Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (7/512)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

Jāmi ibn Shaddād(1) narrated to us; Abū Ya'lā Mundhir al-Thawrī(2) narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, who said:

“I asked my father, ‘Father, who is the best of people(3) after the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him(4)?’

“He replied, ‘My son, do you not know?’

“I said, ‘No.’(5)

“He replied(6), ‘Abū Bakr.’

“I asked, ‘Then who?’

“He replied, ‘Then Umar.’”(7)

He says this to his son, from whom he has nothing to fear, and to his close associates. He also warns that he will punish anyone who regards him as superior to those two and considers such a person a slanderer. Yet someone acting out of humility could not rightly threaten to punish a person who, in regarding him as superior to those two(8), would be speaking the truth, nor could he call such a person a slanderer.

Anyone who is superior to another—whether among the prophets, the Companions, or others—is more knowledgeable, and knowledge is the foremost of virtues. Allah Most High says:

“Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”

(Sūrat al-Zumar: 9)

There is abundant evidence for this, and the scholars have discussed it extensively.

As for his assertion(9)—“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘The most competent of you in adjudication is Alī,’ and adjudication necessarily entails knowledge and religious integrity”—

(1) Al-Bukhārī reads: “Jāmi ibn Abī Rāshid.” (2) “Mundhir al-Thawrī” does not appear in al-Bukhārī. (3) Al-Bukhārī reads: “…to my father, ‘Who is the best of people…?’” (4) Not in al-Bukhārī. (5) Not in al-Bukhārī. (6) Al-Bukhārī reads: “He said.” (7) I have not found this report elsewhere in al-Bukhārī. It also appears in *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 4/288 (Book of the Sunnah, chapter: “On Superiority”), and *Fadā’il al-Sahāba* (The Virtues of the Companions), 1/153–154 (no. 136). Both give the name as “Jāmi ibn Abī Rāshid,” and their versions closely agree with al-Bukhārī’s. (8) The phrase “who regards him as superior to them both” is omitted from (م), while “to them both” is omitted from (س) and (ب). (9) That is, Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Rāfidī—in (ك), p. 178 (م)—and this follows his preceding statement.

حَدَّثَنَا جَامِعُ بْنُ شَدَّادٍ (١) ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو يُعْلَى مُنْذِرٌ الثَّوْرِيُّ (٢) ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ ابْنِ الْحَنَفِيَّةِ، قَالَ: قُلْتُ لِأَبِي: يَا أَبَتِ مَنْ خَيْرُ النَّاسِ (٣) بَعْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ (٤) ؟ فَقَالَ: يَا بُنَيَّ، أَوَمَا تَعْرِفُ؟ فَقُلْتُ: لَا (٥) ، فَقَالَ (٦) أَبُو بَكْرٍ، قُلْتُ: ثُمَّ مَنْ؟ قَالَ: ثُمَّ عُمَرُ " (٧) . وَهَذَا يَقُولُهُ لِابْنِهِ الَّذِي لَا يَتَّقِيهِ، وَلِخَاصَّتِهِ، وَيَتَقَدَّمُ بِعُقُوبَةِ مَنْ يُفَضِّلُهُ عَلَيْهِمَا، وَيَرَاهُ مُفْتَرِيًا. وَالْمُتَوَاضِعُ لَا يَجُوزُ أَنْ يَتَقَدَّمَ بِعُقُوبَةِ مَنْ يُفَضِّلُهُ عَلَيْهِمَا (٨) ، يَقُولُ الْحَقَّ، وَلَا يُسَمِّيهِ مُفْتَرِيًا. وَكُلُّ مَنْ كَانَ أَفْضَلَ مِنْ غَيْرِهِ مِنَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالصَّحَابَةِ وَغَيْرِهِمْ فَإِنَّهُ أَعْلَمُ، وَرَأْسُ الْفَضَائِلِ الْعِلْمُ، قَالَ تَعَالَى: {هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ} (سُورَةُ الزُّمَرِ: ٩) ، وَالدَّلَائِلُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ كَثِيرَةٌ، وَكَلَامُ الْعُلَمَاءِ كَثِيرٌ فِي ذَلِكَ. وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُ (٩) : قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: " «أَقْضَاكُمْ عَلِيٌّ» ، وَالْقَضَاءُ يَسْتَلْزِمُ الْعِلْمَ وَالدِّينَ ".

(١) الْبُخَارِيِّ: جَامِعُ بْنُ أَبِي رَاشِدٍ (٢) مُنْذِرٌ الثَّوْرِيُّ: لَيْسَتْ فِي " الْبُخَارِيِّ " (٣) الْبُخَارِيِّ. . . لِأَبِي: أَيُّ النَّاسِ خَيْرٌ. . . (٤) لَيْسَتْ فِي الْبُخَارِيِّ (٥) لَيْسَتْ فِي الْبُخَارِيِّ (٦) الْبُخَارِيُّ: قَالَ (٧) لَمْ أَجِدْ هَذَا الْأَثَرَ فِي مَوْضِعٍ آخَرَ فِي الْبُخَارِيِّ. وَهُوَ فِي: سُنَنِ أَبِي دَاوُدَ ٤/٢٨٨ (كِتَابُ السُّنَّةِ، بَابٌ فِي التَّفْضِيلِ) ; كِتَابُ فَضَائِلِ الصَّحَابَةِ ١/١٥٣ ١٥٤ (رَقْمُ ١٣٦) وَفِيهِمَا: جَامِعُ بْنُ أَبِي رَاشِدٍ، وَرِوَايَتُهُمَا مُوَافِقَةٌ لِرِوَايَةِ الْبُخَارِيِّ تَقْرِيبًا (٨) عِبَارَةُ " يُفَضِّلُهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ": سَقَطَتْ مِنْ (م) ، وَسَقَطَتْ " عَلَيْهِمَا " مِنْ (س) ، (ب) (٩) أَيِ ابْنِ الْمُطَهَّرِ الرَّافِضِيِّ فِي (ك) ص ١٧٨ (م) وَهُوَ تَابِعٌ لِكَلَامِهِ السَّابِقِ