The sahaba (also sahabah) are the companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The standard definition, given by Ibn Hajar in al-Isabah, is: anyone who met the Prophet ﷺ while believing in him and died upon Islam. It includes those who spent years with him and those who saw him once, men and women, adults and children. One man is a sahabi, one woman a sahabiyyah.
The word
It comes from sahiba, to accompany. A sahib is a companion or friend. The Quran calls Abu Bakr the Prophet's "companion" (sahibihi) in the cave (9:40). In Urdu and Bangla, sahib became a polite title, from the same root.
Their rank in the Quran
وَٱلسَّٰبِقُونَ ٱلْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُهَٰجِرِينَ وَٱلْأَنصَارِ وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَٰنٍۢ رَّضِىَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا۟ عَنْهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّٰتٍۢ تَجْرِى تَحْتَهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدًۭا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْعَظِيمُ ﴿١٠٠﴾
Was saabiqoonal awwa loona minal Muhaajireena wal Ansaari wallazeenat taba'oo hum bi ihsaanir radiyal laahu 'anhum wa radoo 'anhu wa a'adda lahum jannnaatin tajree tahtahal anhaaru khaalideena feehaaa abadaa; zaalikal fawzul 'azeem
And the first forerunners [in the faith] among the Muhajireen and the Ansar and those who followed them with good conduct - Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment.
Quran 9:100 · Sahih International · Read in Surah At-Tawbah
"Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves" (48:29). Of those who pledged under the tree at Hudaybiyah, Allah said He "was pleased with the believers" (48:18).
Their rank in the hadith
خَيْرُ النَّاسِ قَرْنِي، ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ، ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ
"The best of people are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them."
Sahih al-Bukhari 2652; Sahih Muslim 2533, from Abdullah ibn Masud
"Do not abuse my companions. If one of you spent gold equal to Mount Uhud, it would not reach a handful of what one of them gave, nor half of it" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3673; Sahih Muslim 2541, from Abu Said al-Khudri).
Groups among the sahaba
- The Muhajirun: those who migrated from Makkah for Islam, see hijrah.
- The Ansar: the Muslims of Madinah who sheltered them.
- The four rightly guided caliphs (al-Khulafa al-Rashidun): Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.
- The ten promised Paradise (al-Asharah al-Mubashsharah): Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Talhah, az-Zubayr, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Sad ibn Abi Waqqas, Said ibn Zayd and Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah (Jami at-Tirmidhi and Sunan Abi Dawud, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and Said ibn Zayd, graded sahih).
- The people of Badr, about three hundred and thirteen, and those of the pledge under the tree.
- The sahabiyat: women such as Khadijah, Aishah, Fatimah, Umm Salamah, Sumayyah and Nusaybah bint Kab.
How Muslims treat the sahaba
Ahl al-Sunnah hold that the companions are all trustworthy (udul) in passing on the religion, which is why a hadith is accepted when a companion is its source even if his name is not known. Al-Tahawi's creed, which sets out the belief of Abu Hanifa and his students, says Muslims love all the companions, go to excess with none of them, disown none of them, and speak of them only with good. Their disputes after the Prophet ﷺ are left to Allah, and none of them was free of error, but each is honoured. After a companion's name Muslims say radiyallahu anhu, "may Allah be pleased with him" (anha for a woman, anhum for a group), from 9:100.
After the sahaba
The generation that met the companions, but not the Prophet ﷺ, are the tabiun, the followers. The next are the atba al-tabiin. Together they are the three best generations of the hadith above, and Imam Abu Hanifa was among the tabiun by the view of many scholars, as he saw Anas ibn Malik.
Related terms
- Quran 9:40, 9:100, 48:18 and 48:29, translation by Sahih International.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2652; Sahih Muslim 2533.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3673; Sahih Muslim 2541.
- Jami at-Tirmidhi and Sunan Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Manaqib and Kitab al-Sunnah, on the ten promised Paradise.
- Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-Sahabah, introduction; al-Tahawi, al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah.