the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said:
“If there were to be a prophet after me, it would be Umar.”
Al-Tirmidhī said, “A good hadith” (1).
Know that the people of Kufa and the disciples of Ibn Masūd—such as Alqama, al-Aswad, Shurayh, al-Hārith ibn Qays, Ubayda al-Salmānī, Masrūq, Zirr ibn Hubaysh, Abū Wā'il and others—all these men (2) regarded the knowledge of Umar and Ibn Masūd as superior to that of Alī. They generally followed the views of Umar and Ibn Masūd rather than that of Alī (3).
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The Rāfidī (4) said:
“He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘Knowledge acquired in childhood is like an engraving in stone.’ His knowledge would therefore exceed that of others because there were both a perfectly receptive learner (5) and a consummate teacher (6).”
The response is that this stems from the Rāfidī’s (lack of) (7) knowledge of hadith. This is merely a common proverb, not a statement of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). His Companions—may Allah Most High strengthen them—learned faith, the Quran and the Prophet’s teachings, and Allah made this easy for them; and the same is true of