No one would be able to keep up with the companions in such a race. Only by the mercy of Allah would we be with the Prophet sallalahu alyhi wasallam in the Hereafter.

As the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not curse my companions, for by the One in Whose hand is my soul, if any one of you spent the equivalent of Mount Uhud in gold, he would not attain the level of any one of them, or even come half way.” [Bukhari & Muslim]

The companion Abdullah Ibn Umar may Allah be pleased with them both said: “Do not curse the companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), for verily the standing of one of them (in a situation) for an hour is better than the work of anyone of you his entire life.” [Ibn Maja; Shaykh Al-Albani rahimahullah classed it as hasan]

And as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best of mankind is my generation” [Bukhari & Muslim]

However, by the mercy of Allah there is hope for us!

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “There will come a time when patience is required of the one who adheres (to Islam), and he will have the reward of fifty of you.” They said, “Of them?” He said, “No, of you.” [al-Silsilah al-Sahiha]

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also said: “In every century of my Ummah there are sabiqun*.” [al-Silsilah al-Sahiha]

*sabiqun could be translated as vanguards, forerunners, or those occupying a foremost position.

So it is up to us to work hard so that perhaps, by the mercy of Allah, we can be from the sabiqun of our time.

Jazaak Allahu khayran. I should have explained the context behind him saying this. It is reported that he was praying qiyaamul layl and his leg fell asleep and so he hit his leg and said this statement.

It is not, iyaadhubillah, cursing the companions - rather he is fighting with his nafs to motivate himself to work harder to reach Jannah with the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. He means by this statement that the Companions had the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam in the Dunya, and that he, bi tawfeeqillah, will strive to be with the Prophet in the aakhirah.

Allah knows best.

BaarakAllah feekum. I wasn’t trying to say that this is cursing the companions or anything. I was trying to refer to the second part of that hadith (spending mount uhud in gold..), but unfortunately there is no ‘bold’ feature for the comments so that I could have emphasized that part only, and I didn’t want to cut the statement of the Prophet sallalahu alyhi wasallam and not include the whole hadith.

I wasn’t in any way implying that this statement is cursing the companions and that is definitely not what is understood by it, for the tabi’i surely knows the status of the companions since he lived among them and he would never detract anything from them or their status.

When I read that statement I just wrote down my thoughts, but perhaps I should have made my comment more clear that I don’t mean that this is cursing of the companions or detracting from their status. I apologize if this is how my comment came through, but Alhamdulillah, anyone who keeps up with this blog knows that you honor the companions and know their status and no one would ever think that you would post something that shows otherwise.

As a side note, perhaps it would be good to add the ‘bold’ feature to the comments section, if that is possible.

No need to apologize, looks like we both misunderstood. jazaak Allahu khayran for the explanation.

unfortunately I have no clue how to add those features to the comments section.