Portal: Muhammad's Companions and Contemporaries
Muhammad's contemporaries, companions, and successors play an elevated role in the lore of Islam. It is against many of his contemporaries that Muhammad defined his movement, it is through his companions that his tradition was passed forth, and it is by his immediate successors that his legacy was interpreted and formalized. Excepting those who opposed him, a hadith in Bukhari captures the general manner in which Muhammad's and following generations have been conceived by the Islamic tradition: "Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation), and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness.'[1] The earliest generations of Muslims have in the recent past become a topic of renewed interest as a result of the various Salafi movements that have spread across the world and which seek, more than anything else, to restore Islam to the version of it that was practiced by Muhammad's companions and immediate successors.
Overview
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The Sahabah were the companions of Prophet Muhammad. According to tradition, an individual must have: seen Muhammad, believed in his prophethood, and died as a believer in order to be considered a sahabi or companion of the Muhammad (and thereby attain the concomitant theological status). These would exclude, for example, Ubayd-Allah b. Jahsh (brother of Zainab b. Jash, the cousin and wife of Muhammad), who was considered one of the sahabah but later converted to Christianity.
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The Ahl al-Bayt, literally "People of the House", is a term used to refer to those persons who are members or descendants of Muhammad's household. These people have a priveleged status in Islamic and especially Shi'ite doctrine. A sahih hadith reports Muhammad to have said, "I have left among you, that which if you hold fast to it, you shall not go astray: The Book of Allah and my family". Traditions of this sort have been variously interpreted by the many sects of Islam.
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The Rashidun Caliphs are the four caliphs who followed in the leadership of the ummah following the death of the prophet Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. Sunni jurists consider them "rightly guided by Allah" and see their reign and religious ordinances as a basis for the practice of Islam. Shi'ites, however, consider the first three to be usurpers, with only Ali and his family having the right to sit on the throne.
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The Tābi‘ūn (التابعون Followers) are the generation of Muslims who were born after the death of Prophet Muhammad, but who were contemporaries of the Sahabah (Companions of Muhammad). As such, they played an important part in the development of Islamic thought and philosophy, and in the political development of the early Caliphate. According to Muhammad, they are among the best generation of Muslims on Earth, along with the Tabi' al-Tabi'in and the Sahabah.
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Salaf is an Arabic noun which translates to "predecessor", or "forefather". In Islam it refers to the first three generations of Muslims, the so-called "Pious Predecessors". According to Prophet Muhammad in the hadith, the Sahabah ("Companions"), Tabi'un ("Followers"), and Tabi' al-Tabi'un ("Those after the Followers") are among the best generation of Muslims on Earth, and are therefore considered the model for how Islam should be practiced.
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Alongside Muhammad himself, who consummated his marriage to nine year old Aisha when he was 54, his companions also committed engaged in child marriage. The most famous example of this is, perhaps, the marriage of Umar b. al-Khattab to Umm Kulthum (the daughter of Ali b. Abi Talib when he was 58 years of age and she was between 10-12 (some sources suggest she was even younger).
Male companions
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Abu Bakr was a companion of the prophet and the first caliph after the death of Muhammad. He was also the father-in-law to Muhammad via Muhammad's marriage to his daughter Aisha. According to the Islamic tradition, his reign was short, less than two years before he died, and consumed with the battle against the false prophets of the Ridda Wars.
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'Umar was the second rightly guided caliph following Abu Bakr. A stern and convinced convert to Islam, he is sometimes compared to Christianity's St. Paul due to his history of persecuting the religion before converting to it and having great influence upon it. According to the Islamic tradition, he fought hard with Muhammad during his war against the Meccan pagans and was a man interested in military science.
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Uthman was the third caliph of the Islamic State, following Abu Bakr. A companion of the prophet, Uthman was married to Muhammad's daughter Ruqayya and was close to him during his time in Medina, although the tradition seems to indicate he was not at the Battle of Badr. Taking over the caliphate from his predecessor Umar, Uthman continued the expansion of the jihad state though not in as spectacular a fashion as his predecessor.
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Ali ibn Abi Talib (عَلِيّ ٱبْن أَبِي طَالِب) was Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, and was the fourth of the "four rightly guided caliphs". The Shia, emphasizing his status as a member of the prophet's family or "household" (ahl al-bayt), consider him the first Imam and rightful successor to Muhammad. A Sahih hadith reports that Muhammad said, "For whomever I am his Mawla then 'Ali is his Mawla." Many similar hadiths exist and have proven highly controversial in Sunni-Shi'ite discourse.
Female companions
Foes
Others
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Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib was the father of Muhammad who passed away during a trading trip he embarked on while Aminah, his wife, was still pregnant with Muhammad. According to hadiths in Sahih Muslim that some Islamic theologians have had trouble grappling with, both of Muhammad's parents are in hell.