Chapter IX

CONCERNING THE PEOPLE OF THE VERANDA (_Ahl-i Ṣuffa_).

Know that all Moslems are agreed that the Apostle had a number of Companions, who abode in his Mosque and engaged in devotion, renouncing the world and refusing to seek a livelihood. God reproached the Apostle on their account and said: “_Do not drive away those who call unto their Lord at morn and eve, desiring His face_” (Kor. vi, 52). Their merits are proclaimed by the Book of God, and in many traditions of the Apostle which have come down to us. It is related by Ibn `Abbás that the Apostle passed by the People of the Veranda, and saw their poverty and their self-mortification and said: “Rejoice! for whoever of my community perseveres in the state in which ye are, and is satisfied with his condition, he shall be one of my comrades in Paradise.” Among the _Ahl-i Ṣuffa_[55] were Bilál b. Rabáḥ, Salmán al-Fárisí, Abú `Ubayda b. al-Jarráḥ, Abu ´l-Yaqẕán `Ammár b. Yásir, `Abdalláh b. Mas`úd al-Hudhalí, his brother `Utba b. Mas`úd, Miqdád b. al-Aswad, Khabbáb b. al-Aratt, Ṣuhayb b. Sinán, `Utba b. Ghazwán, Zayd b. al-Khaṭṭáb, brother of the Caliph `Umar; Abú Kabsha, the Apostle’s client; Abu ´l-Marthad Kinána b. al-Ḥusayn al-`Adawí; Sálim, client of Hudhayfa al-Yamání; `Ukkásha b. Miḥṣan; Mas`úd b. Rabí` al-Fárisí; Abú Dharr Jundab b. Junáda al-Ghifárí; `Abdalláh b. `Umar; Ṣafwán b. Bayḍá; Abú Dardá `Uwaym b. `Ámír; Abú Lubába b. `Abd al-Mundhir; and `Abdalláh b. Badr al-Juhaní.

Footnote 55:

I have corrected many of the following names, which are erroneously
written in the Persian text, by reference to various Arabic works.

Shaykh Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Sulamí,[56] the traditionist (_naqqál_) of Ṣúfiism and transmitter of the sayings of the Ṣúfí Shaykhs, has written a separate history of the _Ahl-i Ṣuffa_, in which he has recorded their virtues and merits and names and “names of honour”. He has included among them Misṭaḥ b. Uthátha b. `Abbád, whom I dislike because he began the slanders about `Á´isha, the Mother of the Believers. Abú Hurayra, and Thawbán, and Mu`ádh b. al-Ḥárith, and Sá´ib b. Khallád, and Thábit b. Wadí`at, and Abú `Ísá `Uwaym b. Sá`ida, and Sálim b. `Umayr b. Thábit, and Abu ´l-Yasar Ka`b b. `Amr, and Wahb b. Ma`qal, and `Abdalláh b. Unays, and Ḥajjáj b. `Umar al-Aslamí belonged to the _Ahl-i Ṣuffa_. Now and then they had recourse to some means of livelihood (_ta`alluq ba-sababí kardandí_), but all of them were in one and the same degree (of dignity). Verily, the generation of the Companions was the best of all generations; and they were the best and most excellent of mankind, since God bestowed on them companionship with the Apostle and preserved their hearts from blemish.

Footnote 56:

See Brockelmann, i, 200.