What is the شرعي (legal/religious) opinion regarding an article that cites Prophetic hadiths and a Quranic verse to argue for the apostasy of the general body of Companions after the death of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and that they will be driven away from the Hawd (watering-place) on the Day of Resurrection, while denying that the "apostates" referred to are those who withheld zakat?

Answer Summary:

The aim of slandering the Companions (Sahabah) is to undermine the religion from within, because it targets those who transmitted the Qur’an and Sunnah. Imam Abu Zur’ah al-Razi stated that whoever slanders the Companions is a heretic (zindeeq), because they are the witnesses of the religion. The article mentioned that a believer does not take the laws of his religion from apostates and innovators. The suspicions focus on the idea that hadiths mentioning some Companions abandoning the religion, or some apostatizing after the Prophet’s death, or that some individuals whom the Prophet called "Companions" in the linguistic sense were hypocrites, indicate that not all Companions are trustworthy.

The correct response to this is as follows: - The Companions referred to who abandon the religion are the hypocrites who outwardly showed Islam during the Prophet’s lifetime, or those who apostatized after his death. - The Prophet’s saying, “Let not people say that Muhammad kills his Companions,” concerning Ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, referred to the linguistic meaning of companionship, not the technical (religious) one. - The general term “my Companions” can refer to anyone who accompanied the Prophet, even if they did not see him, as in the narration “my Ummah.” - The Wars of Apostasy included those who claimed prophethood and their followers, not just those who withheld zakat. The verses dealing with apostasy describe Abu Bakr and the Companions who fought them as “the grateful ones.” - The verse “So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn on your heels?” refers to the events of the Battle of Uhud and is not evidence of the Companions’ apostasy. - The hadith “I am holding you back from the Fire by your waistbands” includes all of the Ummah, not just the Companions, and indicates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) holds people back from the Fire, while some rush into it.