They would be forbidden from the civil rights in Islam and...

They would be forbidden from the civil rights in Islam and the umma had to avoid them in whatever concerned truthfulness and fairness according to the Islamic rule about suspicions. That was enough evidence to renounce the three of them. Definitely the Prophet (S.) would define the perfidious one, who would be in Hell, and wouldn’t let the innocent ones suffer his prediction as long as they lived besides the bad thought of people about them.

Certainly he wouldn’t do that, unless the three of them were the same. If you say: the Prophet (S.) might refer to ar-Rahhal by saying something or pointing to him and that was unknown to us. We say: if there was something of that, it would not be unknown for Abu Hurayra and al-Furat, who didn’t find anything to make them feel safe except when ar-Rahhal renegaded then they prostrated to thank Allah (S.w.T.).

After that they often said that they hadn’t felt safe until ar-Rahal did so.[^3] If you say: the Prophet (S.) said that in general before ar-Rahhal renegaded and joined Musaylama the Liar and was killed with him. Hence, after ar-Rahhal did so, it became clear that he himself, whom the Prophet (S.) did mean by his tradition without the other two.

We say first: it was understood from the Prophet’s (S.) saying: “..one of you..” that it referred to the all without exception as we explained before and quoted some similar examples from the holy Qur’an. It had nothing to do with the renegade of ar-Rahhal for he was bad before that. So were his two friends. Second: it was impossible for the prophets (a.s.) to hide the truth when it was required or to delay it until its time elapsed.

The time in this case related to the same moment of uttering this word by the Prophet (S.). If anyone of these three deserved any respect or regard, the Prophet (S.) would declare the perfidious one of them by the name. In fact since they became Muslims, they were suspected of their traditions, witnesses and everything else. If it was not necessary to renounce the three of them, the Prophet (S.) would show the name of one of them before he died.

He would not leave the matter for the renegade of ar-Rahhal to explain his tradition! Third: al-Furat bin Hayyan was a spy for the polytheist and an eye for Abu Sufyan to spy on the Prophet (S.) and the Muslims. When the Muslims wanted to kill him according to the Prophet’s (S.) order, he declared to be a Muslim in order to spare his life.