and many people would thus embrace Islam, sometimes both outwardly and inwardly, and sometimes outwardly alone. Increasing numbers emigrated to Medina: poor and wealthy, those with families and those who were unmarried. Anyone unable to find somewhere to stay would take shelter in the Suffa, the portico within the mosque. Not all the people of the Suffa were there at the same time: some would marry or move elsewhere when accommodation became available, while others would arrive in succession. Their numbers therefore fluctuated: sometimes there were ten or fewer, sometimes twenty, thirty, or more, and sometimes sixty or seventy.

As for the total number who took shelter in the Suffa at different times, it has been said that they numbered around four hundred Companions; others have said that they were more numerous. Not every one of them was individually known. “Shaykh Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī” compiled their names in his “Kitāb Tārīkh Ahl al-Suffa” (History of the People of the Suffa), recording everyone whom he had heard described as belonging to the “people of the Suffa.” He devoted particular attention to accounts of ascetics and Sufis, the transmitted reports on which they relied, and their recorded sayings. He compiled accounts of the ascetics among the early generations, accounts of everyone whom he had heard belonged to the people of the Suffa and how many they numbered, and accounts of the later Sufis who came after the first three generations.

He also compiled material arranged by subject, as in Haqā’iq al-Tafsīr (The Realities of Quranic Interpretation), and on topics of Sufism arranged according to the chapters of jurisprudence. He likewise collected their statements on Allah’s oneness, knowledge of Him, and love; the question of listening; other spiritual states; and various other subjects. His compilations contain many valuable insights and substantial benefits.