None but a believer loves you and none but a hypocrites hates you
None but a believer loves you and none but a hypocrites hates you
لا يحبك إلا مؤمن و لا يبغضك إلا منافق
None but a believer loves you and none but a hypocrites hates you.
This hadith does not mean that Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala loves only one Sahabi, the cousin of Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. In fact, the hadith that appears before it in Sahih Muslim affirms:
آية الإيمان حب الأنصار و آية الكفر بغض الأنصار
The sign of iman is love for the Ansar, and the sign of kufr is hatred for the Ansar.
Hafiz elucidates:
It is established in Sahih Muslim from Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu that Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam informed him, “None but a believer loves you and none but a hypocrites hates you.” This is applicable uninterrupted to the prominent Sahabah due to the certitude of them enjoying the honour owing to their beautiful independence in din. The author of al Mufhim says, “As regards the wars that took place between them, if hatred was harboured by anyone, then it was not from this angle but rather due to a new factor or development which lead to dispute. Following this, none of them labelled others as hypocrites. Their condition in this was the condition of mujtahidin in ahkam, one who reaches the correct conclusion will receive double reward while one who errs will receive a single reward. And Allah knows best.”[1]
The Shia accuse Sayyidina Muawiyah radiya Llahu ‘anhu of nifaq because according to them, he harboured hatred for Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu and would command that he be verbally abused from the pulpits. This is a blatant lie. Sayyidina Muawiyah radiya Llahu ‘anhu harbouring hatred for Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu is not established. Even if it is established, it would be the ill effects of the wars that occurred between them. He commanding Sayyidina ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu to be verbally abused is not established. Rather, there is evidence that there was no further altercation between them in this regard. Evidence for this is the bay’ah of the leaders of the youth of Jannat to Sayyidina Muawiyah radiya Llahu ‘anhu―Sayyidina Hassan and Sayyidina Hussain radiya Llahu ‘anhuma.
Had there been any sort of alleged verbal abuse which necessitates the hypocrisy of Sayyidina Muawiyah radiya Llahu ‘anhu, then how could this have been concealed from Sayyidina Hassan and Sayyidina Hussain radiya Llahu ‘anhuma to the extent that they pledge allegiance to him and hand over the caliphate to him?
[1] Fath al Bari vol. 1 pg. 63.