Salaf

Salaf (سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ (السلف الصالح, "the pious predecessors"), are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (the Sahabah), their followers (the Tabi'un), and the followers of the followers (the Taba al-Tabi'in). 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", a period believed to exemplify the purest form of Islam. The generations of Muslims after the third are referred to as the Khalaf.

Second generation
The Tabi‘un, the successors of Sahabah.


 * Abu Hanifah Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān
 * Abu Muslim Al-Khawlani
 * Abu Suhail an-Nafi' ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman
 * 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
 * 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

Third generation
The Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, the successors of the Tabi‘un.


 * Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi
 * Ja'far al-Sadiq, grandson of Ali ibn Hussain
 * Malik ibn Anas
 * Al Qutaybah
 * Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
 * Muhammad bin Qasim
 * Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya
 * Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i
 * Zayd ibn Ali
 * Ishaq ibn Rahwayh
 * Al-Layth ibn Sa'd
 * Sufyan ibn Uyaynah