The special merits that distinguished those who participated at Badr above others have also been firmly established. Some of those whom Allah and His Messenger favored belonged to Ahl al-Suffa, but most did not. None of the Ten belonged to Ahl al-Suffa except Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās: it has been said that he stayed at the Suffa on one occasion.
As for the leading Emigrants and Helpers—such as the four caliphs, Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, Usayd ibn Hudayr, ʿAbbād ibn Bishr, Abū Ayyūb al-Ansārī, Muʿādh ibn Jabal, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, and others like them—they did not belong to “Ahl al-Suffa.” Rather, Ahl al-Suffa were mostly poor Emigrants, since the Helpers lived in their own homes. No one used to make vows for Ahl al-Suffa or for anyone else.
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As for listening sessions involving whistling and clapping—that is, gathering to listen to devotional poems, whether accompanied by handclapping, beating with a stick, or a frame drum, or with a flute in addition—none of the Companions practiced this, whether from Ahl al-Suffa or otherwise. Nor did any of the Successors. Indeed, throughout the favored generations of whom the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“The best generations are those among whom I was sent, then those who follow them, then those who follow them,”
there was no one who gathered for such listening sessions, neither in the Hijaz nor in Syria