Who Are the Salaf al-Salihin and Senior Scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah

Who Are the Salaf al-Sālihīn and Senior Scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah?


Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Vol. 3, Issues of Tawheed and Sunnah, p. 78

Question:​

Who are meant by the Salaf al-Sālihīn (pious predecessors) and the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah?

Answer:​

Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ʾAmma baʿd:


The term Aslāf refers to the Salaf al-Sālihīn upon whom the Ahl al-Sunnah have a consensus. These include the following individuals and generations:

1. The Companions رضي الله عنهم​

All the Companions who accompanied the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and, after him, worked for the propagation and teaching of the religion are included among the Salaf al-Sālihīn.

2. Trustworthy and Truthful Tābiʿīn​

Examples include:

• Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib رحمه الله
• ʿĀmir al-Shaʿbī رحمه الله
• ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn) رحمه الله
• Saʿīd ibn Jubayr رحمه الله
• Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar رحمه الله
• ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ رحمه الله
• al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī رحمه الله
• Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn رحمه الله
• Nāfiʿ, the freed slave of Ibn ʿUmar رحمه الله
• Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī رحمه الله
• And others رحمهم الله

3. Trustworthy and Truthful Atbāʿ al-Tābiʿīn​

Examples:

• Imām Mālik ibn Anas al-Madanī رحمه الله
• ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī رحمه الله
• Shuʿbah ibn al-Ḥajjāj رحمه الله
• Sufyān al-Thawrī رحمه الله
• Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq رحمه الله
• Zāʾidah ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله
• Ḥammād ibn Zayd رحمه الله
• Ḥammād ibn Salamah رحمه الله
• Maʿmar ibn Rāshid رحمه الله
• ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak رحمه الله
• And others

4. Trustworthy Scholars of the 2nd and 3rd Hijri Centuries​

Examples:

• Imām al-Shāfiʿī رحمه الله
• Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān رحمه الله
• ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī رحمه الله
• Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal رحمه الله
• Imām al-Bukhārī رحمه الله
• ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī رحمه الله
• Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn رحمه الله
• Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ رحمه الله
• ʿAbdullāh ibn Wahb al-Miṣrī رحمه الله
• Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah رحمه الله
• Imām Muslim رحمه الله
• Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī رحمه الله
• Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī رحمه الله
• Baqī ibn Makhlad رحمه الله
• Isḥāq ibn Rāhūyah رحمه الله
• Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī رحمه الله
• Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī رحمه الله
• Abū Bakr al-Ḥumaydī رحمه الله
• ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dārimī رحمه الله
• Ibn Mājah رحمه الله
• Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Qurṭubī رحمه الله
• And others

5. Trustworthy Scholars of the 4th Hijri Century​

Examples:

• Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah رحمه الله
• Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir رحمه الله
• Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī رحمه الله
• ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Dāraqutnī رحمه الله
• Abū ʿAwanah al-Isfarāʾīnī رحمه الله
• Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī رحمه الله
• Ibn Shāhīn al-Baghdādī رحمه الله
• Abū Sulaymān Ḥamd al-Khaṭṭābī رحمه الله
• Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ājurrī رحمه الله
• Muḥammad ibn Ḥibbān al-Bustī رحمه الله
• And others

6. Trustworthy Scholars of the 5th Hijri Century​

Examples:

• Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله
• Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Bayhaqī رحمه الله
• Abū Naṣr ʿUbaydullāh al-Sijzī رحمه الله
• al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī رحمه الله
• Ibn Ḥazm رحمه الله
• Abū Bakr al-Barqānī رحمه الله
• Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī رحمه الله
• Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīlī رحمه الله
• Abū ʿUthmān al-Ṣābūnī رحمه الله
• And others

7. Trustworthy Scholars of the 6th Hijri Century​

Examples:

• Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Baghawī رحمه الله
• Qiwām al-Sunnah Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī رحمه الله
• ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī رحمه الله
• Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī رحمه الله
• Abū Ṭāhir al-Salafī رحمه الله
• Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī رحمه الله
• ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Ishbīlī رحمه الله
• Abū al-Qāsim al-Suhaylī رحمه الله
• Ibn ʿAsākir رحمه الله
• Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه الله
• And others

8. Trustworthy Scholars of the 7th Hijri Century​

Examples:

• Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī رحمه الله
• Ibn al-Qaṭṭān al-Fāsī رحمه الله
• Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī رحمه الله
• ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm al-Mundhirī رحمه الله
• Ibn Sayyid al-Nās رحمه الله
• Muḥammad ibn al-Qurṭubī رحمه الله
• Aḥmad ibn ʿUmar al-Qurṭubī رحمه الله
• Abū Shāmah al-Maqdisī رحمه الله
• Ibn Nuqṭah al-Baghdādī رحمه الله
• al-Nawawī رحمه الله
• And others

9. Trustworthy Scholars of the 8th Hijri Century​

Examples:

• Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī رحمه الله
• Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله
• Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd رحمه الله
• al-Dhahabī رحمه الله
• Ibn Kathīr رحمه الله
• Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله
• Ibn Sayyid al-Nās رحمه الله
• Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī رحمه الله
• Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī رحمه الله
• Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭībī رحمه الله
• And others

10. Trustworthy Scholars of the 9th Hijri Century​

Examples:

• Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī رحمه الله
• ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-ʿIrāqī رحمه الله
• Nūr al-Dīn al-Haythamī رحمه الله
• al-Balqīnī رحمه الله
• Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn رحمه الله
• Abū Zurʿah ibn al-ʿIrāqī رحمه الله
• al-Ṣubṭ ibn al-ʿAjmī رحمه الله
• Taqī al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Fāsī رحمه الله
• Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Būṣīrī رحمه الله
• Ibn al-Jazarī al-Dimashqī رحمه الله
• And others

Summary​

All these noble personalities were from the Salaf al-Sālihīn and senior scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah. They did not adhere to the concept of binding taqlīd in its prevalent form — that every Muslim must follow only one of the four Imams. Rather, they were followers of the Qurʾān, Sunnah, and consensus (ijmāʿ).

Important Note​

• Anyone who speaks in clear contradiction to the Qurʾān, Sunnah, and consensus is to be rejected.
• The senior scholars of Khayr al-Qurūn have precedence over all later scholars, and in case of disagreement, the more reliable (awthaq) is always given preference over the merely trustworthy (thiqah) and truthful (ṣadūq).

ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب