Giving up talking about what happened among the Sahabah of the Prophet

Q 4: In a Sahih (authentic) Hadith, it was reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "When two Muslims fight (meet) each other with their swords, both the killer and the one killed will go to the Fire.” They said, “That is for the killer, but what about the one who was killed?” He (peace be upon him) replied, "He had the intention to kill his companion.” How can we apply this Hadith to the Great Fitnah (Trial) that took place in the time of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs?

A: The view of Ahl-ul-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah (adherents to the Sunnah and the Muslim mainstream) is to refrain from speaking about the disagreement between the Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet) and ask Allah to be pleased with them all. The belief is that they were all Mujtahids (scholars qualified to exercise juristic effort to infer expert legal rulings) in what they did; those who were right will have two rewards and those who were wrong will have one, and the wrong will be forgiven. The Hadith that was mentioned refers to the Muslims who fight each other due to injustice and enmity, not a disagreement due to Ijtihad (juristic effort to infer expert legal rulings).May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.