Who are Sahabas?

 Hazrat Khatib al-Baghdadi and Ibn-i-Jamaa have narrated the definition of Sahabi from Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (RA) in these words:

کُلُّ مَنْ صَحِبَهُ سَنَةً أَوْ شَهْرًا أَوْ یَوْمًا أَوْ سَاعَةً أَوْ رَآهُ، فَهُوَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِهِ، لَهُ مِنَ الصُّحْبَةُ عَلَی قَدْرِ مَا صَحِبَهُ.

Anyone who has accompanied the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) for a year or a month or a day or an hour or has seen him (only in a state of faith) is a companion. . He has the honor of companionship as much as he took companionship.

• Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Al-Kufayah fi ’ilm al-Rawaiya, 1:51, Madinah al-Munawarah, Saudi Arabia: Al-Muktaba al-Ilamiyyah.
• Ibn Jama'ah, al-Manhil al-Rawi, 1: 111, Damascus Syria: Dar al-Fikr

Imam Bukhari, may God have mercy on him, describes the definition of Sahabi as follows:

وَمَنْ صَحِبَ النَّبِيَّ صلی الله علیه وآله وسلم أَوْ رَآهُ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِینَ فَهُوَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِهِ.

Whoever among the Muslims has taken the companionship of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) or has only seen him, that person is a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

• Al-Bukhari, Al-Sahih, Kitab Al-Manaqib, Chapter Virtues of the Companions of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, 3: 1335, Dar Ibn Kathir al-Imamah, Beirut.

Nausheen Ansari