The Reality of Khilafah — Page 51
C H AP T E R ON E—K HIL C H AP T E R ON E—K HIL A A FAH FAH 51 out of enmity or injustice. Those who sincerely hold an opinion, even though they might be in error, are to be forgiven. Sometimes righteous men, even the most honourable saints and holy men, have mutual disputes which may lead to envy and rancour. There is a divine purpose in all of this. Therefore, all that was said between the Companions must be overlooked and not propagated. Their affairs should be left to Allah, for He alone is the Protector of the righteous. It is the way of Allah that He, in His Own determination, adjudicates between the pious in a way that is different from that of the transgressors, for the former are His beloved and are accepted by Him. It is for this reason that our Lord has informed us about the result of their dispute. He said, and He is indeed the Most Truthful: 1 َو اَنْعَزَن اَم ْيِف ْمِهِرْوُدُص ْنِّم ٍّلِغ اًناَوْخِا ىٰلَع ٍرُرُس َنْيِلِبٰقَتُّمَو اَنْعَزَن اَم ْيِف ْمِهِرْوُدُص ْنِّم ٍّلِغ اًناَوْخِا ىٰلَع ٍرُرُس َنْيِلِبٰقَتُّم۰۰ This is the truth, but common people do not examine these mat- ters as do those who are gifted with insight. Instead, they blindly believe in tales, and then one of them adds something to it and relates it to another, and he believes it and, in turn, adds some- thing to it from himself and relates it to yet another, and so on, until the truth becomes completely obscured and is replaced by a new ‘truth’ that has nothing to do with the facts. Thus are nations destroyed by the dishonesty of the narrators. So many truths have been lost, so many accounts obscured, so 1. And We shall remove whatever of rancour may be in their breasts so that they will become as brothers reclining on couches, facing one another ( S u rah al- H ijr, 15:48). [Publisher]