Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. This comprises

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

and his companions (the ), their followers (the ), and the followers of the followers (the ). Their religious significance lay in the statement attributed to Muhammad: "The best of my community are my generation, the ones who follow them and the ones who follow them", a period believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam.

Second generation

The

Tabi‘un The tābi‘ūn ( ar, اَلتَّابِعُونَ, also accusative or genitive tābi‘īn , singular ''tābi‘'' ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the companions (''ṣaḥābah'') of the Islamic proph ...

, the successors of

Sahabah The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...

. * Abu Hanifah Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān * Abu Muslim Al-Khawlani * Abu Suhail an-Nafi' ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman * Al-Rabi Ibn Khuthaym * Ali Akbar * Ali ibn Husayn (Zain-ul-'Abidin) * Alqama ibn Qays al-Nakha'i * Ata Ibn Abi Rabah * Atiyya bin Saad *

Hasan al-Basri Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra (Arabic: الحسن البصري, romanized: ''Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī''; 642 - 15 October 728) for short, or as Hasan al-Basri, was an early Muslim preacher, asceti ...

Iyas Ibn Muawiyah Al-Muzani Iyas ibn Mu'awiya al-Muzani () (full name, Abu Wathila Iyas ibn Mu'awiya ibn Qurra) was a ''tabi'i'' ''Qadi'' (judge) in the 2nd century AH who lived in Basra (modern day Iraq). He was renowned for possessing immense cleverness which became a fav ...

* Masruq ibn al-Ajda' *

Muhammad al-Baqir Muḥammad al-Bāqir ( ar, مُحَمَّد ٱلْبَاقِر), with the full name Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, also known as Abū Jaʿfar or simply al-Bāqir () was the fifth Imam in Shia Islam, succee ...

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib () also known as Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafīyya () (15 AH – 81 AH; AD 637 – 700) and surnamed Abū al-Qāsim. He was the third son of Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth rightly-guided caliph and the firs ...

* Muhammad Ibn Wasi' Al-Azdi * Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab al-Zuhri *

Muhammad ibn Munkadir Muhammad ibn Munkadir (died 747), also known as Ibn al-Munkadir or Muhammad al-Taymi, was a prominent ''tabi'i'' (plural: ''taba'een'') and reciter of the Qur'an, who transmitted a number of hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , ...

* Nafi Mawla Ibn Umar *

Muhammad ibn Sirin Muhammad Ibn Sirin ( ar, محمد بن سيرين) (born in Basra) was a Muslim tabi' who lived in the 8th century CE. He was a contemporary of Anas ibn Malik. He is claimed by some to have been an interpreter of dreams, though others regard th ...

, son of a slave of

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...

Musa ibn Nusayr Musa ibn Nusayr ( ar, موسى بن نصير ''Mūsá bin Nuṣayr''; 640 – c. 716) served as a Umayyad governor and an Arab general under the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I. He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa ( Ifriqiya), and dire ...

* Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr *

Raja ibn Haywa Rajaʾ ibn Ḥaywa ibn Khanzal al-Kindī () was a prominent Muslim theological and political adviser of the Umayyad caliphs Abd al-Malik (), al-Walid I (), Sulayman () and Umar II (). He was a staunch defender of the religious conduct of the cali ...

Sa'id ibn Jubayr Sa'id ibn Jubayr (665–714) ( ar, سعيد بن جبير), also known as Abū Muhammad, was originally from Kufa, in modern-day Iraq. He was regarded as one of the leading members of the Tabi'in (d. ca. 712). Sa'īd is held in the highest e ...

* Said ibn al-Musayyib *

Salamah ibn Dinar Salamah Ibn Dinar al-Madani (died c. 757 or 781), also known as Abu Hazim Al-A'raj, was a Persian people, Persian Muslim ascetic, jurist and narrator of hadith from the ''taba'een'' generation who became an important figure for the early Sufis. He ...

* Salih Ibn Ashyam Al-Adawi *

Salim Ibn Abdullah Ibn Umar Ibn al-Khattab Sālim ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Umar, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was a well known narrator of hadith (sayings of Muhammad), many of which he related first hand from either his father, Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khatt ...

* Shuraih Al-Qadhi * Tariq Ibn Ziyad *

Tawus Ibn Kaysan Tawus Ibn Kaysan ( ar, طاووس بن كيسان; died 723) was one of the ''Tabi‘in'', one of the narrators of hadith and scholars of fiqh. He is also known as Tawoos ibn Kaysaan, "Tawoos" or "al-Taus,". Biography He was one of the scholars of ...

* Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz * Umm Kulthum bint Abu Bakr * Urwah Ibn Al-Zubayr * Uwais al-Qarni

Third generation

The Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, the successors of the

. *

Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah Al-Ghafiqi ( ar, عبدالرحمن بن عبداللّه الغافقي, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ghāfiqī; died 732), was an Arab Umayyad commander of Andalusian Muslims. He unsuccessfully led into ...

Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...

, student of Abu Yusuf *

Ja'far al-Sadiq Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...

, grandson of Ali ibn Hussain *

Malik ibn Anas Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, ‎ 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...

* Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya *

Muhammad bin Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqāfī ( ar, محمد بن القاسم الثقفي; –) was an Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (part of modern Pakistan), inaugurating the Umayy ...

Al bidaya wan Nahaya,

Ibn Kathir Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...

* Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya * Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i *

Zayd ibn Ali Zayd ibn Zayn al-Abidin ( ar, زيد بن زين العابدين; 695–740), also spelled Zaid, was the son of Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, and great-grandson of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He led an unsuccessful revolt against the Umayyad Calipha ...

* Ishaq ibn Rahwayh * Al-Layth ibn Sa'd

References

{{reflist Salaf Islamic terminology

Second generation

Third generation

See also

References