السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
Inchallah in this thread I’ll try to post some information about the different narrators from amongst the companions of Rassul-ul-Allah may peace be upon them, their families and their Prophet and leader Muhammad ibn ‘Abdulllah Salla Allahu ‘Alayhi wa Aalihi wa Sallam.
I will use two useful books to achieve this:
1- “Asmaa al-Sahaba wa ma li-kull Wahidin Minhum min al-‘Adad” by Abu Muhammad ‘Ali bin Ahmad bin ‘Abdullah bin Sa’eed ibn Hazm al-Andalusi (d. 456 AH) researched by Mas’ad ‘Abdul-Hamid al-Sa’adi.
2- “‘Adad ma li-kull Wahidin min al-Sahaba min al-Hadith” from the introduction of the Musnad of Baqi bin Makhlad al-Qurtubi (d. 276 AH) researched by Dr. Akram Diyaa al-‘Umari.
The results and numbers are not final and there is definitely an error margin but they are a close estimation none the less and not far from reality.
I won’t waste any time we’ll get right into it,
I am guessing most readers know the definition of the word Sahabi but I’ll go over it briefly.
Definition of a Companion (Sahabi):
First of all there are two definitions for it, one is Lughawi and one is Istilahi, The Lughawi meaning is basically the meaning of the word companion or Sahib in the Arabic tongue and it simply means a person who has accompanied another person for a certain period of time. The definition of the word Companion or Sahabi in the Istilahi sense or in light of the religious context is given below and it has special conditions:
The Prophet sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam, said:
“There will come upon the people a time when a group of the people will go off to fight and it will be said to them: Is there any amongst you who have seen Allâh’s Apostle sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam? So they will say: Yes. So victory will be granted to them. Then a group will go off to fight and it will be said to them: Is there any amongst you who have seen those who were Companions of Allâh’s Messenger sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam? So they will say: Yes. So victory will be granted to them, Then a group will go off to fight and it will be said to them: Is there any amongst you who have seen those who were Companions of the Companions of Allâh’s Messenger sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam? So they will say: Yes. So victory will be granted to them.”
Source: Related by al-Bukhârî (no.3649) and Muslim (no.3456) from Abû Sa’îd al-Khudrî radiallahu ’anhu.
Al-Hâfidh Ibn Hajar (d.852H) – rahimahullâh – said:
“The most correct of what I have come across is that a Sahâbî (Companion) is one who met the Prophet sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam whilst believing in him, and died as a Muslim. So that includes the one who remained with him for a long or a short time, and those who narrated from him and those who did not, and those who saw him but did not sit with him and those who could not see him due to blindness.”
Source: Al-Isâbah (1/4-5) of al-Hâfidh lbn Hajar.
I add that this also includes those who met the Prophet SAWS and became Muslim then left Islam and returned to it either during or after the Prophet’s death and they died Muslims.
How is the companionship of a certain individual proved?
1- By “Tawatur” such as: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, Khadeejah bint Khwaylid, Khalid bin al-Waleed ect…
2- By “al-Ishtihar” and the great number of narrations which do not reach the level of Tawatur which simply means that many people know them such as: Damam ibn Tha’alabah, Thabit bin Qays, Bureirah the Mawlat of ‘Aisha and others…
3- A narration by a companion stating that a certain individual met the Prophet PBUH, for example the Hadith of Ibn ‘Abbas regarding the 70,000 who will enter heaven without being questioned: “’Ukahsa ibn Muhsin stood up and said: O Messenger of Allah make Du’aa so that Allah would make me one of them, and the Prophet SAWS did so”.
4- A narration from a trustworthy follower (al-Tabi’een) that a certain individual met the Prophet PBUH.
5- He himself claims to be a companion and this is tied to his trustworthiness and how the scholars of ‘Ilm al-Rijal view him, also it is tied to when he declares his companionship and it must not be after 100 years of the Prophet’s PBUH death, an example of this is the lying sheikh Ratan al-Hindi who claimed companionship after 600 hijri according to what al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi said in al-Meezan 2/45.
