ومن ذلك كتاب عمر بن عبدالعزيز إلى عامله بالكوفة وقد استشاره في قتل رجل سب عمر رضي الله عنه فكتب إليه عمر إنه لا يحل قتل امرئ مسلم بسب أحد من الناس إلا رجلا سب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فمن سبه فقد حل دمه
Umar bin Abdulaziz’s letter to his representative in Kufa in response to his inquiry as to whether he should kill someone who has abused Umar (ra)? He (Umar bin Abdul Aziz) replied to him: “It is not allowed to kill any Muslim due to abusing any person, except in case of abusing Rasool Allah (s). Thus, if anyone abused him (Allah’s apostle) then his blood is Mubah”.
1. Al-Shifa Ba-Tarif Haqooq Mustafaa, vol. 2, page 325, published in Baraili.
2. Slalah al-Risalah Mulla Ali Qari, page 18, published in Jordan
3. Al-Tabaqaatul Kubraa, vol. 5, page 369, published in Bairut.
Imam Malik said:
“Anyone who abused Rasool Allah (s) should be killed. And anyone who abused Sahaba, he should be taught “Adab”(respect)”.
1. Al-Shifa by Qadhi ‘Iyadh, vol. 2, page 376, published by Matba Sadiqqi, Baraili, India.
2. Al-Sarim al-Maslool, page 569, with reference to Defence of Abu Huraira, page 26, published in Peshawar, Pakistan
Mulla Barkhurdar Multani, the mentor of Sharh Nabras writes:
“The famous madhab of Imam Malik is this that there is Ijtehaad in it. Thus, the person must be taught Adab”
Nabras Ala-Sharh Al-Aqaeed, page 550, footnote No. 4, published in Meraith, India.
Also found in:
1. “Sawaiq Muhariqah”, page 259, published by Maktaba al-Qahira (Cairo), Egypt
2. Naseem al-Riyadh, Sharh al-Shifa by Qadi ‘Iyadh, vol. 4, page 525, published by Maktaba Salfia, Madina Munawwara
Imam Mohiyyuddin Al-Nawwawi Al-Shafi’yee writes:
قال القاضي وسب أحدهم من المعاصي الكبار ومذهبنا ومذهب الجمهور انه يعزر ولا يقتل
“Qadhi (Ayadh) said that abusing someone of them (sahab) is a great sin, our sect and the majority’s sect is that he should be punished but not killed”
Al-Nawwawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, page 310, published in Delhi
Mualla Ali Qari is one of the most respected Alim of Hanafi Fiqh. His shows his opinion in these words:
“It is neither proved by Sahaba nor Tabaeen to kill a person or declare him kafir who insults Abu Bakr and Umar. And the 3 Imams i.e. Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Muhammad and Imam Abu Yousuf are unanimous that a person who insults Sheikhain (Abu Bakr and Umar) is neither Kafir nor Wajib-ul-Qatl. According to Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Abu Yousuf, even the witness of such a person is acceptable.
Silalatul Risalah, page 19, published in Jordan
In order to more clarify this fact, Mullah Ali Qari writes in “Sharah Fiqh Akbar”:
م فی بسط الامام الکلام علی نفی تکفیر ارباب الآثام من اھل القبلتہ و لو من اھل البدعتہ ، دلالتہ علی ان سب الشیخین لیس بکفر کما صححہ ابوالشکور السلمی فی تمھیدہ ، وذلک لعدم ثبوت مبناہ و عدم تحقق معناہ ، فان سب المسلم فسق کما فی حدیث ثابت ھو حدیث مسلم: سباب المسلم فسوق و قتالہ کفر ، و حینئذ یستوی الشیخان و غیرھما فی الحکم
“Then again from the opinion of Imam Abu Hanifa that Ahle Qibla, even if he is Ahle Bidah (innovator) doesn’t become Kafir due to his sins, it proves that no one becomes Kafir merely by abusing Abu Bakr and Umar. To abuse Abu Bakr and Umar is NOT Kufr, as Abush Shakur as Salimi has correctly proved in his book, at Tamhid. And it is becuase the basis of this claim (claim that reviling the Shaykhan is kufr) is not proven, nor its meaning is confirmed.
It is so because certainly abusing a Muslim is fisq (sin) as is proved by a confirmed hadith, and therefore the Shaykhan(Abu Bakr and Umar) will be equal to the other (Muslims) in this rule; and also if we suppose that some one murdered the Shaykhan, and even the two sons in law (Ali and Usman), all of them together, even then according to Ahlussunnah wa al-Jamah, he will not go out of Islam (i.e will not become kafir)
Sharah Fiqah Akbar, page 86, printed in Matba Qayyumi, Kanpur India
Imam of Ahle Sunnah Ibn Abdeen wrote in Hashyat Rad al-Muhtar, Volume 3 page 50:
إذا كان يفضل علياً أو يسب الصحابة فإنه مبتدع لا كافر
“If he prefers Ali or curses the Sahaba, he is an innovator but not Kafir”
Compare this to the fact that he ruled that whoever believed that the world has no beginning he is Kafir, meaning thereby that Ibn Taymia was a kafir). We read in Hashyat Rad al-Muhtar, Volume 3 page 49
الحق عدم تكفير أهل القبلة وإن وقع إلزاما في المباحث بخلاف من خالف القواطع المعلومة بالضرورة من الدين مثل القائل بقدم العالم
The correct view is not to issue takfir against the people of the Qibla even if they indulge in wrong statements, unless if they oppose a certain issues of religion such as saying that the world has no beginning.
