The Companions may Allah be pleased with them following the Sunnah

The Companions may Allah be pleased with them following the Sunnah:

The Companions of Prophet (ﷺ) may Allah be pleased with them were keen to follow whatever their master and teacher (ﷺ) had commanded or done. They would refer their cases to him (ﷺ) as his judgments were revelation from Allah and submit to them without any hesitation.

After the death of Prophet (ﷺ), the Companions always looked back into the Qur’an and Sunnah whenever any new issues arose. If they could not find anything they would try their best on issuing fatwas based on their knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah. If they found that their opinion contradicted the Sunnah, they would immediately abandon it and followed the latter. If they found that their ruling was as per the Qur’an and Sunnah, they would feel overjoyed.

This is not against Islam as the Prophet (ﷺ) said:

"When the judge passes a judgement in which he strived and was correct, then he receives two rewards. And when he judges and is mistaken, then he receives one reward.” (Tirmidhi 1326)

This hadith is only for those who were specialised in Fiqh. No laymen should ever make fatwas or try to interpret the Qur’an and Sunnah by themselves. It is like those who are not physicians prescribing medicines to their patients. No one would dare to do this as it will only become fatal to the patients,

The Companions saw the Sunnah as second most important source after the Qur’an as this can be seen from Hadith:

Abū Bakr Al-Ṣiddīq – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

I will not leave anything Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – did, except that I will also do it; for I fear that if I were to leave any of his commands and ways I would deviate.

Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ 2:386 ḥadīth no. 3093; Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah article 77, and others.

‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Verily, the followers of opinion are the enemies of the Sunan (the teachings of Allāh’s Messenger as passed down in hadith): they were unable to preserve them and their meanings escaped them, and when asked [questions] they were too embarrassed to say ‘We don’t know,’ so they opposed the Sunan with their opinions.

Ibn Abī Zamanīn, Uṣūl Al-Sunnah article 8; Al-Lālakā`ī, Sharḥ Uṣūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah article 201 et al.

Narrated ‘Ali (rad):

If the religion were based on opinion, it would be more important to wipe over the under parts of the leather socks than the upper, but I have seen Allah’s Messenger (rad) wiping over the upper parts of his leather socks. [Reported by Abu Da’ud with good Isnad (chain of narrators)]. (Bulugh al-Maram 60)

It is amazing that in recent era, we have become lenient when it comes to following Islam but this is opposite when it comes to worldly matters. We have to be formal in all of our works, we have to follow the doctor’s advices strictly for medical conditions as well as obeying the laws such as wearing face mask and social distancing.

But in religious matters, we choose to follow our desire and whims, when we tell people that music is not allowed, hijab being mandatory and the prohibition of friendship with opposite gender etc, they turn their heads away and choose to follow Tom, Dick and Harry thinking of them as scholars!

If we look at the Companions, they were very respectful with regarding to the religion. They understood that they will be facing Allah on the Day of Judgment and it is due to their taqwa that the Prophet (ﷺ) considered them to be best generations.​