Sahāba

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Mohammed rides camels with his companions (Turkish miniature from the Siyer-i Nebi )

Sahāba ( Arabic صحابة, DMG ṣaḥāba ) is the collective term for the companions and companions of the Prophet Mohammed . The individual is called ṣaḥābī or ṣāḥib rasūli 'llāh , which means “companion” or “companion of the Messenger of God”. The importance of the Sahaba in shaping early Islam at the time of the Prophet and after his death is undisputed. The Islamic literature has created an extensive biographical literature about them, about their ancestry, their private life and about their deeds at the time of prophecy and thereafter. The Sahaba are the direct “ key witnesses” for the communication and transmission ( riwaya ) of the prophet's statements and thus play a decisive role in the hadiths .

definition

According to the Islamic definition (for example in al-Bukhari ) "the one of the Muslims who accompanies the Prophet ( sahiba ) or has seen him [...] is one of his companions". According to further definitions, the following requirements must be met in order to be considered a companion of the prophet in Islamic traditionalism:

  • a longer contact with the prophet than a Muslim ,
  • Transmission of his statements and deeds (see hadith ),
  • Participation in his campaigns ,
  • Of legal age.

Division into classes

Despite the alleged egalitarianism in Islam, even the Sahaba were divided into classes. A distinction that dates back to the time of the Prophet is that between the Muhādschirūn ("emigrants"), who moved to Medina with Mohammed , and the Ansār ("helpers"), who supported the Prophet and the emigrants in Medina. Other groups were defined according to their participation in the Prophet's campaigns. This classification of the contemporaries of the Prophet was already used by the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab when distributing endowments ( diwan ) after the campaigns.

Ibn Ishāq (d. 767) lists "the first preceding" ( as-Sābiqūn al-awwalūn ) as a special group, i.e. the early Muslims. These included, after him, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib , Muhammad’s slave and then adopted son Zaid ibn Hāritha, Abū Bakr , ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān , az-Zubair ibn al-ʿAuwām , ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn ibn ʿ , Ab, and Saʿdallān the first eight were Muslims, as well as 45 other people.

When naming the first Muslims of Mecca, the historiographer Muhammad ibn Saʿd (d. 845) consistently differentiates between those who converted to Islam before or during Muhammad's stay in the "House of al-Arqam" ( dār al-Arqam ): " N. N. accepted Islam before the Messenger of God entered the house of al-Arqam ibn Abī l-Arqam and before he called (the people) to Islam ”and:“ N. N. accepted Islam in the house of al-Arqam ”.

Judgment on Sunnis and Shiites

The judgment of the Prophet's companions is very different among Sunnis and Shiites .

Sunni point of view

In the area of ​​Sunni Islam it is customary to emphasize the Fadā'il of the Prophet's companions and, when naming a Prophet's companion, to speak the tarḍiya , that is, the formula raḍiya Llāhu ʿan-hu ("May God be pleased with him"). Miracles are also narrated by various companions of the prophets. Ahmad ibn Hanbal , on the other hand, is quoted as saying that at the time of the Prophet's Companions, miracles were not needed because the beliefs of the early Muslims were strong. Only when the Muslims' faith weakened later on did God strengthen them by allowing miracles of grace ( karāmāt ) to occur for them through friends of God .

The companions of the prophets also play an important role as role models in Sunni norms . A well-known saying passed down by the Prophet Mohammed is: “My companions are like the stars. Whichever of them you follow, you will be guided ” (aṣḥābī ka-n-nuǧūm bi-aiyihim iqtadaitum ihtadaitum) . In the books on Islamic legal theory , this hadith is presented as evidence that the Prophet's companions, with their behavior and their statements, are representatives of the prophet's teaching. Ash-Shāfidīs disciple al-Muzanī (d. 878) warned against drawing the conclusion from this prophetic word that all companions of the prophets are also reliable narrators of hadiths . Hanafi legal scholars viewed the hadith as legitimation for the fact that, like the companions of the Prophets, Muslim scholars were also authorized to use personal ra'y in finding the law . The reliability of this hadith has been questioned early on. Ibn Hazm even took the view that he was “lying” (makḏūb) .

Shiite view

The Shiite side disapproves of the fact that the vast majority of the Sahāba refused to support ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib's claims to succeed the Prophet and that some of them, such as Aisha bint Abi Bakr , openly turned against him in their struggle . With this they left Islam according to the Shiite point of view and placed themselves on the same level as the hypocrites and idols mentioned in the Koran . This view was formulated particularly in the Kitāb Sulaim ibn Qais , but was also represented by Shiite theologians such as Hishām ibn al-Hakam .

It was a long established practice within the Imamite Shia to curse the companions of the Prophets. In Sunni Islam, this practice of "insulting the companions of the Prophet" ( sabb aṣ-ṣaḥāba ) was regarded as a sin and in part punished with death. In the 20th century, the strictly Sunni Salafīya movement put the defense of the Prophet's companions on their flags. The defense of certain Sahāba such as the ʿAlī opponent Muʿāwiya was the concern of the Salafīya publicist Muhibb ad-Dīn al-Chatīb (1886–1969). He called for the "commitment to virtue and equal piety of all fellow prophets".

See also

literature

Arabic biographical works on the Sahāba
Studies
  • Miklos Muranyi : The comrades of the prophets in early Islamic history. Dissertation, Bonn 1973
  • Miklos Muranyi: Art. "Ṣaḥāba" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. VIII, pp. 827b-829a.
  • Etan Kohlberg : "Some Imami Shi'i views on the Sahaba." in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 5 (1984) 143-175.
  • Lutz Wiederhold : "Blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions ( sabb al-rasūl , sabb al-ṣaḥābah ). The Introduction of the Topic into Shāfiʿī Legal Literature and its Relevance for Legal Practice under Mamluk Rule" in Journal of Semitic studies 42 ( 1997) 39-70.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. his Kitāb Sīrat Rasūl Allāh from d. Hs. On Berlin, Leipzig, Gotha a. Leyden ed. by Ferdinand Wüstenfeld. 2 vols. Göttingen 1858-59. P. 162. ( digitized version )
  2. ↑ See the evidence in Ibn Saʿd in: M. Muranyi: The comrades of the prophets in early Islamic history. Bonn 1973, pp. 34–35 and note 1; ders .: The first Muslims of Mecca - the social basis of a new religion? . In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (JSAI), 8 (1986), 2. 25–36
  3. ↑ Cf. Richard Gramlich : The miracles of God's friends. Theologies and manifestations of the Islamic miracle of saints. Steiner, Wiesbaden, 1987. pp. 86-93.
  4. ↑ Cf. Gramlich: The miracles of God's friends. 1987. p. 126.
  5. ↑ Jonathan A. Brown: Hadith. Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2009. pp. 167f.
  6. ↑ Ibn Ḥazm: al-Iḥkām fī uṣūl al-aḥkām . Ed. Aḥmad Muḥammad Šākir. Beirut 1983. Vol. VI, p. 83. Digitized .
  7. ↑ See Kohlberg: Some Imami Shi'i views on the Sahaba. 1984.
  8. ↑ See Wiederhold: Blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions . 1997.
  9. ↑ Quote Werner Ende: Arab Nation and Islamic History. The Umayyads as Judged by 20th Century Arab Authors. Beirut-Wiesbaden 1977. p. 91.