Allamah Abdul Ali Muhammad Sahalwi al-Ansari al-Lucknawi in his authority work Fawateh al-Rehmut Ba-Sharah Musalam Al-Sabut, Volume 2 page 243:
فان الصحيح عند الحنفية أنهم ليسوا بكفار
“According to the Hanafis they (Rawafidh) are not kafir”
Imam Ibne Taymiyyah (Sheikul-ul-Islam of Salafies) wrote in his book Al-Sarimul Maslool, page 579 (first pulished by Taba Sa’ada Egypt), while giving arguments against Kufr of person who insulted Sahaba:
ومطلق السب لغير الأنبياء لا يستلزم الكفر لأن بعض من كان على عهد النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان ربما سب بعضهم بعضا ولم يكفر أحدا بذلك ولأن أشخاص الصحابة لا يجب الإيمان بهم بأعيانهم فسب الواحد لا يقدح في الإيمان بالله وملائكته وكتبه ورسله واليوم الآخر
“And merely abusing some one other than the Prophets does not necessarily make the abuser Kafir; because some of those who were in the time of the Prophet (i.e companions) used to abuse one another and none of them was declared kafir because of this (practice); and (also) because it is not Wajib to have faith particularly in any of the companions; therefore abusing any of them does not detract from the faith in Allah and His books and His messengers and the Last day”
The famous Muhaddith from Egypt Allama Shahabuddin Ahmad bin Hajar al-Haithami writes:
“And I haven’t found any opinion of any learned Alim that abusing a companion makes it obligatory to kill a person And Ibn Mundhir says that I don’t know even a single person who considers it to kill the one who abuses anyone except Rasool Allah (saww).”
Sawiq-e-Muhariqqah, page 255, Taba Maktaba al-Qahira, Egypt
The famous Imam of Fiqah Hanafi Allamah Muhammad Allauddin al-Haskafi writes in his book “Darul Mukhtar, chapter of Immamat,page 72, published in Delhi, India:
“And all the people, who pray while facing to Qibla, they are not Kafirs. Even the Kharijeen are also not Kafir, although they thought our lives and properties “Halal” for them.
And those people, who think it is allowed to curse companions (due to their wrong-doings)and (those who) deny the attributes of Allah (swt) and deny that Allah can be seen, these people are not Kaffir, while this belief is held by them due to their “Taweel” and “Doubt”.
One of the reason of their not being Kaffir is this that their witness is commonly accepted (among Muslims).
A very famous Hanafi Fiqhi Alim from Indian Sub-Continent Allah Abdul Hai Lakhnawi states while giving an answer to a qestion:
“According to Fatawas, the most correct statement is this that Shias are not Kaffir. And abusing Abu Bakr and Umar doesn’t constitute Kufr. And it is the fatwa of Imam Abu Hanifa.”
He further writes with reference to the book “Al-tamheed fi Biyan al-Tauheed” by Abu Shakoor Salimi:
“And this statement of shias that Ali (as) is better than Sheikhain is only a “Bidah”(innovation) but doesn’t constitute Kufr. And some of shias say that it is obligatory to send “Lanah”(cursing) upon opponents of Ali (as) like Hadhrat ‘Aisha and Ameer Muawiyyah, it is also a “Bidah”, because they came to conclusion due to their “Taweel”. The summary of all this is this that it is totally against the “Madhab” of researchers to label shias as Kufir while they curse Sahaba.”
Majmoaa al-Fatawa, vol. 1, page 3-4, Matba Yousufi Farangi Mahli, Lakhnow, India
Maulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi is considered as one of the most respectable Ulama of Deoband. He was asked a question if a person, who says “Mardood” and “Malaoon” to Sahaba, will go out of the pale of Ahle-Sunnah wa Al-Jammah due to this “Greater Sin” (Gunah-e-Kabira)?
His replied:
“He will not go out of pale of Ahle Sunnah wa Al-Jammah due to this “Greater Sin”.
Talkhees of Fatawa Rasheedia, vol. 2, page 140-141, published in Delhi, India
He is a Mudaris of Darul-Hadith Muhammadia, Jalalpur Pairowala, district Multan, Pakistan. He wrotes:
“The most correct opinion is this that ONLY that person can be killed who abuses Rasool Allah (saww). A person asked Abu Bakr for his permission to kill another person who criticized Abu Bakr. But Abu Bakr said: “No one has the right to kill anyone unjustly after Rasool Allah (saww) only due to his criticism on him.
Sunan Nisai, vol. 2, page 17
Also:
Al-Saiful Maslool, translated version, page 520, footnote 2, published in Multan Pakistan
The famous Ahle-Hadith Alim Hafidh Muhammad Ibrahim writes with Reference to “Sarim al-Maslool”:
The punishment of abusing Rasool Allah (saww) is killing. But we cannot kill anyone on base of merely abusing any Amir-al-Momineen.
Ahya al-Maiyyat Ma’a Tanweer al-Absar, page 46, published in Lahore Pakistan
“I say that the one who started cursing and abusing, and the one who started in answer to this, both of them started a very bad thing. And whoever does it today, he does a very bad thing. But neither this crime is equal to “Revolt”, nor killing is it’s punishment. Some of the Ulama of Salaf were convinced that punishment of abusing Rasool Allah (saww) is killing, but except Rasool Allah (saww) talking bad about others or abusing them never punished by killing in Islam.
“Khilafat-o-Malookiat par ‘Aitarazaat ka Tajzia” (A preview on objection on book “Caliphate and kingship” by Maulana Modoodi), page 272, published in Lahore.
We read in Mosoat al-Fiqh, by Kuwaiti ministry of Islamic affairs, Volume 13 page 232:
ذَهَبَ جُمْهُورُ الْفُقَهَاءِ إِلَى عَدَمِ تَكْفِيرِ مَنْ سَبَّ أَحَدَ الشَّيْخَيْنِ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا
The majority of scholars do not deem a person that abuses the two Sheikhs, Abu Bakr and Umar to be kafir.