Regarding the trustworthiness of the companions Ibn Hazm says: And the companions – may Allah be pleased with them – are all just and trustworthy whether they took part in the Fitnah or not according to the consensus of the reliable scholars, see “al Tadreeb” 2/214.
This means that they will avoid lying and distorting the narrations and that whatever they narrate is accepted as the Prophet SAWS himself praised them in many narrations such as: “The best of the generations is my generation (al-Sahaba), then those after them (al-Tabi’een), then those after them (Tabi’u al-Tabi’een).”
Who are the “’Abadilah”?
The ‘Abadilah would mean any companion whose name is ‘Abdullah and their number reaches three hundred according to “al-Tadreeb” 2/220 but what is usually meant are only these four individuals may Allah be pleased with them:
1- ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas.
2- ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar.
3- ‘Abdullah ibn al-Zubair
4- ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amro bin al-‘Aas.
These are the companions who died much later and they are considered ‘Ulema and Allah kept them alive so that the people may benefit from their knowledge and Fiqh and when all four would agree on a Fatwa the people would say: “That is the saying of the ‘Abadilah.”
Ibn Hazm and Imam Ahmad both say that it is wrong to include ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’oud (ra) amongst them.
Number of the Companions:
There is no accurate study that shows what is the exact number of companions, the people of knowledge and ‘Ilm state that they are above 100,000 companions both male and female, Imam Abu Zara’ah al-Razi (rah) had a famous saying: “Allah took the soul of his Prophet SAWS and there were around 114,000 companions who heard from him and narrated from him.”
The book of Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani (rah) “al-Isabah fi Ma’arifat al-Sahaba” contained 12,304 names of the companions, amongst them is a number of men and women whose companionship is not proven as Ibn Hajar pointed out. al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi said that there were 7,554 companions mentioned in Ibn al-Atheer’s book “Usud al-Ghabah fi Ma’arifat al-Sahaba”, al-Dhahabi then took the names of the Sahaba from Usud al-Ghabah and built upon that information and added more companions until the number reached 8,866 Tarjamah in his book “Tajrid Asmaa al-Sahaba” and he stated that some of them are not known and that the companionship of some of the men and women is not proven.
The “Tarjamah” is a quick short history of a person’s life which does not exceed a couple of lines, in our case we are talking about the companions so it’s some quick information about each companion such as when he died and what is his full name what is his Kuniyah and what was his job and some of his family members maybe, as opposed to the word “Seerah” because that is a lengthy detailed biography of a person such as the Seerah of the Prophet PBUH or the Seerah of Abu Bakr (ra) and they come in the form of large independent books.
Now back to the topic, Ibn Hajar himself admits that the Sahaba mentioned in his book do not exceed the 1/10th of the total number of companions. [al-Isabah 1/2]
As for Imam al-Shafi’i he mentioned that the number of Muslims during the death of the Prophet PBUH was 60,000 men and women, 30,000 in Madinah and 30,000 outside it. [al-Dhahabi’s Tajrid Asmaa al-Sahaba and Ibn Kathir’s Ikhtisar ‘Uloum al-Hadith]
That is only guess work however and these numbers contradict with the Sahih narration which goes back to Abu Zara’ah and what is written in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim in the story of Tabuk is that the number of people was very big and no book or Diwan could contain them. The Sahih from the saying of Suffiyan al-Thawri (rah) is that the number of companions after the death of the Caliphate ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab(ra) was 12,000 after many of them had died in the wars and battles. [Al-Isabah 1/3]
al-Hakim al-Nisaburi (rah) stated that the number of companions who narrated the Hadith from the prophet SAWS is 4,000 but al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi disagreed and said that they are about 1,500 and could never reach 2,000. [Tajrid Asmaa al-Sahaba]
As for Ibn al-Jawzi (rah) he made a list of those companions who narrated Hadith and in it were 1,858 Sahaba (1,642 Sahabi and 216 Sahabiyah) and some of those narrations are not accepted. [Talqih Fuhoum Ahlul-Athar 284-361] And if we add the number of companions whom Imam Ahmad narrated from in his Musnad and they are (904) to the number of companions mentioned in the Musnad of Baqi that Ahmad never mentioned and they are (568) and add to them the number of companions that Abu Bakr al-Burqi added to the list of Baqi ibn Makhlad that both Ahmad and Baqi never mentioned and they are (87) Then add to them the number of companions that Ibn al-Jawzi collected from various other sources and they are (6) in total we would get (1,565) companions who narrated Hadiths and the companionship of some of the men in the Musnad of Baqi is not proven.
