In the Islamic religion, the Sahaba (Asahaaba,الصحابه) are the companions of the Prophet Muhammad. A Sahabi (singular of Sahaba) knew or saw the Prophet, believed in his teachings, and died as a Muslim. At the time of the death of Muhammad, there were over 100,000 companions, tens of thousands of which have their names and biographies of various lengths recorded in readily available religious reference texts of the subject, ilmul-rijal, literally, "knowledge of men."
Major Sahaba
Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Abdullah ibn Abbas, al-Zubayr ibn al-`Awwam , Talha , `Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf , Abu -Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah , Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas , and Sa`id ibn Zayd ibn `Amr , Muawiyah, Khalid ibn Walid, Ibn Umar, and many many others.
Other group designations
Sahaba are different from Ahlul Bayt (translated as "People of the House") because Sahaba are companions, while Ahlul Bayt are the wives of Prophet Muhammed and his grandchildren through his daughter Fatima (who married Ali, the Prophet's cousin).
Taba'een
The generation after the Sahaba is known as the Taba'een or "followers".
