The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Definition, Status, and Rank&n

The companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Definition, Status, and Rank

The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Definition, Status, and Rank

- Shaykh Gibril Haddad [from an article at: http://members.chello.se/onesr/n/shb_e.html]

Definition of the Sahaba

The most widespread definition of Sahabi is someone who saw the Prophet and believed in him as well as died a Muslim. Those that saw him but held off believing in him until after his passingare not considered Sahaba but Tabi`in. The inclusion of children below the age of reason in the first category apparently precludes from them the necessity of outward affirmation. Thus Ibn Qaani`, Ibn `Abd al-Barr and Ibn Hajar include Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr among the Sahaba respectively in Mu`jam al-Sahaba, al-Isti`ab and al-Isaba. Ibn Abi `Asim narrated in al-Aahaad wal-Mathaani, his compendium of the Companions, from Ibn al-Musayyab: "We only included him because of `Ali's saying: 'How do you order that one of the Companions of Muhammad be killed without conviction?' Meaning Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr."

By Divinely-ordained prescription (tawqif) the best human beings after Prophets are the Companions, in the following order:

• First, the Ten Promised Paradise;
these are: Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, Ali, al-Zubayr ibn al-`Awwam, Talha, `Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, Abu -Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, and Sa`id ibn Zayd ibn `Amr.
• Then the senior Companions among those who fought at Badr (all those who fought at Badr having been promised Paradise).
• Then those who gave bay`at al-ridwân under the Tree and those Ansâr distinguished for the two pacts preceding Emigration (al-`aqabatayn) according to Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi as reported by Ibn Jama`a in al-Manhal al-Rawi (p. 112).
• Then those who entered Islam the year of the conquest of Mecca.
• Then the younger Companions who saw the Prophet as child. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr would belong to this category.

As for Ahl al-Bayt such as our Mothers the wives of the Prophetand al-Sayyida Fatima and her two children, they are in a class apart with the Prophet . WAllahu a`lam.

3. The mere virtue of accompanying the Prophet as a Muslim

Re: the statement:

“Just accompanying the Prophet does not make someone a good person.”

It makes someone the best person, because Allah (SWT) does not choose for His Prophet except the best as his Companions nor would He praise other than such in His Book, and because the Prophet praised his generation above all others on earth, then the next, then the next. As for the Munafiqun they are not considered Companions in scholarly terminology, although they literally "accompanied" himin his life as reflected in the hadiths of the Lake-Fount (deliberately misinterpreted by certain sects).

There is, in a Muslim's sight of the Prophet , a Divine grant that has nothing to do with the intrinsic merit of that person. Ibn al-Mubarak was asked who was better, Mu`awiya - a Sahabi - or `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz - a Tabi`i? He replied: "The dust in the nostrils of Mu`awiya's horse is a thousand times better than `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz." Al-Haytami related it in al-Sawa`iq al-Muhriqa. This is a hyperbole to impress the fact that the merit of the Sahaba is beyond analogy or reasoning. It is also a sharp sword on the neck of sectarians to cut short all discussion and all compromise concerning the noble Sahaba.