So we see that the estimation of al-Dhahabi is much more correct than that of al-Hakim.
What are the Tabaqat of the companions?
They differed in the number of Tabaqat(Classes), Ibn Sa’ad (rah) adopted the position that there were only five Tabaqat and this is what he used in his book “Tabaqat Ibn Sa’ad al-Kubra” however the more correct position is that of al-Hakim (rah) and he placed twelve Tabaqat:
1- Those who came first into Islam in Mecca such as the first four Caliphs.
2- Companions who entered Islam before the consultation of the people of Mecca in Darul-Nadwah.
3- Those who made Hijrah to al-Habashah (Abyssinia).
4- The Companions of the first ‘Aqabah and they were twelve men from the Ansar.
5- The Companions of the second ‘Aqabah and they were mainly from the Ansar except for Ibn Abbas (ra).
6- The Mouhajirun who reached the Prophet SAWS in Qubaa before he entered al-Madinah.
7- Ahlu-Badr (Soldiers who fought at the battle of Badr).
8- Those who made Hijra between Badr and al-Hudaibiyah.
9- Ahlu-Baya’at al-Rudwan (Those who took the oath of fealty under the acacia tree at Hudaibiyah).
10- Those who made Hijrah between al-Hudaibiyah and Fath Mecca (conquest of Mecca) such as: Khalid ibn al-Walid and ‘Amro bin al-‘Aas.
11- Muslimat Fath, those who embraced Islam on the day of the conquest of Mecca.
12- Those of them who were children and they saw the Prophet SAWS on the day of the conquest, the farewell sermon and other occasions.
Who were the first to enter Islam?
1- From the free men: Abu bakr al-Siddiq (ra).
2- From the young kids: Ali ibn abi Talib (ra).
3- From the women: Khadija bint Khuwaylid (ra).
4- From the Mawali: Zaid bin Harithah (ra).
5- From the ‘Abeed: Bilal ibn Rabah (ra).
The Mawali are the non-Arabs at the time who were treated as second grade citizens by Quraysh and they were not allowed to participate in politics.
The ‘Abeed are the slaves.
Who was the last companion to die?
Abu al-Tufail ‘Amir bin Wathilah al-Laythee died in the year 100 A.H and some said 102 and some said 107 and some said 110 A.H and this is what al-Dhahabi considered Sahih.
Who made the most Fatwas?
It is the prophet’s SAWS cousin ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (ra) then the biggest ‘Ulema from amongst the companions, Ibn Masruq said: “I investigated the companions of the Prophet SAWS and I found most knowledge in six individuals amongst them, they are: ‘Umar, ‘Ali, ‘Abdullah, Abu al-Dardaa, Ubay bin Ka’ab and Zaid bin Thabit, Then I investigated more and I found most knowledge in two amongst the six: ‘Ali and ‘Abdullah. [‘Ilal al-Hadith by Ibn al-Madini p42-43].
Who narrated the most Hadiths from the Prophet SAWS?
This is the main topic here and those who narrated the most according to Ibn al-Jawzi (rah) with repeats are: Abu Hurairah [5374] then ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar [2620] then Anas ibn Malik [2286] then ‘Aisha [2210] then ‘Abdullah ibn Abbas [1660] then Jabir bin ‘Abdullah [1540] then Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri [1170] then Ibn Mas’oud [848] then Ibn ‘Amro ibn al-‘Aas [700] may Allah be pleased with all of them.
