The Prophet of Islam was born in 570 CE at Makkah and died in 632 CE at Madinah. The Muslims of that time who was the Prophet’s Companions are called Sahaba (Companions). The number of his Companions was about one lakh twenty-four thousand. The lives of Companions are well recorded in the books of ‘Rijal’. However, the number of Companions is not limited to those whose lives have been recorded in these Arabic books. There are companions other than those physically present during the Prophet’s life time; they may be called the spiritual companions of the Prophet and are spread throughout the whole of human history. Who were these spiritual companions? They were those honest people who were born seekers of truth. Then they discovered the Prophet through further study and decided to follow the pattern of his life. Their sole concern was to understand the example of the Prophet and then sincerely follow it. Some of those spiritual companions may be called “companion plus.” They were able to know more about the life and history of the Prophet of Islam in greater detail, which was naturally not available to the believers of the early period. These historical details were recorded in the books of Hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet of Islam) and Seerah (life of the Prophet) in the later periods of Islamic history.
Companions of The Prophet