Why do the two generations succeeding the companions have an exalted
place in Islam?
In the many places in it where the Qur’an praises the Companions, it also
mentions the blessed generations following in their way. For example:
The Outstrippers, the first of the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those
who followed them in good-doing, God is well-pleased with them and they are
well-pleased with Him; and He has prepared for them gardens underneath which
rivers flow, therein to dwell forever; that is the mighty triumph. (al-Tawba,
9.100)
The blessed generation succeeding the Companions must, first of all, be
among those who are praised in the verse together with the Companions; like
the Companions, they were well-pleased with God: Whatever came to them from
God, whether good or bad, blessing or misfortune, they did not change their
attitude. Conscious of their servanthood before God, they worshipped Him in
deep respect and reverence. Like the Companions, again, they loved God
deeply and put their trust in Him to the utmost degree. God’s Messenger
praised them, saying: Good tidings for those who have seen me and believed
in me, and good tidings for those who see those who saw me!193
The holy generation succeeding the Companions followed in the footsteps
of the Companions and showed them due respect. They cherished no rancor and
enmity against the believers and wished everyone well. In the words of the
Qur’an,
As for those who came after them, they say: ‘Our Lord, forgive us and our
brothers, who preceded us in belief, and put not into our hearts any rancour
towards those who believe. Our Lord, surely You are the All-Gentle, the
All-Compassionate.’ (al-Hashr, 59.10)
As described in the surah al-Tawbah (9. 100), this blessed generation
followed the Companions in good-doing, the Arabic original of which is ihsan.
In addition to its meaning explained above, that is, respect, being
well-wishing and altruistic, it also means as in the hadith: Good-doing (ihsan)
is that you worship God as if you were seeing Him; if, however, you do not
actually see Him, surely He sees you.194 This generation came at a time when
Jewish conspiracies and hypocrisy caused great dissensions among the
Muslims. At that critical juncture, they protected Islam, defended it, and
practised it in deep consciousness and devotion. They became the referents
of the Qur’anic verse:
Our Lord, in You we trust; to You we turn; to You is the homecoming. (Al-Mumtahana,
60.4)
Among them were those who performed every night hundreds of rak‘a
(cycles) of prayer, who would recite the whole of the Qur’an every two or
three days, who always did their obligatory prayers in congregation in a
mosque, who, like Masruq, always slept in sajda (prostration) in front of
the Ka‘ba, and who did not laugh loudly during their whole lives.
Uways al-Qarani is generally regarded as the greatest among the holy
generation following the Companions. Although he was old enough to have seen
the Prophet, he was not in fact able to see him. One day while sitting with
his Companions, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, advised
them. If you see Uways al-Qarani, ask him to pray for you.195 ‘Umar asked,
during his Caliphate, those who came from the Yemen for pilgrimage about
Uways. When one year he found him among the pilgrims, he requested him to
pray for him. Uncomfortable at being identified, Uways was never seen again
among people196 until he was martyred in the Battle of Siffin on the side of
‘Ali, the Caliph.
There were many illustrious persons among this generation, like Masruq
ibn al-Ajda’, Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah, Hasan al-Basri, Muhammad ibn Sirin, ‘Ali
Zayn al-‘Abidin, Qasim ibn Muhammad and Muhammad ibn Munkadir, who were
peerless in knowledge, piety and righteousness. Among them, Muhammad ibn
Munkadir was called al-Bakka’, the one who cries much. He cried for fear of
God so profusely that once his mother said to him: ‘O son! If I had not
known you since childhood, I would think that you are crying for a sin you
committed. Why do you cry so profusely?’197 Muhammad ibn Munkadir cried
because he was deeply conscious of God’s Majesty, of the terror of the Day
of Judgment and Hell.
He was, again, crying in his death-bed. When asked why, he replied: ‘I am
afraid I will be included in the meaning of the verse, Yet there will
appear to them from God that they never reckoned with (al-Zumar, 39.47).’
Masruq was one of those who worshipped God very earnestly. He used to
sleep in prostration before Ka‘ba. When they suggested him repose in
his last illness, he answered: ‘I swear by God that if someone appeared and
told me that God would not punish me at all, still I would continue to pray
him with the same earnestness as before.’ He did so because he was following
the lord of mankind, who, when asked why he tired himself so much with
praying, answered: Shall I not become a thankful servant?
Sa‘id ibn Jubayr was among the students of Ibn ‘Abbas. He fought against
Hajjaj on the side of ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Kindi. In daytime he preached Islam,
and spent the night praying. When finally he was seized, he was taken to the
presence of Hajjaj. On the way, they spent a night in a monastery in a big
forest. Sa‘id ibn Jubayr wanted to pray to God in the forest. The soldiers
let him, thinking that wild animals would tear him to pieces. Sa‘id stood in
prayer. The soldiers began to watch through the window and saw wild animals
gathering in a circle around Sa‘id and also watching him.
They tortured him to take the oath of allegiance to Hajjaj, but he
refused saying: ‘You are in the wrong, wronging the descendants of the
Prophet. I will never take the oath of allegiance to you.’ Before he was
put to death, he recited the verse which we recite during the animal
sacrifice:
I have turned my face to Him who originated the heavens and the earth, a
man of pure faith; I am not of those who associate partners with God. (al-An‘am,
6.79)
When they turned his face to another direction than the qibla (Masjid al-Haram
in Makka), he recited:
To God belong the East and the West; Whithersoever you turn, there is the
Face of God. (al-Baqara, 2.115)
They struck his neck with a sword and from his lips came out: ‘There is
no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God’.198
It was such persons as Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, Muhammad ibn Munkadir, Masruq
ibn al-Ajda’ and Uways al-Qarani and many others of the same rank, who
received the Traditions from the Companions and transmitted them to
succeeding generations. Among them, the following few are also worth some
fuller mention to recognize that blessed generation more closely:
193. Hakim, Mustadrak, 4.86; Haythami, Majma‘, 10.20; Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal,
11.530
194. Bukhari, “Tafsir,” 31/2; Abu Dawud, “Sunna,” 16; Muslim, “Iman,”
5-7.
195. Muslim, “Fada’il al-Sahaba,” 223–4.
196. Muslim, “Fada’il al-Sahaba,” 223–4.
197. Abu Nu‘aym, Hilya, 3.146.
198. Abu Nu‘aym, Hilya, 4.291–5; I. Kathir, al-Bidaya, 9.117.
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