have lodged in the Suffa; men of that sort would come and go there. Among the finest of the Muslims who once stayed in the Suffa was Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ—indeed, the most eminent person ever to reside there—yet he later moved elsewhere. Abū Hurayrah and others also lodged there, and Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī even compiled a record of all who had taken up residence in the Suffa.

As for the Anṣār, they were not among the People of the Suffa, nor were the foremost Muhājirūn—such as Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ṭalḥah, al-Zubayr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, and Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah. None of these belonged to the Suffa.

[Every report that specifies a fixed number of “saints” is spurious.]

It is related that a young servant belonging to al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿbah was once there, and that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “He is one of the Seven.” This ḥadīth is unanimously declared false by the scholars, even though Abū Nuʿaym recorded it in Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ. The same judgment applies to every narration ascribing to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—a set number of “saints,” abdāl (Substitutes), nuqabāʾ (Chiefs), nujabāʾ (Elect), awtād (Pillars), or aqṭāb (Poles)—whether the number mentioned is four, seven, twelve, forty, seventy, three hundred, three hundred and thirteen, or a single “Pole.” None of this is authentically traced back to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and the early Muslims used none of these expressions except the term abdāl.

There is, furthermore, a report stating that they are forty men who dwell in Greater Syria,