Sahaba
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In Islam, the Sahāba (الصحابه) were the companions of the prophet Muhammad. This form is plural; the singular is Sahābi, which is Arabic for "friend, companion." A list of the best-known Companions can be found at List of companions of Muhammad.
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Definitions of Companion
Most Muslims regard anyone who knew or saw Muhammad, believed in his teachings, and died as a Muslim to be a Companion or Ṣahābi. Lists of prominent Companions usually run to fifty or sixty names, being the people most closely associated with Muhammad. However, there were clearly many others who had some contact with the prophet. Many of them were identified by later scholars, and their names and biographies were recorded in religious reference texts such as Muhammad ibn Sa'd's early Kitāb at-Tabāqat al-Kabīr. A list of the best-known companions can be found at List of companions of the prophet Muhammad.
It was important to identify the Companions because later scholars accepted their testimony (the hadith, or traditions) as to the words and deeds of Muhammad, the occasions on which the Qur'an was revealed, and various important matters of Islamic history and practice (sunnah). The testimony of the Companions, as it was passed down through chains of trusted narrators (isnads), was the basis of the developing Islamic tradition.
Other links in the chain of isnad
Because the hadith were not written down until many years after the death of Muhammad, the isnads, or chains of transmission, always have several links. The first link is preferably a Companion, who had direct contact with Muhammad. The Companion then related the tradition to a taba'een, the companion of the Companion. Taba'een had no direct contact with Muhammad, but did have direct contact with the Ṣahāba. The tradition then would have been passed from the taba'een to the taba taba'een, the third link.
The second and third links in the chain of transmission were also of great interest to Muslim scholars, who treated of them in biographical dictionaries and evaluated them for bias and reliability. Again, Shi'a and Sunni apply different metrics.
Views of the Companions
Soon after Muhammad's death the Muslim community, the ummah, was riven by conflicts over leadership. Companions took sides in the conflicts – or were forced to take sides – and later scholars considered their allegiances in weighing their testimony. The two largest Muslim denominations, the Shia and Sunni take very different approaches in weighing the value of the companions' testimony.
Sunni views
Template:Main According to Sunni scholars, people of the past should be considered Companions if they had any kind of contact with Muhammad. If they saw him, heard him, or were in his presence even briefly, they are Companions. Blind people are considered Companions even if they could not see Muhammad. Infants who could not remember their contact with Muhammad are still considered Companions. Even unlearned and unobservant Muslims are considered Companions. However, anyone who died after rejecting Islam and becoming an apostate is not considered a Companion.
Sunni Muslim scholars classified Companions into many categories, based on a number of criteria. Suyuti recognized eleven levels of Companionship. However, all Companions are considered just (udul); that is, Sunni scholars do not believe that Companions would lie or fabricate hadith.
Shi'a views
Template:Main Shi'a Muslims do not accept all Companions as just. The Shi'a believe that after the death of Muhammad, most Muslims turned aside from true Islam and followed leaders like the first caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar. Only a few of the early Muslims held fast to Ali ibn Abi Talib, whom Shi'a Muslims regard as the rightful successor to Muhammad. (See Succession to Muhammad) Shi'a scholars therefore deprecate hadith believed to have been transmitted through unjust Companions, and place much more reliance on hadith believed to have been related by Companions who supported Ali.
Numbers of Companions
Some Muslims assert that there were more than one hundred thousand Companions. They do so in relation to the hadith known as Ghadir Khumm, regarding a sermon Muhammad is said to have delivered after making his last pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca. Shi'a Muslims believe that there were about 124,000 witnesses to this sermon, which would emphasize the gravity and official nature of this alleged speech appointing Ali ibn Abi Talib as Muhammad's successor. Nearly all Sunni sources accept the hadith, but do not interpret it as do the Shi'a and therefore do not attach significance to the event. Some Sunni sources additionally accept the Shi'a crowd estimates.
Academic historians, majority of which are more familiar with Sunni resources, usually ignore these traditions. Watt's detailed 1956 biography of Muhammad does not mention Ghadir Khumm. Nor does Rodinson. Madelung, who is otherwise sympathetic to the Shi'a, mentions Ghadir Khumm only to cast doubt on the authenticity of the tradition (p. 253). Nevertheless, the common view within Muslim circles remains that the events of Ghadir Khumm did occur, and the issue of difference is over interpretation.
See also
- Non-Muslim interactants with Muslims during Muhammad's era.
- Timing of Sahaba becoming muslims
- Salaf
- Taba'een
- Taba Tabe'een
Related to hadith:
Related to Muhammad's family:
References
- Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad -- Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir, only partially translated into English; see Men of Medina and Women of Medina published by Ta-Ha Publishers, and first two volumes as published by Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi
- Madelung, Wilferd -- The Succession to Muhammad, Cambridge University Press, 1997
- Rodinson, Maxime -- Muhammad, 1961, as translated into English and published in 1980 by Pantheon Books
- Watt, W. Montgomery -- Muhammad at Medina, Oxford University Press 1956
External links
- Islamic Glossary includes the names of some Sahaba.
- Sahaba - Companions of the Prophet gives some detailed information about some Sahaba.
- ummah gives support to the idea that Imam Abu Hanifa was a taba'een
- Companions of the Prophet - the Sahabah provides extensive information about the lives of some Sahaba.
- Why are Sahaba the most successful An online video lecture by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy
- The Superior Qualities of Sahaba An online video lecture by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy
- The High Honor of Sahaba An online video lecture by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy
- al-Islam gives very short descriptions (both in English and Arabic) of some notable Sahaba.ar:صحابة
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