ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books ‘Ali: The Best of the Sahabah Hadith Al-‘Ilm, Establishing Its Authenticity ================================================= Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah (d.

728 H) claims: قال الرافضي الثالث انه كان اعلم الناس بعد رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم و الجواب أن اهل السنة يمنعون ذلك و يقولون ما اتفق عليه علماؤهم أن اعلم الناس بعد رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم أبو بكر ثم عمر و قد ذكر غير واحد الإجماع على أن أبا بكر اعلم الصحابة كلهم The Rafidhi said: “The third (point) is that he (‘Ali) is the most knowledgeable of mankind after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.” The answer is that the Ahl al-Sunnah reject that and say what their scholars unanimously agree upon that the most knowledgeable of mankind after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was Abu Bakr, then ‘Umar .

Several people have mentioned the consensus upon the fact that Abu Bakr was the most knowledgeable of all the Sahabah altogether.[^1] It is one thing to make a claim. It is another for it to be valid. In exactly what way was Abu Bakr, for instance, more knowledgeable than Amir al-Muminin, ‘alaihi al-salam ? ‘Ali is the best judge of this entire Ummah – a far better judge than either Abu Bakr or ‘Umar. Justice dispensation, of course, requires very advanced knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Since Amir al-Muminin was a better judge than both Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, he definitely had better knowledge of the Book of Allah and the traditions of His Messenger, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi , than the duo. Moreover, while ‘Ali had perfect knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as that of all previous Scriptures and Sunnahs, and issued public challenges to this effect, neither Abu Bakr nor ‘Umar even knew the meaning of “herbage” in the Book of Allah!

‘Umar, in particular, lacked knowledge of such topics in Islamic jurisprudence as tayammum , kalalah , riba , inheritance of the grandfather, and whether pregnancy could be only for six months or not! Yet, he was supposedly more knowledgeable than ‘Ali according to the weird logic of some folks. Our dear Shaykh has cited a general Sunni clerical consensus about Abu Bakr’s scientific superiority over the Ummah.

The key question, however, is whether the Messenger of Allah was part of this consensus. If he was not, then such an agreement lacks any merit. Imam Ahmad (d.