Chapter IX — Concerning the People of the Veranda (*Ahl-i Ṣuffa*)

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 ʿAbbás 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[^p105-1] were Bilál b. Rabáḥ, Salmán al-Fárisí, Abú ʿUbayda b. al-Jarráḥ, Abú ʾl-Yaqẓán ʿAmmár b. Yásir, ʿAbdallah b. Masʿúd al-Hudhalí, his brother ʿUtba b. Masʿúd, Miqdád b. al-Aswad, Khabbáb b. al-Aratt, Ṣuhayb b. Sinán, ʿUtba b. Ghazwán, Zayd b. al-Khaṭṭáb, brother of the Caliph ʿUmar ; Abú Kabsha, the Apostle’s client ; Abú ʾl-Marthad Kináná b. al-Ḥusayn al-ʿAdawí ; Sálim, client of Hudhayfa al-Yamání ; ʿUkkásha b. Miḥṣan ; Masʿúd b. Rabíʿ al-Fárisí ; Abú Dharr Jundab b. Junáda al-Ghifárí ; ʿAbdallah b. ʿUmar ; Ṣafwán b. Bayḍá ; Abú Dardá ʿUwaym b. ʿÁmir ; Abú Lubába b. ʿAbd al-Mundhir ; and ʿAbdallah b. Badr al-Juhání.

Shaykh Abú ʿAbd al-Raḥmán Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Sulamí,[^p105-2] the traditionist (naqqáṭ) of Ṣúfiism and transmitter of the sayings of the Súfí 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. ʿAbbád, whom I dislike because he began the slanders about ʿÁʾisha, the Mother of the Believers. Abú Hurayra, and Thawbán, and Muʿádh b. al-Ḥárith, and Sáʾib b. Khallád, and Thábit b. Wadíʿat, and Abú ʿÍsá ʿUwaym b. Sáʿida, and Sálim b. ʿUmayr b. Thábit, and Abu ʾl-Yasár Kaʿb b. ʿAmr, and Wahb b. Maʿqal, and ʿAbdállah b. Unays, and Ḥajjáj b. ʿUmar al-Aslamí belonged to the Ahl-i Ṣuffa. Now and then they had recourse to some means of livelihood (taʿalluq 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.