What is the ruling on one who curses the wives of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and Abu Bakr, Umar, and the Companions, and believes in their apostasy after his death, and is he excused by ignorance in that?

Scholars have differed on the ruling regarding reviling the companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and whether the perpetrator becomes a disbeliever or not. Reviling the companions has varying degrees.

Who becomes a disbeliever by reviling the companions: Whoever deems it permissible to revile the companions has committed an act of disbelief (kufr), because it is a denial of something known by necessity from the religion. Whoever reviles all the companions or the majority of them, or reviles one of them specifically because he is a companion, has committed an act of disbelief. Whoever claims that the companions apostatized after the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, except for a few, or that the majority of them became defiantly disobedient (fasiq), then this person is definitively a disbeliever, because he is contradicting what the Quran explicitly states regarding Allah's pleasure with them and praise for them. Whoever accuses Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, of what Allah has absolved her from, has committed an act of disbelief due to the consensus of Muslims on this matter, and because it is a contradiction of the Quran.

Who does not become a disbeliever by reviling the companions: If the revilement is less than what is mentioned above, it does not lead its perpetrator to disbelief, though he is considered a defiantly disobedient person (fasiq) by scholarly consensus.