The Four Companions

The Four Companions, also called the Four Pillars of the Sahaba, is a Shia term for the four Companions (ṣaḥāba) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who are supposed to have stayed most loyal to Ali ibn Abi Talib after Muhammad's death in 632:^[1]^[2]

Salman is generally considered to be the loftiest amongst these elite four in Shia theology. It is narrated from Muhammad that:^[3]

Faith has ten grades, and Salman is on the tenth (i.e., highest) grade, Abu Dharr on the ninth, and Miqdad on the eighth grade.

Those among Muhammad's companions who were closest to Ali were called the shīʿat ʿAlī ('the partisans of Ali') during Muhammad's lifetime.^[4] The following hadith is narrated about them from Jabir al-Ansari:^[5]

The Messenger of Allah said: "Glad tidings Oh Ali! For verily you and your companions and your Shi'ah will be in Heaven."^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

These companions were later referred to as "The Real Shia."^[13] Abdullah ibn Abbas,^[5] Ubay ibn Ka'b,^[14] Bilal ibn Rabah,^[4] Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr,^[14] Malik al-Ashtar,^[15] and Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman^[16]^[17] were other such partisans. However, it is only The Four Companions that are supposed to have attained distinction in their devotion to Ali.^[2]^[13]

References

^ Ali, Abbas (ed.). "Respecting the Righteous Companions". A Shi'ite Encyclopedia. Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020 – via al-islam.org.
^ ^a ^b
Ja'fariyan, Rasul (2014). "Umars Caliphate". History of the Caliphs. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 290. ISBN 9781312541085. Abu Hatin al-Razi says, "It is the appellation of those who were attached to Ali during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, such as Salman, Abu Dharr Ghifari, Miqdad ibn al-Aswad and Ammar ibn Yasir and others. Concerning these four, the Messenger of Allah had declared, 'The paradise is eager for four men: Salman, Abu Dharr, Miqdad, and Ammar.'"
- Rasul Ja'fariyan (1996). "Shi'ism and Its Types During the Early Centuries". Al Seraj.
^
Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar (2001). "Slaves in the History of Islam". Slavery: Islamic & Western Perspectives. South Africa: Ahlul Bait (a.s.) Foundation of South Africa. p. 24.
- Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi (2018-01-23). "A Brief History of Salman, the Persian". Al Hassanain.
^ ^a ^b Dabashi, Hamid (2017). "The foundations of Sunnite Authority: The Routinization of Charisma". Authority in Islam: From the Rise of Mohammad to the Establishment of the Umayyads. Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 9781351317108 – via books.google.com.
^ ^a ^b Ali, Abbas (ed.). "The Term Shi'a in Qur'an and Hadith". A Shi'ite Encyclopedia. Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020 – via al-islam.org.
^ Arabic: قَالَ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ ﷺ: يَا عَلِيُّ أَبْشِرْ فَإِنَّكَ وَأَصْحَابُكَ وَشِيعَتُكَ فِي ٱلْجَنَّةِ. See Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Fadha'il al-Sahaba, (Beirut) vol. 2, p. 655
^ Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, Hilyat al-Awliya, vol. 4, p. 329
^ Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ta'rīkh Baghdād, (Beirut) vol. 12, p. 289
^ Al-Tabarani, Al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, vol. 1, p. 319
^ Nur al-Din al-Haythami, Majma al-Zawa'id, vol. 10, pp. 21-22
^ Ibn Asakir, Ta'rikh Dimashq, vol. 42, pp. 331-332
^ Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, (Cairo) Ch. 11, section 1, p. 247
^ ^a ^b Ja'fariyan, Rasul (1996). "Shi'ism and Its Types During the Early Centuries". alseraj.net. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 Jun 2020.
^ ^a ^b Shomali, Mohammad A (2003). "Origins of Shi'ism". Shi'i Islam: Origins, Faith and Practices. ICAS Press. p. 25. ISBN 9781904063117 – via books.google.com.
^ al-Sayyid, Kamal. Malik al-Ashtar. Translated by Alyawy, Jasim – via al-islam.org.
^ ibn Muhammad al-Daylami, Hasan. The Narration by Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamani. Translated by Abu Shahaba, Jerrmein. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020 – via al-islam.org.
^ "Hudhayfah ibn al Yaman, the famous companion of the Prophet". Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.