Number of narrations in the main books of Sunan:
1- Sahih al-Bukhari has 7,563 Hadiths with repeats, 2,761 Hadith Marfu’u to the Prophet PBUH without repeats, if you add the Mawquf and the Maqtu’u narrations you get no more than 4,369. [By the Mouhaqiq Muhammad Fouad ‘Abdul-Baqi]
2- Sahih Muslim has 12,000 Hadiths according to al-Dhahabi in Tathkirat al-Huffaz 1/589 and without repeats it would be 3,033 Hadiths according to Fouad ‘Abdul-Baqi.
3- Sunan Abu Dawoud 5,274 according to the numbers in the print of Muhammad Muhyee al-Deen ‘Abdul-Hameed.
4- Al-Mujtaba by al-Nasaee 5,761 according to the numbers in the print of Muhammad Atallah al-Foujiyani.
5- Sunan al-Tirmithy 3,951 according to the numbers in the print of ‘Izzat ‘Ubeid al-Dabbas.
6- Sunan ibn Majah 4,321 according to the numbers in the print of Muhammad Fouad ‘Abdul-Baqi.
And these numbers contain narrations which are repeated and it contains narrations with the same Matn(text) but different chains and the books share many of the same narrations amongst each other.
Repeated Hadiths:
Scholars usually place the same narrations under different chapter titles if the narration addresses more than one issue and offers more than one benefit, also some scholars like to post the same narration twice or thrice to show that it has a variety of strong chains of transmission and I’ll show some examples:
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rah) had 3,879 narrations in his Musnad from Abu Huraira (ra) however when al-‘Allamah al-Sheikh Ahmad ibn Muhammad Shakir removed the narrations which were repeated he acquired only 1,579 narrations from Abu Huraira (ra) [al-Ba’ith al-Hathith 188] and this explains the large number of narrations of Abu Huraira in the Musnad of Baqi ibn Makhlad that reach 5,374 with an unknown number of repeats.
More examples:
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said in “Talqih Fuhoum Ahlul-Hadith 361” and “Sayd al-Khatir 222”: “The Sahih Hadiths are a little more than 700,000 and this young man -meaning Abu Zara’ah- has memorized 600,000.”
He also said about his Musnad: “This is a book in which I collected and selected (its narrations) from amongst more than 750,000.”[al-Ba’ith al Hathith 187]
Abu Zara’ah said: Imam Ahmad memorized 1000,000 Hadiths. [al-Fath al-Rabbani 1/7]
Imam al-Bukhari mentioned that he extracted his narrations from amongst 600,000 Hadiths. [Talqih Fuhoum Ahlul-Athar 361, Fayd al-Qadeer 1/6]
Imam Muslim said that he collected his Sahih from amongst 300,000 heard Hadiths. [Tarjamat al-Imam Muslim by Muhammad Fouad Abdul-Baqi, Sahih Muslim 5/592]
Abu Dawoud al-Sajastani said: I collected the book of Sunan from amongst 600,000 Hadiths. [Ibn al-Jawzi in Sayd al-Khatir 222]
These sayings above do not mean that there are 600,000 different narrations, the scholars explain that many of these are similar Hadiths with different chains and the one narration usually has 20 or 30 or 80 chains of transmission also back in those days if they had one Hadith with three different chains they would consider it three different Hadiths.
For example back then if I memorized these:
> Yahya from Malik from Ja’afar from his father from Jabir bin ‘Abdullah al-Ansari that the Prophet PBUH said: Pray every prayer in its time.
> Suffiyan from Malik from Ja’afar from his father from Ikrimah from ibn Abbas that the Prophet PBUH said: Pray every prayer in its time.
So If I memorized these two I would say: “I memorized two Hadiths from the Prophet SAWS” although the Matn(text) is the exact same but the different Turuq(chains) were also called Hadiths.
Number of narrations in the main Masaneed:
The two biggest of the early Masaneed that contain the largest amount of narrations and they are:
1- Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Number of Hadiths: around 40,000 / contains 10,000 repeated narrations.)
