Who are the Ahl-i Bayt?
The concept of Ahl-i Bayt (the family/household of the Prophet), which has continued to be problematic with its controversial and ambiguous traits since the early periods of the Islamic history, has a flexible structure in terms of the meaning of the term within the Arabic language. Although in its narrowest definition it denotes wife and children, it can also be used to describe all the relatives...

“Ahl-i Bayt” in the Holy Quran
The term Ahl-i Bayt preserved its religious and political content from the Age of Ignorance after the birth of Islam until the conquest of Mecca. When the Muslims conquered Mecca, religious and political authority was given over to them. Since that date, the meaning of the term Ahl-i Bayt also completely changed. Ahl-i Bayt was the name given to the tribe responsible for taking care of the Kaaba...

Ashab Al-Suffa
What does Ashab al-Suffa mean?Ashab al-Suffa is a term, composed of the words ashab meaning “masters, friends” and suffa meaning “veranda, shed, porch” in Arabic. The term is a generic name given to the Companions who stayed in the arbour next to the mosque of the Prophet, upon him be peace, in Madina after the Emigration and studied religious sciences there.The establ...

Mukthirun
Mukthir is a word derived from the word “kathrat” in Arabic which means “to be abundant in number” and its plural is ‘mukthirun.’ As a term in the science of hadith, Mukthirun refers to the seven companions of the Prophet (pbuh) who narrated more than one thousand hadiths. Even though there were around 114,000 companions when the Prophet (pbuh) passed away, onl...

Al-Muhajirun (The Emigrants)
Muhajir refers to “a person who leaves his / her place of residence or country to live elsewhere.” The plural form of Muhajir, namely Muhajirun, as a term, refers to those early Muslims who believed in Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) after he started the call to Islam. Because of their faith, the Muhajirun were subject to the oppression, persecution and torture of Meccan idolaters, and they left Mecca fo...

Ansar (The Helpers)
The word ansar means "helper" in Arabic, while the word ansari refers to a person who helps. But as a term, the Ansar were the people from Medina who supported Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the muhajirun (Emigrants) when they migrated from Mecca to Medina. The people of the Ansar were from two tribes: the al-Aws and the al-Khazraj. It is reported in the sources that these two tribes often fought ag...

Ahl Al-Badr
  digg_title = "AHL AL-BADR"; var sburl3929 = window.location.href; var sbtitle3929 = document.title; Ahl al-Badr or Ashab al-Badr is the general name given to the companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who participated in the Battle of Badr. Taking place in Badr between Muslims and the infidels of Mecca in the second year of the Hijrah, it became the first great battle in Islamic his...