Salaf

First three generations of Muslims

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Salaf (Arabic: سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (السلف الصالح, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims.^[1] This comprises companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (the Sahabah), their followers (the Tabi'un), and the followers of the followers (the Taba al-Tabi'in).^[2] Their religious significance lay in the statement attributed to Muhammad: "The best of my community are my generation, the ones who follow them and the ones who follow them",^[3] a period believed to exemplify the purest form of Islam. The generations of Muslims after the third are referred to as the Khalaf.^[4]

Second generation

The Tabi‘un, the successors of Sahabah.

Third generation

The Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, the successors of the Tabi‘un.

Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi
Ja'far al-Sadiq, grandson of Ali ibn Hussain
Malik ibn Anas
Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
Muhammad bin Qasim^[5]^{[page needed]}
Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya
Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i
Zayd ibn Ali
Ishaq ibn Rahwayh
Al-Layth ibn Sa'd

References

^ Lacey, Robert (2009). Inside the Kingdom, Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. New York: Viking. p. 9.
^ "The Meaning of the Word "Salaf" – Abu 'Abdis-Salaam Hasan bin Qaasim ar-Raymee". AbdurRahman.org. 2014-09-29. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
^ Wood, Graeme (20 December 2016). The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 9780241240120.
^ Brown, Jonathan A. C. (14 December 2009). "Islamic Studies: Salafism". Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
^ Al bidaya wan Nahaya, Ibn Kathir