In Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is a strictly monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله, Allāh), and by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad's teachings and normative example (which is called the Sunnah in, the Ṣaḥābah (Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabi) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million: الصحابة, Ṣaḥābeh, "Companions") were the companions of the Islamic prophet Muslims identify the prophets of Islam as those humans chosen by Allah to teach mankind. Humans may rely on revelation or tradition to identify prophets.[citation needed] Muḥammad Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh (Arabic: ﷴ; Transliteration: Muḥammad; pronounced [mʊˈħæmmæd] ; also spelled Muhammed or Mohammed) (ca. 570/571 Mecca[مَكَةَ ]/[ مَكَهْ ] – June 8, 632), was the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God (Arabic: الله. This form is plural; the singular is masculine ṣaḥābiyy, feminine ṣaḥābiyyah.
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Definitions of companion
The most widespread definition of a companion is someone who saw Muhammad, believed in him and died a Muslim A Muslim or Moslem is an adherent of the religion of Islam. Literally, the word means "one who submits (to God)". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. All Muslims observe Sunnah, but differences in the definition of what is and what is not Sunnah has led to the emergence of sectarian movements.[. Those that saw him but held off believing in him until after his passing are not considered Sahaba but Tabi`in.[1]
Lists of prominent companions usually run to 50 or 60 names, being the people most closely associated with Muhammad. However, there were clearly many others who had some contact with Muhammad, and their names and biographies were recorded in religious reference texts such as Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi or Ibn Sa'd , often called Katib ul-Waqidi, the scribe of Waqidi's (Muḥammad ibn Sa'd) early Kitāb at-Tabāqat al-Kabīr (The book of The Major Classes).
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Efendi (died 1622), who is also known with the sobriquet "Nişancızâde", the author of the book entitled Mir’ât-i-kâinât (in Turkish), states as follows:
"Once a male or female Muslim has seen Hadrat If Wiktionary has a definition already, change this tag to {{}} or else consider a soft redirect to Wiktionary by replacing the text on this page with {{}}. If Wiktionary does not have the definition yet, consider moving the whole article to Wiktionary by replacing this tag with the template {{}} Muhammad only for a short time, no matter whether he/she is a child or an adult, he/she is called a Sahaba with the proviso of dying with as a believer; the same rule applies to blind Muslims who have talked with the Prophet at least once. If a disbeliever sees the Prophet and then joins the Believers after the demise of Muhammad, he is not a Sahaba; nor is a person called a Sahaba if he converted to Islam afterwards although he had seen the Prophet Muhammad as a Muslim. A person who converts to Islam after being a Sahaba and then becomes a Believer again after the demise of Prophet Muhammad, is a Sahaba."[citation needed]
It was important to identify the companions because later scholars accepted their testimony (the hadith Hadith are narrations concerning the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith are regarded by traditional Islamic schools of jurisprudence as important tools for understanding the Qur'an and in matters of jurisprudence. Hadith were evaluated and gathered into large collections mostly during the reign of Umar ibn AbdulAziz during the, or traditions) as to the words and deeds of Muhammad, the occasions on which the Qur'an The Qur’an is the central religious verbal text of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, Qur’ān, Coran or Al-Qur’ān. Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the verbal book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God was revealed, and various important matters of Islamic history Muslim history involves the history of the Islamic faith as a religion and as a social institution. The evolution of Islam has impacted the political, economic, and military history of an enormous geography. The concept of the Islamic world is useful in observing the different periods of Islamic history; similarly useful is an understanding of the and practice (sunnah Sunnah is an Arabic word that means habit or usual practice. The Muslim usage of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of Muhammad, the last prophet of Islam). The testimony of the companions, as it was passed down through chains of trusted narrators (isnads The Science of hadith is a general category consisting of the numerous disciplines used in the study of hadith. It is the process that Muslim scholars use to evaluate hadith, utilizing Hadith terminology. It has been described by one hadith specialist, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, as the science of the principles by which the conditions of both the), was the basis of the developing Islamic tradition.
Other links in the chain of Isnad
Because the hadith were not written down until many years after the death of Muhammad, the isnads The Science of hadith is a general category consisting of the numerous disciplines used in the study of hadith. It is the process that Muslim scholars use to evaluate hadith, utilizing Hadith terminology. It has been described by one hadith specialist, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, as the science of the principles by which the conditions of both the, 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 Tabi‘un, the companion of the companion. Tabi‘un had no direct contact with Muhammad, but did have direct contact with the Ṣahāba. The tradition then would have been passed from the Tabi‘un to the Tābi‘ at-Tābi‘īn, 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. Shi'a Shia Islam , is the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'as but are also known as Shiites or Shi'ites. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shī‘atu ‘Alī (شيعة علي), meaning "the followers of Ali" or "the faction of Ali" and Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam, comprising up to 90% or nine-tenths of the total Muslim population of the world. Sunni Muslims are referred to as Ahla Sunnah tul-Jamā‘ah or Ahla Sunnah (Arabic: أهل السنة) for short. Sunni Islam may be referred to as Orthodox Islam. The word "Sunni" comes from the term Sunnah ( apply different metrics.
