Tabi'un

The tābi‘ūn ( ar, اَلتَّابِعُونَ, also accusative or genitive tābi‘īn , singular ''tābi‘'' ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the companions (''ṣaḥābah'') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and thus received their teachings secondhand. A ''tābi‘'' knew at least one ''ṣaḥābiyy''. As such, they played an important part in the development of Islamic thought and knowledge, and in the political development of the early caliphate.

The next generation of Muslims after the ''tabi‘ūn'' are called the '' tābi‘ al-tabi‘īn'' . The first three generations of Muhammad’s followers make up the ''salaf'' of Islam.

Sunni definition

Muslims from the Sunni branch of Islam define a ''tābiʻ'' as a Muslim who:
# Saw at least one of the companions of Muhammad
# Was rightly-guided
# One who died in that state. The Khawarij are therefore not referred to as tābiʻūn even though they saw many of Muhammad's companions.

Sunni Muslims also regard the tābiʻūn as the best generation after the companions. According to Sunni Muslims, Muhammad said: "The best people are those living in my generation, then those coming after them, and then those coming after (the second generation)"

The tābiʻūn are divided by most Muslim scholars into three classes:
# The students of companions who accepted Islam before the conquest of Mecca
# The students of companions who accepted Islam after the conquest of Mecca
# The students of companions who were not yet adults at the time of Muhammad's passing

List of tābiʻūn

The first tābiʻ to die was Zayd ibn Ma'mar ibn Zayd, 30 years after the hijra, and the last to die was Khalaf ibn Khalifa, who died in 180 AH. Alternatively, since the status of Khalaf ibn Khalifa as a tābiʻ is strongly challenged by reputed scholars, the last to die from amongst them may have been Jarir bin Haazim in 170 AH. Therefore, many of the tābiʻūn were tasked with the preservation of Islamic traditions from the era of the companions to later Muslims.
* Aban ibn Uthman
* Abbad ibn Abd Allah az-Zubair
* Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah
* Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i
* Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla al-Kindi (d. 701), transmitter of traditions on Ali and the companions, joined the uprising of Ibn al-Ash'ath and killed at the Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim.
* Abu Muslim al-Khawlani
* Abu Hanifa (80 - 150 A.H.)Öncü Sûfîlerden Fudayl b.‘Iyâd’ın (öl. 187/802) İlmî Şahsiyeti." Şırnak Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 11.24 (2020): 159-185. "..Tabi'un are the people who followed Sahaba, the companions of the prophet), is one of the important names in the history of Islamic science. Fudayl, who was an Arab, spent his life in three regions: Khorasan, Kufa, and Mecca. Names such as Abu Hanifa, Mansur bin Mu'temir.."
* Ahnaf ibn Qais
* Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin
* Alqama ibn Qays
* Amr ibn Uthman
* Amir al-Sha'bi
* Ata ibn Abi Rabah (d. 106 A.H.)
* Hammam ibn Munabbih
* Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah (d. 100 A.H.)
* Hasan al-Basri (21 - 110 A.H.)
* Ibn Jurayj
* Ibn Kathir al-Makki
* Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 124 A.H.)
* Ibn Sirin
* Ja'far al-Sadiq
* Malik Dinar
* Masruq ibn al-Ajda' (d. 103 A.H.)
* Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr

* Muhammad al-Baqir
* Mujahid ibn Jabr
* Nafi Mawla Ibn Umar
* Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (d. 103 A.H.)

* Said ibn al-Musayyib (d. 93 A.H.)USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts

* Sa'id ibn Jubayr
* Salim ibn Abd-Allah
* Shaikh Habib Al-Raee
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