Salaf (, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises companions of the prophet Muhammad (the ), their followers (the ), and the followers of the followers (the ). Their religious significance lay in the statement attributed to The prophet Muhammad ﷺ: "The best of my community are my generation, the ones who follow them and the ones who follow them", a period believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. Second generation The Tabi‘un, the successors of Sahabah. Abu Hanifah Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān Abu Muslim Al-Khawlani Abu Suhail an-Nafi' ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman Al-Rabi Ibn Khuthaym Ali Akbar Ali ibn Husayn (Zain-ul-'Abidin) Alqama ibn Qays al-Nakha'i Ata Ibn Abi Rabah Atiyya bin Saad Hasan al-Basri Iyas Ibn Muawiyah Al-Muzani Masruq ibn al-Ajda' Muhammad al-Baqir Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah Muhammad Ibn Wasi' Al-Azdi Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab al-Zuhri Muhammad ibn Munkadir Nafi Mawla Ibn Umar Muhammad ibn Sirin, son of a slave of Khalid ibn al-Walid Musa ibn Nusayr Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr Raja ibn Haywa Sa'id ibn Jubayr Said ibn al-Musayyib Salamah ibn Dinar Salih Ibn Ashyam Al-Adawi Salim Ibn Abdullah Ibn Umar Ibn al-Khattab Shuraih Al-Qadhi Tariq Ibn Ziyad Tawus Ibn Kaysan Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz Umm Kulthum bint Abu Bakr Urwah Ibn Al-Zubayr Uwais al-Qarni Third generation The Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, the successors of the Tabi‘un. Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi Ja'far al-Sadiq, grandson of Ali ibn Hussain Malik ibn Anas Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya Muhammad bin Qasim Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i Zayd ibn Ali Ishaq ibn Rahwayh Al-Layth ibn Sa'd See also List of Sahaba Non-Muslims who interacted with Muslims during Muhammad's era Salafi movement References Salaf Islamic terminology