KHULAFÂ-IR-RÂSHIDÎN

The Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states about Abû Bakr as-Siddîq ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ as follows: “With the exception of prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-s-salâm’, the sun has not risen or set over a person superior to Abû Bakr.” He states in another hadîth-i-sherîf, “I have poured into Abû Bakr’s ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ chest all the knowledge that Allâhu ta’âlâ poured into my chest.”

The Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states as follows in one of the hadîth-i-sherîfs in praise of ’Umar-abnil- Khattâb ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “If another prophet were to come after me ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ would be (that) prophet.” Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ asked Jebrâîl (the Archangel Gabriel) about the grade of Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy- Allâhu ’anh’. “(The Angel) Jebrâîl as I am, were I to state all the virtues and perfections that ’Umar is endued with, beginning to recount them one by one by the time when the universe was created, I would not have completed my account of them at the time of Doomsday,” was the Angel’s answer. However, all the superiorities of Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ would add up to only one of the superiorities that Abû Bakr ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was graced with.

It is stated as follows in one of the hadîth-i-sherîfs praising Imâm ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “Every prophet has a companion in Paradise. ’Uthmân will be my companion there.” It is stated as follows in one of the hadîth-i-sherîfs uttered to describe the high grade of Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “Alî’s ‘radiy- Allâhu ’anh’ closeness to me is identical with the closeness of the prophet Hârûn (Aaron) to Mûsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’.” Hârûn ‘alaihis-salâm’ was Mûsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ brother, vizier, and assistant. That the people who deny the Madhhabs have misinterpreted and distorted these hadîth-i-sherîfs is explained in the book Documents of the Right Word, which also provides the answers they deserve. Imâm Ahmad ibn Hanbal states that no other Sahâbî has the number of hadîth-i-sherîfs uttered about him equal to that of the hadîth-i-sherîfs uttered about Imâm Alî ‘radiy- Allâhu ’anh’.