Hi,
Yes I figured that out; it appears to me that the sahâba are the companions and the tâbicûn are others who had direct conversation with a companion. So does it then follow that the hadith can only come from a sahâba or a tâbicûn? And it would seem to logically follow that an hadith from a sahâba would be more reliable than an hadith from a tâbicûn? So why in the link provided by muslimapoclyptc does it say “The explanation by Companions of the Prophet (to some extent)” i.e.hadith from sahâba is only relied upon ‘to some extent?’
A hadith which is authentic is a statement of the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (peace be upon him), which was heard by his companions - who themselves could write the hadith down - or could memorise it with a strong memorisation and pass it onto their students (the tabi'een/tabi'un).
They could also record it or memorise it thoroughly [their life was based on memorisation, and implementation of Qur'an and Ahadith] and pass it onto their students too. It was these students which recorded them in the massive books of hadith such as Sahih Al Bukhari, Sahih Al Muslim etc.
On the issue of the explanations of the companions. Let me give you an example.
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said:
“Indeed, you will follow the practices of those who came before you - handspan by handspan, armspan by armspan - to the point that if they follow the lizard into its hole, you would follow them in this.”
We [the companions] said: “O Messenger of Allah, are you referring to the Jews and Christians?” He replied: “Who else?”
[Reported by Ahmad, al-Bukhari, and Muslim]
Now this is a Prophecy which we know has already occurred and will continue to occur till the final hour.
But there are statements which the companions of the Prophet also said, based on their understanding of the hadith mentioned above.
10 - al-Walid said that he was walking with Abyad, one of the Companions of the Prophet, to visit a friend:
“So, we entered the mosque, and we saw the people praying. I said: “Praise be to Allah who has caused Islam to unite white and black people!” So, Abyad said:
“By the One in Whose Hand my soul is, the Day of Resurrection will not come until you adopt some practices of every religion.”
I said:
“Will this be because people will leave Islam?”
He replied:
“They will pray like you pray, they will sit in your gatherings, they will live amongst you, and they will adopt some of the practices of every religion.”"
[Reported by 'Abdan in the book 'as-Sahabah']
http://iskandrani.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/following-the-practices-of-the-kuffar
We see this clearly in the world today, and even throughout our Islamic history if you study it.
There's more similar reports narrated by other companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Now since they had the most fear of lying about Allah and His Messenger without knowledge, they would think a great deal before making some statement about Allah's religion. When they did narrate, we could accept them statements - but if there was to be an authentic hadith which contradicted a statement of a companion - then the hadith would be taken as the real authority.
Why could there be a contradiction between them two? Because
it may have been that a companion was not present when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) spoke about the issue from another perspective, and the companion may have only heard one of his sayings concerning the issue. The companions who had heard the different sayings of the Prophet could correct the one who had only heard one statement. They would discuss, and come to conclusions after gathering all the evidences.
So since the companions were all sincere, and true believers. They would not lie about Allah and His Messenger, but may have erred on an issue or two. They would be corrected if this was the case. Thats why their sayings would be relied on to the extent of what agreed with the revelation. Since the Qur'an and Sunnah/authentic ahadith take precedence over everything else.
