{{Short description|First three generations of Muslims}} {{Distinguish|Salafi movement}} {{more footnotes needed|date=February 2015}} {{Islam|collapsed=1}} '''Salaf''' ({{langx|ar|سلف}}, {{gloss|ancestors}} or {{gloss|predecessors}}), also often referred to with the honorific expression of '''al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ''' ({{lang|ar|السلف الصالح}}, {{gloss|the pious predecessors}}), are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lacey|first=Robert|title=Inside the Kingdom, Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia|year=2009|publisher=Viking|location=New York|page=9}}</ref> This comprises companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (the {{Transliteration|ar|Sahabah}}), their followers (the {{Transliteration|ar|Tabi'un}}), and the followers of the followers (the {{Transliteration|ar|Taba al-Tabi'in}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Meaning of the Word "Salaf" – Abu 'Abdis-Salaam Hasan bin Qaasim ar-Raymee |url=https://abdurrahman.org/2014/09/29/the-meaning-of-the-word-salaf-abu-abdis-salaam-hasan-bin-qaasim-ar-raymee/ |website=AbdurRahman.org |date=2014-09-29 |language=en |access-date=2019-11-30}}</ref> Their religious significance lay in the statement attributed to Muhammad: "The best of my community are my generation, the ones who follow them and the ones who follow them",<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp8RDQAAQBAJ&q=salaf+3+generations&pg=PT20 |title=The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State |last=Wood |first=Graeme |date=20 December 2016 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=9780241240120 |language=en}}</ref> a period believed to exemplify the purest form of Islam. The generations of Muslims after the third are referred to as the '''Khalaf'''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0070.xml?rskey=0OpaqS&result=204 |title= Islamic Studies: Salafism |last= Brown |first= Jonathan A. C. |date= 14 December 2009 |website= Oxford Bibliographies |publisher= Oxford University Press|access-date= 21 September 2023 |quote=}}</ref>
==Second generation== The Tabi‘un, the successors of Sahabah. {{dynamic list}} {{Div col|colwidth=20em}} * Amir al-Sha'bi * Abu Muslim Al-Khawlani * Abu Suhail an-Nafi' ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman * Al-Ahnaf * Malik Ibn Anas * Abu Hanifa * Ja'far al-Sadiq * Al-Rabi Ibn Khuthaym * Ali Akbar * Ali ibn Husayn (Zain-ul-'Abidin) * Alqama ibn Qays al-Nakha'i * Ata Ibn Abi Rabah * Atiyya bin Saad * Hasan al-Basri * Iyas Ibn Muawiyah Al-Muzani * Masruq ibn al-Ajda' * Muhammad al-Baqir * Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah * Muhammad Ibn Wasi' Al-Azdi * Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab al-Zuhri * Muhammad ibn Munkadir * Nafi Mawla Ibn Umar * Muhammad ibn Sirin, son of a slave of Khalid ibn al-Walid * Musa ibn Nusayr * Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr * Raja ibn Haywa * Sa'id ibn Jubayr * Said ibn al-Musayyib * Salamah ibn Dinar * Salih Ibn Ashyam Al-Adawi * Salim Ibn Abdullah Ibn Umar Ibn al-Khattab * Shuraih Al-Qadhi * Sufyan al-Thawri * Tariq Ibn Ziyad * Tawus Ibn Kaysan * Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz * Umm Kulthum bint Abu Bakr * Urwah Ibn Al-Zubayr * Uwais al-Qarni * Amr ibn Dinar {{Div col end}}
==Third generation== The Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, the successors of the Tabi‘un. {{dynamic list}} {{Div col|colwidth=20em}} * Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi * Al Qutaybah * Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya * Muhammad bin Qasim<ref>Al bidaya wan Nahaya, Ibn Kathir</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2015}} * Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya * Al-Shafi‘i * Zayd ibn Ali * Ishaq ibn Rahwayh * Al-Layth ibn Sa'd * Sufyan ibn Uyaynah
{{Div col end}}
==See also== * List of Sahaba * Non-Muslims who interacted with Muslims during Muhammad's era
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Salaf Salaf Category:Salafi movement Category:Islamic terminology