Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Lastly, if someone says, “I accompanied so and so,” it will be correct to ask him,
“Have you accompanied him for an hour, a day, or more than that? Have you
assimilated knowledge from him and narrated from him or not?” Had Ṣuḥbah
(companionship) not been inclusive of all these cases and had it been specific
to a particular time frame and case there would be no need for any of these
questions. 1
The Second Position
A Ṣaḥābī is:
من رأى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم واختص به اختصاص الصاحب بالمصحوب،‏ وطالت مدة صحبته،‏
وإن لم يرو عنه
A person who saw Nabī H and had a special relationship with him, akin
to the relationship of a companion with the person he is accompanying,
his period of companionship is long, even though he does not narrate from
him. 2
This is the position of a group of scholars of the principles of Fiqh. 3 And some
have deemed this to be the stance of the majority. 4
Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, 5 whilst commenting upon the narration, “My companions
1 Al-Iḥkām 2/104.
2 Ibid. 2/104. Al-Musawwadah p. 263.
3 Al-Iḥkām 2/104; al-Musawwadah 263; al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh 3/360; Taḥqīq Munīf al-Rutbah p. 33.
4 See: al-Taqrīr wa al-Taḥbīr p. 15.
5 Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Bishr al-Tirmidhī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, well known as ‘al-Ḥakīm
al-Tirmidhī’. An ascetic ḥadīth scholar who was disinclined from this world. He heard a great amount
of ḥadīths in Khorasan and Iraq. Later, toward the end of his life, he was banished from Tirmidh and
was dubbed a disbeliever due to his book Khatm al-Wilāyah whereafter he settled in Balkh. He passed
away in 285 A.H. The following are some of his books: Nawādir al-Uṣūl, Ḥaqāʾiq al-Tafsīr and Riyāḍah
al-Nafs. See: Tārīkh al-Islām 21/276; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 13/439; al-Dāwūdī: Ṭabaqāt al-Mufassirīn p.
56; al-Aʿlām 6/272.
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