Companions of the Prophet (s): Difference between revisions

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The '''companions of the Prophet Muhammad (s)''', or '''Saḥāba''' (Arabic: الصحابة) , are, according to some scholars, a hundred-thousand individuals who met the [[Prophet (s)]] and believed in him.

The majority of Sunni scholars believe that all the prophet's companions were just and righteous individuals ('Ādil),  and hence, any mistakes they made or crimes they committed were because of an error in their individual [[ijtihad]]. According to Shias, the Sahabah were no different to the rest of the Muslims in this regard, and the veracity or justice of each companions would need to be established separately.

A companion of the Prophet (Sahabah) is anyone who met the [[Prophet (s)]], believed in him and so died as a Muslim . This includes those who leave Islam in between the time that they met the Prophet and died as Muslims. The condition of 'meeting' as used in this context is inclusive of actual companionship (regular interaction) with the Prophet (s), accompanying the Prophet, and crossing paths with the Prophet even if no words were exchanged, or the other party did not physically see the Prophet due to a cause such as blindness .

Some people have included further conditions to the definition, such as companionship for a considerable period of time, memorising narrations from him, fighting in wars and battles alongside the Prophet (s), and being martyred in the army of the Prophet. However, that which has been accepted and approved of by the scholars, is the original definition without these additional conditions .

It is reported that the Prophet's companions numbered up to one-hundred and fourteen-thousand individuals . Establishing whether or not someone was a companion can be done through:

* Being reported by trustworthy narrators ([[khabar thiqa]])

Those who had the good fortune of seeing the Prophet (s), but were young in age, are known as the 'minor companions' (Saḥāba Ṣighār).

=Era of the Companions=

Since some of the companions lived almost up to the year one-hundred [[Hijri]], the era of Sahabah is considered to be between the time after the Prophet's demise to the end of the first Islamic century .

The last companion to pass away in [[Kufa]] was [['Abd Allah b. Abi Awfa]] in the eighty-sixth year of Hijri. In Medina, the last of the companions to leave this world was [[Sahl b. Sa'd Sa'idi]] in the year ninety-one Hijri, while he was a hundred years old. [[Anas b. Malik]] was the final companion to die in the city of [[Basra]] in either ninety-one or ninety-three Hijri. The last companion in [[Syria]] was [['Abd Allah b. Yasr]], who passed away in eighty-eight Hijri .

Abu Tufayl 'Amir B. Wāthilah was the last of those who saw the [[Prophet (s)]], but were not counted among his companions, to pass away. [[Abu Tufayl]] was a flagbearer in the government of [[Mukhtar b. Abi 'Ubayd al-Thaqafi]], and believed in the doctrine of [[Raj'a]]. He died after one-hundred Hijri. It appears that [[Fadil Mamaqani]] has counted him among the companions of the Prophet (s) .

The study regarding the companions began in the [[first Islamic century]] (post-Prophetic migration) in the form of cataloguing the works of companions (Fehrist) or listing their names (Tasmīyah or Ismā'). The root of this practise (listing names) originates from the science of genealogy, or is at least an extension of it, as it existed in pre-Islamic Arabia during the era of ignorance ([[Jahiliyya]]). As a result of this continuing tradition, the recording of the companions names, and their individual or tribal specifications, was seen as an important endeavour. The investigation about the companions began to develop into an encyclopaedia for Sahabah. When the writing of biographies was introduced, lists of those who had participated in wars or tribes which had martyrs, and information of this kind started to be recorded. Events like the first and second allegiance of [['Uqabah]], or who was martyred during the [[Battle of Badr]], were documented. We see this type of documentation in the [[Sirah' of Ibn Ishaq]] and 'Maghāzi' of Musa b. 'Uqbah . This approach of cataloguing the works of companions (Fehrist) gradually developed, finally becoming very different and independent from the previous name listing (Tasmīyah) method of documentation.

The majority of books written about the biographies of [[hadith narrators]] under the topics of (narrator) history or Tabaqat (listing the narrators in order of a particular criterion), are usually dedicated to the works authored by the companions (Fehrist). Waqidī is a pioneering example of this occurrence. Although (Tabaqat) Waqidī's book is not available, his student, Ibn Sa'd, has brought a lot of the material from his teachers work in his own book, ''[[Al-Tabaqat al-kubra]]''. In this book, Ibn Sa'd has mentioned most of the companions names. The names and grouping, however, have not been arranged in an alphabetical order, as this method of ordering lists is a latter development. The names have been arranged in what seems to be a geographical order, so, for example first companions who resided in Mecca are mentioned, followed by those who were in Ta'if .

Alongside such books, other independently organised materials under the name of Tasmīyah or Ismā' (listing names) was also produced. The oldest work written under this title was authored by [['Ubayd Allah b. Abi Rafi']]. His book was titled 'Names of those who were martyred in the ranks of the Commander of the Faithful, [['Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]] in (the battles of)[[ Jamal]], [[Sifin]] and [[Nahrawan]]'. The book itself no longer exists, but [[Qadi Nu'man al-Misri ]] has brought it in his ''[[Sharh al-akhbar]]'' .

Larger collections of works regarding the Sahabah have been collected with titles such as 'Ma'rifat al-Sahabah' (Knowing the Companions) and 'Mu'jam al-Sahabah'. In the third century, authors such as Ali b. Madīnī (d. [[234]]/ 849), Hilwani Hasan b. Ali (d.[[242]]/ 856), 'Abbas b. Ya'qub Rawajini (d.[[ 250]]/ 864 or [[271]]/ 884), Abdan, and Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. 'Isa Maruzi, and following them, Abu Mansur Bawardi (in the beginning of the fourth century) all authored books with the title 'Ma'rifat al-Sahabah'. The first book to be titled 'Mujam al-Sahabah' was written by Abu Ya'li Mosuli (d.[[307]]/ 919).

In writing the books known as 'Mu'jam', at times the content was organised alphabetically according to the first letter of the word, and even the following letters of the word, on other occasions. The latter (all letters of the word being listed based on alphabetical order) became more common during the sixth century onwards .

"According to the view of our companions, the Mu'tazilites believe that, without any dispute (among the scholars) they are in the hell fire. As a general principle, we the Mu'tazilites, consider every unrighteous and sinful person, who dies in the state of sin and infringement of God's commandments, to be hell bound. And there is no doubt that every rebel and traitor against a rightful [[Imam]] (Imam al-Haqq) is unrighteous and sinful." Verses of the holy Qur'an have also been used to argue for the righteousness and justice of the Sahabah . One particular verse which is often employed, is:

The Shias believe that the companions of the [[Prophet (s)]] are just like all other people, and the justice or veracity of an individual cannot be established purely based on them being one of the Sahabah .

Considering that the number of Sahabah has been recorded as one-hundred and fourteen-thousand, it is ordinarily impossible for such a large number of individuals to reach the acclaimed level of piety, by abstaining from any major sins and not repeating any minor sins, with only a meeting with the Prophet (s) and believing in him. This is also given the fact that different individuals had different reasons for accepting Islam; some chose freely to convert, while others converted out of fear and pressure, a group still out of their own interests or because they received motivations to do so .

As an example, the behavior of [[Marwan b. Hakam]] during the time of [['Uthman b. 'Affan|'Uthman]] is very famous. Also the problematic actions of [[Busr b. Artah]], [[Mughira b. Shu'ba]], and [[Walid b. 'Uqba]], who were all apparently from Sahabah .