and that a group among them ﴿جَاءُوا بِالْإِفْكِ﴾; “came with the slander” against one of the Prophet’s wives, and He has said that ﴿لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ مَا اكْتَسَبَ مِنَ الْإِثْمِ ۚ وَالَّذِي تَوَلَّى كِبْرَهُ مِنْهُمْ لَهُ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ﴾[1]; “for every one of them is the sin he earned, and the one among them who took on the greatest part of it—for him is a great punishment,” and He has explicitly stated that some of them did not use the intellect[2], and that there were sinners among them[3], and He has accused some of them—who were his wives—of disobeying him and of disclosing his secret[4], and even of conspiring against him[5], likening them to the wives of Nuh and Lut [6], and deeming their punishment doubled if they committed an indecency[7]. It is clear that knowing the companions of the Messenger of Allah without paying attention to this part of Allah’s statements about them, and paying attention only to the part that praises them, is imperfect and misleading; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ ۚ فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ﴾[8]; “Do you believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?! What is the punishment for one among you who does so other than humiliation in the life of the world, and that they will be returned to the severest punishment on the Day of Judgment?!”