Who is considered a Companion?

The Arabic word of Sahabi literally means a companion or a friend. As a religious term it means, “a person who saw Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), believed in him, acted along with him, and retained his belief until the moment of his death”. The plural form can be given as “sahaba” or “ashab”.

Hence a companion is anyone, male or female, who saw the Prophet, believed in him and died as a Muslim anytime during the nearly 23 years of his mission, that is between August 6th, 610, the date of the first verses revealed to the Prophet, and the 12th Rabi al-Awwal 632 (Gregorian calendar as June 7th, 632), the date of the death of the Prophet.

Any person who did not live in between these dates, or did not believe in the Prophet in the aftermath of a direct conversation or abandoned the religion of Islam despite having first accepted it could not be classified as a companion. Neither can one become a companion by dreaming of the Prophet.