2- Musnad Baqi ibn Makhlad (Number of Hadiths: 30,969 / unknown number of repeated narrations.)
Comparison between Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Musnad Baqi ibn Makhlad:
1- Ahmad narrated in his Musnad from 904 companions (According to the Fahras of Sheikh al-Albani) while Ibn Makhlad narrated from 1,013 companions but the companionship of many of the men and women found in Musnad Baqi is disputed and some of them were actually from the Tabi’een not the Sahaba as Ibn Hajar stated in al-Isabah 3/361 & 6/344.
2- Musnad Ahmad contained 30,000 and Musnad Baqi contained 30,969 narrations.
3- Baqi narrated more Hadiths from each companion, for example:
Ahmad narrated 3,879 from Abu Huraira (ra) while Baqi narrated 5,374 from him.
Ahmad narrated 2,029 from ibn ‘Umar (ra) while Baqi narrated around 2,210.
Mu’ath Ibn Jabal (ra) has 157 in Baqi and 53 in Ahmad.
Anas ibn Malik (ra) has 2,286 in Baqi and 2,192 in Ahmad.
In some cases Ahmad narrated more such as the Hadiths of Ali ibn abi Talib (ra), Ahmad narrated 819 from him and Baqi only narrated 586.
These differences in numbers are related mainly to the Turuq(chains) of the Hadith and not necessarily the Mutoun(texts) and it is unknown who narrated more of the Mutoun because Musnad Baqi ibn Makhlad was lost and only bits and pieces of it can be found in some museums.
4- Musnad Baqi ibn Makhlad is not taken from Musnad Ahmad even though Baqi was a student of Ahmad, Ibn Hazm who was able to get his hands on Musnad Baqi said:” Baqi narrated in it from 284 Sheikhs who are from the major scholars of their times and you cannot find 10 who are weak” while Ahmad narrated from 283 Sheikhs according to the research of al-Hafiz abu Musa al-Madini. al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi was able to obtain two volumes of Musnad Baqi and he said that none of its narrations are found within Musnad Ahmad.
5- Musnad Ahmad contains less Ghareeb(strange) Hadiths.
6- In terms of ‘Ulu al-Isnad: It means that the less the number of people in the Isnad to the Prophet SAWS the better and stronger the narration becomes and Ahmad (born 164 A.H died 241 A.H) was much better as he was from the Shuyoukh of Baqi (born around 201 A.H died 276 A.H).
7- Musnad Ahmad is 127 volumes, Musnad Baqi is around 200 volumes but this does not mean that Musnad Baqi is bigger than that of Ahmad because that is decided by the type and thickness of paper and the font and the number of lines and such.
8- They both differed regarding the companions who narrated less Hadith:
a-It is observed that many of the companions who narrated more than 20 Hadiths had their own Musnads and they are 121 companions that both Ahmad and Baqi agreed upon such as: Musnad Ali and Musnad Ibn ‘Abbas and Musnad Ibn Mas’oud…
b-Those whom Baqi mentioned and Ahmad did not mention are 31 companions, aside from those who narrated threes and twos and ones.
c-Those whom Baqi mentioned and Ahmad did not mention from amongst the companions who narrated threes and twos are 82.
d-Those whom Baqi mentioned and Ahmad did not mention from amongst the companions who narrated one Hadith are 334.
e-In total Baqi made Takhreej for 568 companions which Ahmad never narrated from in his Musnad.
f-Ahmad on the other hand made Takhreej for 394 companions that Baqi never narrated from and this includes 89 unnamed companions such as “a Man” “Mother of somebody” “Uncle of somebody” “Grandfather of someone” ect…
Also note that over 2/3rd of Musnad Baqi was narrated from seventeen companions only.
The companions who narrated Hadiths in the book of Ibn Hazm (rah) “Asmaa al-Sahaba wa ma li-kull Wahidin Minhum min al-‘Adad” and how many they narrated:
1- Abu Huraira 5374.
2- ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar 2630.
3- Anas ibn Malik 2286.
