1. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims
  2. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

23 Questions

Our Sunni brothers claim that the Prophet said that the best of his Ummah was the first generation of the Sahabah, followed by the generation after that. Do the Shia also have such a narration?
Amina Inloes

No. In this day and age, this is basically a Salafi idea which is used to justify the belief that reconstructing society as it was during the first four caliphs will fix all the problems in the world.

Since Shi'is do not share the idea that society was ideal or perfect during the first four caliphates, and in fact point to a number of problems during that time, or things which were done which may have been against the Prophet's intent (whether relating to internal matters, such as the caliphate or financial management, or external matters, such as wars), this idea isn't found in Shi'ism.

In fact, we look forward to better times during the advent of the Mahdi (A)!
Did Rasool Allah (SAWS) know about the character of some of the companions around him? Why didn't he expose them? Why did he keep them alongside him till his death?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

The Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) was putting all his efforts to teach, preach and protect Islam. He had to deal with persons who had tribal links to make their tribes near to Islam or away frm joining the enemies of Islam. He knew that many persons around him are not sincere Muslims but Munafiqs and he said it but with out naming them to avoid more harm for Islam. Allah (SW) in Quran has mentioned the hypocrites who come to the Prophet (SAWA) claiming that they believe in him, but Allah says that they are liars (Sura Al-Munafiqoon).

All the Prophets had around them good and bad persons and they could not expose the bad ones. Prophet Easa (AS) has suffered from a companion from his very close companions who reported him to the enemies to kill him but Allah (SWT) save Easa and raised him to the sky and made that betraying companion in the shape of Easa, then the enemies of Easa caught and killed and crucifies him.

Companions of Prophet Moses (AS) had among them good and bad as well, that is why, many of his companions worshipped an animal when Moses was away from the for 40 days, following one of their leaders (Al-Saamiri) and against the pious leader Haroon who was the successor appointed by Moses.

Wassalam.
Do the Shia feel hatred towards the companions of the Prophet (s) and his wife Hazrat Ayesha? If so, what is the justification for it?
Seyed Ali Shobayri

Bismillah, 

Asalamu Alaykom, 

The Shia put the companions into different categories just like the Quran does.

Among the companions, were the pious believers who sacrificed their wealth, lives and even fought against their own relatives in battles. These Sahaba will be those we can consider in jannah and who we want to follow. 

On the other hand, we had companions of the Prophet Mohammad (sawa) who were hypocrites and had their own worldly interests. 

Some of these companions also insulted the Prophet as well as oppressed his progeny after his martyrdom. 

We also have some companions that we aren’t sure about or whose names didn’t reach us. Therefore it is imperative to search through history to determine which companions remained steadfast upon the correct path.  

With regard to the wives of the Prophet, we also look through their biographies individually to see if they were pious or not. Allah The Exalted states in the holy Quran: 

O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any of the [other] women, provided that you taqwa (consciousness of God)... 

  • Quran 33:32. 

This verse is clear in giving a condition to the wives of the holy prophet that they will be respected if they remain pious. The verse is a clear evidence in showing that the wives of the prophet are not immune from going astray and must attain their status through maintaining piety. 

Whilst Shias love and respect wives of the prophet such as Lady Khadijah, Umm Salama and Māriyah, we have a negative view on other wives such as Aisha. This isn’t due to personal reasons, rather it is down to clear proofs within the Quran and sunnah of her actions. Below, I will provide some summarised points about Aisha according to the Shia opinion and you may research further inshallah. 

  • Aisha was one of the wives severely condemned in the Quran chapter 66 of the holy Quran for her actions against the Prophet. 
  • She led a war against the Commander of the faithful Imam Ali (peace be upon him) which resulted in the deaths of 30,000 Muslims
  • She fabricated thousands of Hadiths and falsely attributed them to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his pure family.  This besmirched the Prophet’s reputation, degraded his personality and “opened a door of verbal attacks” against him by non-Muslims. 

There are many more reasons one can search to get a clear picture of why Aisha is viewed negatively by the Shia Muslims. 

May Allah grant you success.
Islamic scholars are
Amina Inloes

Thank you for the interesting question! I am not aware of any companions of the Prophet (S) who travelled all the way to Cape Verde, especially since most of the early Muslims did not have strong skills with boats. Perhaps this refers to someone else who went there (such as an explorer, trader, migrant, or general) who said something similar, or maybe it refers to someone who stood at a different location and said something similar. 

However, absence of evidence is not proof that it did not happen. Possibly, someone will locate evidence that this happened!