Number of companions
Some Muslims assert that there were more than 200,000. It is believed that 124,000 witnessed The Farewell Sermon Muhammad delivered after making his last pilgrimage The Farewell Pilgrimage was the last pilgrimage Muhammad participated in, in 632 CE (10 AH), or Hajj The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people,, to Mecca Mecca , also spelled Makkah (occasionally Bakkah) (English: /ˈmækə/; Arabic: مكة Makkah and in full: Arabic: مكّة المكرمة transliterated Makkah Al Mukarramah [mækːæt ælmukarːamæ]) is a city in Saudi Arabia, and the holiest meeting site in Islam, closely followed by Medina.
The book entitled Istî’âb fî ma’rifat-il-Ashâb by Hafidh Yusuf bin Muhammad bin Qurtubi (death 1071) consists of 2,770 biographies of male Sahaba and 381 biographies of female Sahaba. According to an observation in the book entitled Mawâhib-i-ladunniyya, an untold number of persons had already converted to Islam by the time Muhammad died. There were 10,000 Sahaba by the time Mecca was conquered and 70,000 Sahaba during the Battle of Tabouk in 630.
Views of the companions
The two largest Islamic denominations Over the period of time after the death of the prophet of Islam [citation needed], Muhammad, there have arisen distinctions by means of schools of thought, traditions, and related faiths, the Sunni and Shi'a, take very different approaches in weighing the value of the companions' testimony.
Sunni views
Main article: Sunni view of the SahabaAccording to Sunni scholars, Muslims of the past should be considered companions if they had any contact with Muhammad, and they were not liars or opposed to him and his teachings. If they saw him, heard him, or were in his presence even briefly, they are companions. Blind people are considered companions even if they could not see Muhammad. Even unlearned Muslims are considered companions. However, anyone who died after rejecting Islam Apostasy in Islam is commonly defined as the rejection in word or deed of their former religion (apostasy) by a person who was previously a follower of Islam and becoming an apostate Apostasy is generally not a self-definition: very few former believers call themselves apostates and they generally consider this term to be a pejorative. Many religious movements consider it a vice , a corruption of the virtue of piety in the sense that when piety fails, apostasy is the result. Unlike apostasy, heresy is the rejection or is not considered a companion. "Whom God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism is pleased with" (Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabi) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million: رضي الله عنه raḍiyu l-Lāhu ‘anhu) is usually mentioned by Sunnis after the names of the Sahaba.
Regard for the companions is evident from the ahadith:
It was narrated from ‘Abd-Allah ibn Mas’ud that Muhammad said: "The best of the people are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them."[2]
Sunni Muslim scholars classified companions into many categories, based on a number of criteria. The hadith quoted above shows the rank of ṣaḥābah, tābi‘īn, and tābi‘ at-tābi‘īn. Al-Suyuti recognized eleven levels of companionship. However, all companions are assumed to be just (udul) unless they are proven otherwise; that is, Sunni scholars do not believe that companions would lie or fabricate hadith unless they were proven to be liars, untrustworthy or opposed to Islam.
Shi'a views
Main article: Shi'a view of the SahabaShi'a Muslims do not accept all companions as just. The Shi'a believe that after the death of Muhammad, the majority of the sahabah turned aside from true Islam and deviated from Muhammad's family, instead electing the caliph The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word خليفة Khalīfah (help·info) which means "successor" or "representative". The early leaders of the Muslim nation following Muhammad's ( by themselves. Although some of the sahabah repented later, only a few of the early Muslims held fast to Ali Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661. Sunni Muslims consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs), while Shi'a Muslims regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to, whom Shi'a Muslims regard as the rightful successor to Muhammad The Succession to Muhammad concerns the various aspects of successorship of Muhammad after his death, comprising who might be considered as his successor to lead the Muslims, how that person should be elected, the conditions of legitimacy, and the role of successor. Different answers to these questions have led to emerging several divisions in. Shi'a scholars therefore deprecate hadith believed to have been transmitted through unjust companions, and place much more reliance on hadith believed to have been related by Muhammad's family members and companions who supported Ali.
See also
Notes
- ^ Sahaba
- ^ Narrated by Sahih Bukhari Sahih al-Bukhari , as it is commonly referred to as, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Sunni Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (810–870) (about 200 years after Muhammad died) and compiled during his lifetime. Most Muslims view this as their most (2652) and Sahih Muslim Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection according to Sunni Muslims, the most authentic book of hadith after Sahih Al-Bukhari. It was collected by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, also known (2533)
References
- Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi or Ibn Sa'd , often called Katib ul-Waqidi, the scribe of Waqidi, Muhammad -- The book of The Major Classes, only partially translated into English; see Men of Medina and Women of Medina published by Ta-Ha Publishers, and first two volumes as published by Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi
- Wilferd Madelung Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung is a scholar of Islam. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany, where he completed his early education at Eberhard-Ludwig-Gymnasium -- The Succession to Muhammad, Cambridge University Press, 1997
- Maxime Rodinson -- Muhammad, 1961, as translated into English and published in 1980 by Pantheon Books
- William Montgomery Watt William Montgomery Watt was a Scottish historian, an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West, was an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world." -- Muhammad at Medina, Oxford University Press 1956
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The News International, Pakistan
By By Waqar Bhatti The assassinations of three activists of banned outfit Sipah-e- Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) since April 14 in Karachi have given rise to fears of bloodshed and eruption of sectarian violence, as senior police and secret agencies' officials ...