4- ‘Aisha Umm al-Mumineen 2210.
5- ‘Abdullah ibn Abbas 1660.
6- Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah 1540.
7- Abu Sa’eed al-khudri 1170.
8- ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’oud 848.
9- ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amro bin al-‘Aas 700.
10- Al-Khalifah al-Rashid ‘Ali ibn abi Talib 537 [586 according to the latest study in Tareekh al-Khulafaa pg.171].
11- Al-Khalifah al-Rashid ‘Umar bin al-Khattab 527.
12- Umm Salamah Umm al-Mumineen 378.
13- Abu Musa al-Asha’ari (‘Abdullah ibn Qays) 360.
14- Al-Baraa ibn ‘Azib 305.
15- Abu Dharr al-Ghafari 281.
16- Sa’ad ibn abi Waqqas 271.
17- Abu Umamah al-Bahili 250.
18- Huthayfah ibn al-Yaman 220.
19- Sahl ibn Sa’ad 188.
20- ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit 181.
21- ‘Umran bin al-Hossein 180.
22- Abu al-Dardaa 179.
23- Abu Qatadah 170.
24- Buraidah al-Aslami 167.
25- Ubay ibn Ka’ab 164.
26- Awwal al-Mulouk Mu’awiyah ibn abi Suffiyan 163.
27- Mu’ath ibn Jabal 155.
28- Al-Khalifah al-Rashid ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan 146.
29- Jabir bin Sumrah al-Ansari 146.
30- Al-Khalifah al-Rashid Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 142.
31- Al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’ubah 132.
32- Abu Bakrah (Nufay’e ibn al-Harith) 132.
33- Usamah ibn Zaid 128.
34- Thawban Mawla Rassul Allah SAWS 128.
35- Sumrah bin Jundub al-Qazari 123.
36- Al-Nu’uman bin Bashir 114.
37- Abu Mas’oud al-Ansari (‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amro) 102.
38- Jarir bin ‘Abdullah al-Bajali 100.
39- Abdullah ibn abi Awfa 95.
40- Zaid ibn Khaled 81.
41- Asmaa bint Yazid 81.
42- Ka’ab ibn Malik 80.
43- Rafi’I ibn Khadij 78.
44- Maymounah Umm al-Mumineen 76.
45- Wael bin Hujr 71.
46- Zaid bin Arqam al-Ansari 70.
47- Abu Rafi’I Mawla Rassul Allah SAWS 68.
48- ‘Awf ibn Malik 67.
49- ‘Uday ibn Hatim 66.
50- Umm Habibah Umm al-Mumineen 65.
51- ‘Abdul-Rahman ibn ‘Awf 65.
52- ‘Ammar ibn Yassir 62.
53- ‘Amro ibn ‘Awf 62.
54- Salman al-Farisi 60.
55- Hafsa bint ‘Umar Umm al-Mumineen 60.
56- Asmaa bint ‘Umays 60.
57- Jubair bin Muti’im 60.
58- Asmaa bint Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 58.
59- Wathilah bin al-Asqaa 56.
60- ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amir al-Juhani 55.
61- Shaddad ibn Aws bin Thabit al-Ansari 50.
62- Fadalah ibn ‘Ubeid 50.
63- ‘Abdullah ibn Busr 50.
64- Sa’eed ibn ‘Amro ibn Zaid ibn Nufail 48.
65- Abu Karimah 47.
66- Ka’ab bin ‘Ujrah 47.
67- Umm Hanii bint Abi Talib 46.
68- Abu Burdah 46.
69- Abu Juhayfah (Wahb bin ‘Abdullah) 45.
70- Bilal ibn Rabah al-Muatthin 44.
71- Jundub bin ‘Abdullah ibn Suffiyan 43.
72- ‘Abdulah ibn Mughfal 43
73- Al-Miqdad 42.
74- Mu’awiyah bin Khaydah 42.
75- Sahl bin Hunaif 40.
76- Hakim bin Hizam 40.
77- Abu Tha’alabah al-Khashni 40.
