Al-Taqrīb wa-al-Taysīr - Al-Nawawi - (92)

It is deemed mursal once it is established that the transmitter neither met nor heard from the one he names. The same ruling applies when the report reaches us through another route that inserts an additional person. This subdivision overlaps with the preceding type, and each is weighed against the other; the response is the same as what has already been set forth. Allah knows best.

The Thirty-Ninth Category
Identifying the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them

This is a vast field and one of tremendous benefit, for through it the connected isnād is distinguished from the mursal. Numerous works have been written on it; among the finest and most profitable is Al-Istiʿāb by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr—were it not for his tendency to detail the disputes that arose among the Companions and to cite the reports of the storytellers. Shaykh ʿIzz al-Din Ibn al-Athir al-Jazarī composed an excellent book on the Companions in which he gathered many earlier sources, verified them, and produced valuable corrections; by the grace of Allah I have abridged it.

Subsidiary Issues

Scholars have differed over the definition of a Companion. The view commonly held among the hadith specialists is that every Muslim who saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is a Companion. Some of the scholars of legal theory define a Companion as one who kept his company for a long time in the capacity of a follower. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib maintained that no one is counted a Companion unless he stayed with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a year or two and joined him in one or two campaigns. Should that view be authentically ascribed to him, it is weak, for it would exclude Jarīr al-Bajalī and others like him, even though there is unanimous agreement that they are Companions. A person’s companionship is established by tawātur (mass transmission), widespread fame, the testimony of another Companion, or the statement of a trustworthy narrator.
All the Companions are upright and reliable, whether or not they were involved in the civil strife, by the unanimous agreement of those whose consensus carries weight.

وهو ما عرف إرساله بعدم اللقاء أو السماع، ومنه ما يحكم بإرساله لمجيئه من وجه آخر بزيادة شخص، وهذا القسم من النوع السابق يتعرض بكل واحد منهما على الآخر، وقد يجاب بنحوه ما تقدم، والله أعلم. النوع التاسع والثلاثون: معرفة الصحابة ﵃ وهذا علم كبير، عظيم الفائدة، فيه يعرف المتصل من المرسل، وفيه كتب كثيرة من أحسنها وأكثرها فوائد " الاستيعاب " لابن عبد البر لولا ما شأنه بذكر ما شجر بين الصحابة وحكايته عن الأخباريين، وقد جمع الشيخ عز الدين بن الأثير الجزري في الصحابة كتاباً حسناً جمع فيه كتباً كثيرة وضبط وحقق أشياء حسنة وقد اختصرته بحمد الله تعالى. فروع أحدها: اختلف في حد الصحابي، فالمعروف عند المحدثين أنه كل مسلم رأى رسول الله ﷺ، وعن أصحاب الأصول أو بعضهم أنه من طالت مجالسته على طريق التبع، وعن سعد بن المسيب أنه لايعد صحابياً إلا من أقام مع رسول الله ﷺ سنة أوسنتين وغزا معه غزوة أو غزوتين، فإن صح عنه فضعيف، فإن مقتضاه أن لا يعد جرير البجلي وشبهه صحابياً ولا خلاف أنهم صحابة، ثم تعرف صحبته بالتواتر، أو الاستفاضة، أو قول صحابي، أو قول إذا كان عدلاً الثاني: الصحابة كلهم عدول، من لابس الفتن وغيرهم بإجماع من يتعد به،