Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

This position is attributed to Jāḥiẓ. 1
Based upon this position, two requirements need to be met in order for one to be
deemed a Ṣaḥābī:
1. An extended duration of companionship with Nabī H, which will be
measured by convention.
2. Narrating from Nabī H, for assimilating knowledge from him,
even though it be by observing one of his actions, in consideration of his
companionship, is necessary. And it is common knowledge that the most
prime objective of companionship is the dispensation of rulings. 2
This position is flawed due to the following reasons:
1.
2.
Considering extended companionship to be a requisite is against the literal
purport of the word.
Resorting to convention in determining extended or short companionship
is not definitive, as has passed already.
3. People who have not narrated anything at all from Nabī H but
accompanied him for an extended period of time have always been
considered to be Ṣaḥābah, 3 to the extent that some have deemed this to
be the unanimous position of the entire Ummah. One such person is Ziyād
1 Al-Wāḍiḥ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh 5/60; al-Musawwadah p. 263; Fatḥ al-Mughīth 3/103; Manhaj Dhawī al-Naẓr p.
215.
Jāḥiẓ is ʿAmr ibn Baḥr, ibn Maḥbūb al-Kinānī, Abū ʿUthmān al-Baṣarī, famously known as Jāḥiẓ. A
Muʿtazilite theologian who was a master in the Arabic language. He was born in 163 A.H. He adopted
Muʿtazilism due to the influence of al-Naẓẓām and one of its sub-sects, the Jāḥiẓiyyah, is attributed
to him. He authored many books, among them are the following: al-Bayān wa al-Tabyīn, al-Ḥayawān
and al-Bukhalāʾ. He passed away in Basrah in 255 A.H. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 12/212; al-Muntaẓam 12/93;
Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 45/431; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 11/526.
2 Taḥqīq Munīf al-Rutbah p. 33; Ghāyah al-Wuṣūl p. 104.
3 Taḥqīq Munīf al-Rutbah p. 33.
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