78- Umm ‘Atiyyah 40.
79- ‘Amro bin al-‘Aas 39.
80- Khuzaymah ibn Thabit thu al-Shahadatayn 38.
81- Al-Zubair ibn al-‘Awwam 38.
82- Talha bin ‘Abdullah 38.
83- ‘Amro bin ‘Absah 38.
84- Al-Abbas ibn abi Talib 35.
85- Mu’uqil 34.
86- Fatima bint Qays 34.
87- ‘Abdullah ibn al-Zubair 33.
88- Khubab 32.
89- Al-‘Urbad bin Sariyah 31.
90- Mua’th ibn Anas 30.
91- ‘Iyad bin Himar al-Mujashi’ee 30.
92- Suhayb 30.
93- Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith 30.
94- ‘Uthman bin Abi al-‘Aas al-Thaqafi 29.
95- Ya’ala bin Umayyah 28.
96- ‘utbah bin ‘Abd 28.
97- Malik bin Rabea’ah al-Sa’idi 28.
98- ‘Abdullah ibn Malik 27.
99- Abu Malik al-Asha’ari 27.
100- Al-Munthir Abu Humaid al-Sa’idi 26
101- Ya’ala bin Murrah 26.
102- ‘Abdullah ibn Ja’afar 25.
103- Abu Talha al-Ansari 25.
104- ‘Abdullah ibn Salam 25.
105- Sahl bin abi Hathamah 25.
106- ‘Amir abu al-Malih al-Hathli 25.
107- Al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas 24.
108- Abu Waqid al-Laythi al-Harith ibn Malik 24.
109- Rifa’ah bin Rafi’I 24.
110- ‘Abdullah ibn Anis 24.
111- Aws bin Aws 24.
112- Al-Shareed (Malik) 24.
113- Luqayt bin ‘Amir 24.
114- Umm Qays bint Mohsen (Aminah) 24.
115- ‘Amir bin Rabea’ah 22.
116- Qurah bin Iyas al-Mazni abu Mu’awiyah 22.
117- Al-Saeb bin Yazid al-Kindi 22.
118- Sa’ad bin ‘Ubadah 21.
119- Al-Rubayyi’I bint Mu’awwath 21.
120- Abu Barzah 20.
121- Abu Shurayh al-Ka’abi (Khuwaylid bin ‘Amro) 20.
122- ‘Abdullah ibn Jawad 20.
123- Al-Miswar bin Mahzamah 20.
124- ‘Amro bin Umayyah al-Dumri 20.
125- Safwan bin ‘Assal 20.
Then the author goes on to state the names of 872 other companions may Allah be pleased with all of them and the vast majority of those have narrated either one or two Hadiths from the Prophet SAWS, I mention some of the important names:
-Qays ibn Sa’ad 19.
-Fatima bint Rassul Allah SAWS 18.
-Khalid ibn al-Walid 18.
-Safeena Mawla Rassul Allah SAWS 14.
-Al-Hassan ibn Ali ibn abi Talib 13.
-Saffiyah Umm al-Mumineen 10.
-Al-Asha’ath bin Qays al-Kindi 9.
-Al-Hussein ibn Ali ibn abi Talib 8.
-Zeinab bint Umm Salamah Umm al-Mumineen 7.
-Juwayriyyah Umm al-Mumineen 7.
-‘Aqeel ibn abi Talib 6.
-Sauda Umm al-Mumineen 6.
-Zaid bin Haritha Mawla Rassul Allah SAWS 4.
-Abu Muwayhiba Mawla Rassul Allah SAWS 3.
-‘Ubeid Mawla Rassul Allah SAWS 3.
UPDATE:
written by brother Farid of “islamic-forum.net”:
Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem,
It seems that Shias are under the impression that we Sunnis get our religion from random companions that only converted for financial gains or for power. However, as many of you are aware, the vast majority of our narrations come from one of two groups, the Muhajireen, that risked their lives to come to Madinah for the sake of Islam, and the Ansar, who open their hearts to the calling of the Prophet (pbuh) and raised the name of the deen.
