“If any of you were to spend gold equal to Mount Uhud, it would not equal a mudd (a measure of food) given by one of them, nor even half of it.”

If this is the standing of those who embraced Islam after the victory and fought—his Companions who followed the earliest forerunners—in relation to those who embraced Islam before the victory and fought, who were his earliest Companions, then what of those who were never his Companions at all in relation to his Companions?!

His statement, “Do not insult my Companions,” is established in the two Sahīh collections through several chains of transmission. These include the report already mentioned and the one recorded in the Sahīh collection (1), from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Do not insult my Companions. By Him in whose hand is my soul, if any of you were to spend gold equal to Mount Uhud, it would not equal a mudd given by one of them, nor even half of it.”

This hadith was previously cited at 2/20–21.

Section

[The Rāfidī’s claim that he may have taken him along out of fear of him, lest his undertaking become known, and the reply to it]

As for the Rāfidī’s statement:

“He may have taken him along out of fear of him, lest his undertaking become known.”

The answer is that this is false on so many grounds that they cannot all be enumerated.

First: His loyalty and love for him, rather than enmity toward him, are established by the evidence of the Quran. This claim is therefore invalid.

Second: It is known through mass transmission that Abū Bakr loved the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, believed in him, and was among those closest to him. This is more firmly established than the mass-transmitted accounts