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In Islam, the Sahaba (or Asahaaba, الصحابه;) were the companions of the prophet Muhammad.
Both forms are plural; the singular is sahaabi, which is Arabic for "friend", or "companion."
A list of the best-known companions can be found at List of companions of the prophet Muhammad.
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Companion as a technical term in Islamic scholarship
Most Muslims regard anyone who knew or saw Muhammad, believed in his teachings, and died as a Muslim to be a companion, or sahaabi. 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 Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir.
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.
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. The Sunni view of the companions, and the value of their testimony, can be found at Sunni ranking of the Sahaba; Shi'a estimates at Shia ranking of the Sahaba. A list of the best-known companions can be found at List of companions of the prophet Muhammad.
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 sahaabi. 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.
See also
- Hadith
- Isnad
- Muhammad's wives
- Ahlul Bayt
- Salaf
- Sahaba's ancestors
- Taba'een
- Taba Tabe'een
- Non-Muslims who interacted with Muslims during Muhammad's era.
- Narrators of hadith
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.
- al-Islam gives very short descriptions (both in English and Arabic) of some notable Sahaba.