Who Are the Companions?

article from islamonline.net

By Muhammad ibn Saleh Aal `Uthaymeen
Scholar - KSA

If you ask a group of Muslims: "Who are the Sahabah (or Prophet's Companions)?", you will most probably receive different answers. Some would say that the Companions are those who saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); others would say that they are those who accompanied the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for a long time; and yet others would say that the Companions are any Muslims who lived during the time of Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). These different answers shed light on the need to specify the exact definition of the Companions due to their high rank in Islam.

Who Is a Companion?

A Companion is any individual who met the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) or saw him, believed in him and his message and then died adhering to that belief. The great scholar, Ibn Hajar Al-`Asqalani said in Al–Ishabah, "The most correct of what I have come across is that one of Sahabah (or a Companion of the Prophet) is one who met the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while believing in him and died as a Muslim. So, that definition includes those who remained with him (the Prophet) for a long or short time; those who narrated his sayings and those who did not; those who saw him but did not sit with him; and those who could not see him due to blindness."

So, a man who embraced Islam during the lifetime of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and met him but later became an apostate, and then repented and accepted Islam again and died as an adherent of Islam is a Companion, for example, Al–Ash`ath ibn Qays.

However, a person who embraced Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) but did not meet him, is not considered a Companion, for example, An-Najashi, the king of Ethiopia at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

Likewise, a person whom embraced Islam and met the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), but later became an apostate and died as an unbeliever is also not a Companion, for example, `Abdullah ibn Khalaf and Rabi`ah ibn Umayyah who became apostates during the reign of `Umar ibn Al-Khattab and died in that state.

Number of the Companions and the Last of Them

There were too many Companions to give an accurate figure of them all. However, it has been estimated that there were around 114,000.

It is worth mentioning that none of the Companions died after the year 110 A.H. That is in accordance with a statement made by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) one month before his death. `Abdulla h ibn `Umar narrated: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed`Isha’ Prayer with us in the last days of his life, then just after he finished, he stood up, and said, "After one hundred years from this night, there will be no one from those who are living today on the face of the earth." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Based on that hadith, none of the Companions died after the year 110 A.H. as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) died in the year 10 A.H.

There are some benefits in knowing the Companions who died last. One of these benefits is that whoever claimed to be a Companion but died after the year 110 A.H., this claim is rejected outright. Below are the names of the Companions who died last and their place of death:

• The last Companion who died in Makkah was `Amr bin Wathilah Al-Laythi, who died in the year 110 A.H. No other Companion lived longer than him.

• The last Companion who died in Madinah was Muhammad ibn Ar-Rabi`ah Al-Ansari Al-Khazraji who died in the year 99 A.H.

• The last Companion who died in Damascus, was Wathilah bin Aska` Al-Laythi who died in the year 86 A.H.

• The last Companion who died in Hims was `Abdullaah bin Bisr Al-Mazini who died in the year 96 A.H.

• The last Companion who died in Basrah was Anas bin Maalik al-AnsarI Al-Khazraji, who died in the year 93 A.H.

• The last Companion who died in Kufah was `Abdullaah ibn Abi Awfa Al-Aslami, who died in the year 87 A.H.

• The last Companion who died in Egypt was `Abdullaah ibn Al-Harith ibn Jaz' Az-Zubaydi who died in the year 89 A.H.

May Allah be pleased with them all.

* Taken with modification from Sheikh Muhammad ibn Saleh Aal `Uthaymeen's "Mustalah Al-Hadith".

Muhammad ibn Saleh Aal `Uthaymeen is an eminent scholar of Fiqh and tafseer. He was born in KSA and died there in 1421 A.H.