unknown to anyone familiar with the lives of the Messenger and the caliphs.

[The Eighth: The Hadith of the Bird]

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Al-Rāfidī said: (4) “The eighth is the report of the bird (5): all the Sunni authorities have narrated that a bird was brought to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said, ‘O Allah, bring me

(1) This wording appears in Abū Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Bayhaqī’s *Manāqib al-Shāfiʿī* (The Virtues of al-Shāfiʿī), edited by al-Sayyid Ahmad Saqr (Cairo: Dār al-Turāth, 1391/1971), 1:434. It is followed by: “Those among them who differed did so only concerning ʿAlī and ʿUthmān: some gave ʿAlī precedence over ʿUthmān, while others gave ʿUthmān precedence over ʿAlī. We do not hold any of the Companions of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to have erred in what they did.” (2) This report was discussed earlier at 6:153. See also *Fadā'il al-Sahāba* (The Virtues of the Companions), 1:92–93 (no. 62). (3) This report appeared earlier at 1:12 and 2:72. (4) In K, p. 171 (M). (5) M reads: “the bird.”

اخْتَلَفَ أَحَدٌ مِنَ الصَّحَابَةِ، وَالتَّابِعِينَ فِي تَفْضِيلِ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ، وَتَقْدِيمِهِمَا عَلَى جَمِيعِ الصَّحَابَةِ ". (١) وَرَوَى مَالِكٌ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، قَالَ: كُنَّا نُفَاضِلُ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، فَنَقُولُ: خَيْرُ النَّاسِ بَعْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ ثُمَّ عُمَرُ (٢) . وَقَدْ تَقَدَّمَ نَقْلُ الْبُخَارِيِّ عَنْ عَلِيٍّ هَذَا الْكَلَامَ (٣) . وَالشِّيعَةُ الَّذِينَ صَحِبُوا عَلِيًّا كَانُوا يَقُولُونَ ذَلِكَ، وَتَوَاتَرَ ذَلِكَ عَنْ عَلِيٍّ مِنْ نَحْوِ ثَمَانِينَ وَجْهًا، وَهَذَا مِمَّا يَقْطَعُ بِهِ أَهْلُ الْعِلْمِ لَيْسَ هَذَا مِمَّا يَخْفَى عَلَى مَنْ كَانَ عَارِفًا بِأَحْوَالِ الرَّسُولِ وَالْخُلَفَاءِ. [الثامن حديث الطائر] فَصْلٌ. قَالَ الرَّافِضِيُّ: (٤) " الثَّامِنُ: خَبَرُ الطَّائِرِ (٥) ، رَوَى الْجُمْهُورُ كَافَّةً أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أُتِيَ بِطَائِرٍ، فَقَالَ: «اللَّهُمَّ ائْتِنِي

(١) وَرَدَتْ هَذِهِ الْعِبَارَةُ فِي كِتَابِ " مَنَاقِبِ الشَّافِعِيِّ " لِأَبِي بَكْرٍ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ الْبَيْهَقِيِّ، تَحْقِيق الْأُسْتَاذِ السَّيِّدِ أَحْمَد صَقْر (ط. دَارِ التُّرَاثِ، الْقَاهِرَةِ، ١٣٩١ ١٩٧١) ١/٤٣٤ وَجَاءَ بَعْدَهَا: " إِنَّمَا اخْتَلَفَ مَنِ اخْتَلَفَ مِنْهُمْ فِي عَلِيٍّ وَعُثْمَانَ: مِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَدَّمَ عَلِيًّا عَلَى عُثْمَانَ، وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَدَّمَ عُثْمَانَ عَلَى عَلِيٍّ. وَنَحْنُ لَا نُخَطِّئُ أَحَدًا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِيمَا فَعَلُوا " (٢) سَبَقَ الْكَلَامُ عَلَى هَذَا الْأَثَرِ فِيمَا مَضَى ٦/١٥٣. وَانْظُرْ أَيْضًا كِتَابَ " فَضَائِلِ الصَّحَابَةِ " ١/٩٢ ـ ٩٣ (رَقْمُ ٦٢) (٣) سَبَقَ هَذَا الْأَثَرُ فِيمَا مَضَى ١/١٢، ٢/٧٢ (٤) فِي (ك) ص ١٧١ (م) (٥) م: الطَّيْرِ