Question 530: In the Name of Allah, The Merciful, The Intensely Mericful
All praise be to Allah, Lord of The Worlds. May Allah send His Peace and Blessings upon the most honorable creation, Muhammad, and his purified Family, The Imams and The Mahdis.
My master and leader, The Qa’im (The Riser) of The Family of Muhammad, and their Yamani, Peace be upon you and your Family, and The Mercy of Allah and His Blessings.
I beg your pardon my master, what is the meaning of His, The Exalted, saying: {he being the second of the two, when they were both in the cave, when he said to his companion: Grieve not, surely Allah is with us} [Surat Al-Tawbah 9:40]? And is it true that Abu Quhafa (Abu Bakr) was with The Noble Prophet (pbuh & his Family) in the cave?
May Allah reward you with the best of the rewards on behalf of the Family of Muhammad. And I hope you excuse us for our shortcomings in regards to Allah, and ask Allah that He may make our footsteps firm and forgive our sins. Verily, He is All-Capable over all things.
And all praise be to Allah Who has guided us to this, and we would not have been guided had it not been for Allah guiding us. And Peace be upon you and The Mercy of Allah and His Blessings.
The sender: Heidar Al-Musawy, Iraq
Answer: In the Name of Allah, The Merciful, The Intensely Merciful
All praise be to Allah, Lord of The Worlds. May Allah send His Peace and Blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, The Imams and The Mahdis.
{If you will not support him, Allah has certainly supported him when those who disbelieved expelled him, he being the second of the two, when they were both in the cave, when he said to his companion: Grieve not, surely Allah is with us. So Allah sent down His tranquility upon him and [He] strengthened him with soldiers that you did not see, and made lowest the word of those who disbelieved; and the word of Allah, that is the highest; and Allah is Mighty, Wise} [Surat Al-Tawbah 9:40]
This verse does not have praise to the one who accompanied The Prophet (pbuh & his Family) in the cave, rather, it has a clear insult/disapproval of the one who accompanied The Prophet (pbuh & his Family), for Tranquility in this incident was sent down upon The Messenger only {So Allah sent down His tranquility upon him}. And the Angels, the soldiers of Allah, were sent down to support The Messenger only {and [He] strengthened him with soldiers that you did not see}. This means the exiting of the one who accompanied The Messenger from the loop of Faith; because Tranquility had indeed been sent down upon some of the Muslims, or Believers, in some other places/incidents where a lot of the Muslims were with The Messenger (pbuh & his Family), and The Messenger (pbuh & his Family) was not specified by it alone [in those incident]. And as such we have come to know that no one in the cave was worthy of being strengthened/supported with Tranquility and Soldiers except for The Messenger (pbuh & his Family).
And the following are Qur’anic texts which clarify to you how Tranquility used to come down upon The Messenger and upon the believers with him, and how the Soldiers come down to support The Messenger and the believers with him, and [that it] was not specified to The Messenger (pbuh & his Family) [alone].
{Then Allah sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the believers and sent down soldiers whom you did not see and punished those who disbelieved. And that is the recompense of the disbelievers} [Surat Al-Tawbah 9:26]
{When those who disbelieve had set up in their hearts zealotry, the zealotry of the Age of Ignorance, then Allah sent down His tranquility upon His messenger and upon the believers and imposed on them the word of piety, for they were well entitled to it and worthy of it. And Allah is Aware of all things} [Surat Al Fath 48:26]
Contemplate very well over this matter: In those positions where there were believers with The Messenger (pbuh & his Family), and they were some of those who were with him (some of those who were with him and not all of them), Tranquility was sent down upon them; because they deserved it.
So if the one in the cave was a believer, Tranquility would have been sent down upon him like it was sent down in other places upon the believers with The Messenger of Allah.
As for those who believe that the words of The Messenger [which he said] to his companion {Grieve not, surely Allah is with us} to be a praise to [this companion], then this is crossing [the limits], because look at His, The Exalted, saying: {Have you not seen that Allah knows what is in the Heavens and what is on the Earth? There is no Najwa (secret counsel) of three, but He is their fourth, nor of five but He is their sixth, and no less than that and no more except that He is with them wheresoever they may be; and afterwards on the Day of Resurrection, He will inform them of what they did. Verily, Allah is the All-Knower of everything} [Surat Al-Mujadilah 58:7]
And this shows to you that Allah is with everyone, whether they pay attention or not, {and no less than that and no more except that He is with them}, and this is a confirmed/constant reality which the certain believers know. Thus, it is clear that the person in the cave was forgetful/negligent, and that is why the Messenger reminded him of this reality, perhaps he might realize it. But the rest of the verse shows that he did not realize it, and he did not pay attention out of his forgetfulness/negligence. And for that reason, Tranquility was not sent down upon him, rather, it was sent down on The Messenger only. Also, The Messenger was specified with [having] the soldiers supporting him only, in an obvious clarification that there was not any believer in the cave except him (pbuh & his Family).
As for describing him as being his companion, I do not think that a sane person would consider it to be praise after all what has been presented, for The Messenger [was described as being] the companion of his people whom disbelieved in him {Do they not reflect? Their companion (Muhammad) is not seized with madness: he is but a clear warner} [Surat Al’araf 7:184]
And in another place, The Qur’an described The Kafir (the disbeliever) to be the companion of the believer who was advising him:
{And he had fruit, so he said to his companion while he was conversing with him, “I am greater than you in wealth and mightier in [numbers of] men”} [Surat Al-Kahf 18:34]
{His companion said to him while he was conversing with him, “Have you disbelieved in He who created you from dust and then from a sperm-drop and then proportioned you [as] a man?} [Surat Al-Kahf 18:36]
Therefore, in the best conditions, if this advice which took place in the cave {when he said to his companion: Grieve not, surely Allah is with us} was not like those verses which have been presented, considering that both of them were an advice to a companion and a reminder to him of Allah and an attempt to take him out of the forgetfulness/negligence which he was in, then it is not by any way a praise to the companion, let alone being a virtue of his like some people claim.
And Peace be upon you and The Mercy of Allah and His Blessings.
Muharram Al-Haram/1432 Hijri
First Mahdi : Yamani : Ahmed Alhasan 