Shias, though, assume that most of what we have is from the “Mu’alafati Quloobuhum.” This is a term used to describe those that were hesitant to join Islam, and the Prophet (pbuh) used to reward them in the short term after battles in order for them to have a greater allegiance towards him. Now, there is no doubt that the Muhajireen and Ansar are greater in status than these late Sahabis, who mainly accepted Islam after the Conquest of Makkah, however, these “Mu’alafati Quloobuhum”, are still multitudes greater in status than the rest of the Muslims, for they too have served the Prophet (pbuh) and raised the banner of Islam together.
In any case, I found a great list of the Mu’alafa Quloobuhum and I wasn’t aware that such a thing existed. You will notice that most of these companions are relatively unknown, even though there are a few whose names are familiar. Next to their names, I’ve included the number of their narrations according to Ibn Hazm. The list was compiled by Al-Saghani (d. 650 AH).
1- (Al-Akhnas) Ubai bin Shareeq – Nil
2- Uhaiha bin Umaya – Nil
3- Al-Aqra’a bin Habis – Ibn Al-Jawzi mentioned that he has one hadith
4- Jubair bin Mut’im – 60 hadiths
5- Al-Jad bin Qais – Nil
6- Al-Harith bin Hisham – Two narrations
7- Harmala bin Hawtha – Nil
8- Hakeem bin Hizam – 40 Narrations
9- Hakeem bin Taleeq – Nil
10- Huwaitib bin Abdul Uza – One narration
11- Khalid bin Usaid bin Abi Al-Ais – Nil
12- Khalid bin Qais – Nil
13- Khalid bin Hisham – Nil
14- Khalid bin Hawtha Al-Amiri – Nil
15- Zaid Al-Khail Al-Ta’ee – Nil
16- Sa’eed bin Yaboo’ – Nil
17- Suhail bin Amr bin Abdul Shams – Nil
18- Suhail bin Amr Al-Jumhi – Nil
19- Shaiba bin Uthman bin Abi Talha – One narration
20- Abu Sufyan – One narration
21- Safwan bin Umaya – Thirteen narrations
22- Al-Abbas bin Mirdas – Nil
23- Abdulrahman bin Yarboo’ – Nil
24- Adi bin Qais Al-Sahami – Nil
25- Ikrimah bin Amir – Nil
26- Al-Ala’a bin Jariya – Nil
27- Ilqima bin Ulatha – Nil
28- Amr bin Ba’kak – Nil
29- Amr bin Mirdas – Nil
30- Umair bin Wadaqa – Nil
31- Umair bin Wahb Al-Jumhi – Nil
32- Uyayna bin Hisn – Nil
33- Qais bin Adi Al-Sahami – Nil
34- Qais bin Makhrama – One narration
35- Labeed bin Rabee’a – Nil
36- Malik bin Awf – One narration
37- Makhrama bin Nawfal – Ibn Al-Jawzi mentioned that he has one narration
38- Mu’awiyah bin Abi Sufyan – 163 narrations
39- Al-Mugheera bin Al-Harith bin Abdul Mutalib – Nil
40- Al-Nudhair bin Al-Harith bin Alqama – Nil
41- Hisham bin Amr – Nil
42- Hisham bin Al-Waleed bin Al-Mugheera – Nil
We can see from this list that the main narrators from the “Mu’alafati Quloobuhum” are: Mu’awiyah bin Abi Sufyan, Jubair bin Mut’im and Hakeem bin Hizam. Safwan bin Umaya only narrated thirteen narrations, and the rest of these men either narrated one or no narrations.
Conclusion: The “Mu’alafati Quloobuhum”, who are those that are seen as to have been brought into Islam under less honorable pretenses, did not serve as the main protectors of the Sunnah, when it came to the preservation and transmission of the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh), but only played a minor part in doing so.
This study confirms that popular view that the main protectors of the Sunnah are the Muhajireen and the Ansar, may Allah’s blessings be upon all the companions of the Prophet (pbuh).
و السلام عليكم
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