RELG 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sahabah, Muhajirun, Khawarij
Document Summary
In the brief period of islam"s incarnation before the death of muhammad, there are several features that are necessary to note before we can adequately discuss the immediate aftermath of muhammad"s death. Sahabah refers to those who people who met muhammad, believed in islam, and died as muslims. In theory, this could cast quite a wide net - anyone who was a muslim at the time of. Muhammad"s death and had simply met him was a very large group. It is from this group that the hadith come - initially stories passed down by reciters. One of the division that emerged in islam fair quickly after muhammad"s death was to which of the companions (and therefore hadith) to pay attention. A dividing line between sunni an dshia muslims (more on this below) is where or not to accept hadith that come from tabi"in (people who had met muhammad, but not converted until after his death).
