This strange misconception—that the discord among the companions of the Messenger of Allah was solely due to their differing ijtihad within Islam—stems from a willful disregard of historical facts and has no basis in reality; because certainly, despite their companionship with the Messenger of Allah , they were ordinary human beings, prone to error and forgetfulness, and their infallibility is not established by any part of Sharia. Rather, their lack of infallibility is evident given their disagreements with one another, and there appears to be no disagreement among Muslims regarding this. Likewise, the uprightness of all of them—if it implies that none were ever sinful—is rejected by the manifestation of sinfulness of some due to their committing clear major sins that admit of no reinterpretation, such as murder, transgression, fornication, theft, false accusation, drinking, fleeing from jihad, and attributing lies to Allah and His Messenger; to the extent that insisting on it is considered obstinacy against the perceptible. Moreover, it is a denial of Allah’s statements about them and a slander against Him, for although He has praised many of them for their good deeds, He has never declared all of them to be perpetually and unconditionally upright. He is far above such an unreasonable act and a great lie. Rather, He has openly rebuked and reproached some of them for their evil deeds. For example, He has regarded some of them as sinners who ﴿اعْتَرَفُوا بِذُنُوبِهِمْ خَلَطُوا عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَيِّئًا﴾[1]; “confessed their sins and mixed a righteous deed with an evil one,” and He has spoken of the slip of some of them whom ﴿اسْتَزَلَّهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ بِبَعْضِ مَا كَسَبُوا﴾[2]; “Satan caused to slip because of some of what they had earned,” and He has stated explicitly that some of them desired only the world[3],