The Mauqūf Report and Its Criterion
…
The author, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
15 – Whatever you ascribe to the Companions—
Be it word or deed—is mauqūf; so understand.

This constitutes the fifteenth category of ḥadith enumerated in this poem: the mauqūf.

His word “mā” is a conditional particle.

“Ascribe it to the Companions” means: whatever you, O narrator, attribute to the Companions.

The term “Companions” (aṣḥāb) is the plural of ṣaḥb, and ṣaḥb is a collective noun derived from ṣāḥib.

Here, “Companions” refers specifically to the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ.

A Companion is one who met the Prophet ﷺ while believing in him and died upon that belief—even if the encounter lasted only a moment. This is among the Prophet’s unique distinctions: a single brief meeting is sufficient for someone to be counted as his Companion.

With anyone other than the Prophet, a person is not considered a companion unless the association is lengthy; a mere chance meeting in some place does not render him a companion.

It is also required that the Companion die as a believer in the Prophet ﷺ. Hence, even if he apostasized and later returned to Islam, he is still regarded as a Companion according to the soundest opinion of the scholars.

Therefore, whatever you attribute to the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—is termed mauqūf by the ḥadith specialists.

His word “zukin” means “known” or “established.”

His phrase “of word and deed”:

An exception is anything that has been accorded the ruling of marfūʿ—traced back to the Prophet—whether it is a Companion’s statement or