Companions of Muhammad in the context of "Holiest sites in Islam"

Mu'awiya I (c. 597, 603 or 605–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashidun ('rightly-guided') caliphs. Unlike his predecessors, who had been close, early companions of Muhammad, Mu'awiya was a relatively late follower of Muhammad.

Mu'awiya and his father Abu Sufyan had opposed Muhammad, their distant Qurayshite kinsman and later Mu'awiya's brother-in-law, until Muhammad captured Mecca in 630. Afterward, Mu'awiya became one of Muhammad's scribes. He was appointed by Caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) as a deputy commander in the conquest of Syria. He moved up the ranks through Umar's caliphate (r. 634–644) until becoming governor of Syria during the reign of his Umayyad kinsman, Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656). He allied with the province's powerful Banu Kalb tribe, developed the defenses of its coastal cities, and directed the war effort against the Byzantine Empire, including the first Muslim naval campaigns. In response to Uthman's assassination in 656, Mu'awiya took up the cause of avenging the murdered caliph and opposed the election of Ali. During the First Muslim Civil War, the two led their armies to a stalemate at the Battle of Siffin in 657, prompting an abortive series of arbitration talks to settle the dispute. Afterward, Mu'awiya gained recognition as caliph by his Syrian supporters and his ally Amr ibn al-As, who conquered Egypt from Ali's governor in 658. Following the assassination of Ali in 661, Mu'awiya compelled Ali's son and successor Hasan to abdicate and Mu'awiya's suzerainty was acknowledged throughout the Caliphate.

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas ibn Wuhayb al-Zuhri (Arabic: سَعْدُ بْنُ أَبِي وَقَّاصِ بْنِ وُهَيْبٍ اَلزُّهْرِيُّ, romanized: Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ ibn Wuhayb al-Zuhrī) was an Arab Muslim commander. He was the founder of Kufa and served as its governor under Umar ibn al-Khattab. He played a leading role in the Muslim conquest of Persia and was a close companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Sa'd was the seventh free adult man to embrace Islam, which he did at the age of seventeen. Sa'd participated in all battles under Muhammad during their stay in Medina. Sa'd was famous for his leadership in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the conquest of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon in 636. After the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Siege of Ctesiphon (637), Sa'd served as the supreme commander of the Rashidun army in Iraq, which conquered Khuzestan and built the garrison city of Kufa. Due to complaints about his conduct, he was later dismissed from his post by the caliph Umar. During the First Fitna, Sa'd was known for leading the neutral faction that contained the majority of the companions of Muhammad and their followers, who refused to be involved in the civil war. Traditions of Chinese Muslims hold that he introduced Islam to China during a diplomatic visit in 651, though these accounts are disputed.

The Tābiʿū al-Tābʿīn (Arabic: تَابِعُو ٱلتَّابِعِينَ, singular Tābiʿ al-Tābʿīn تَابِعُ ٱلتَّابِعِينَ) is the generation of muslims after the Tābi‘ūn in Islam.

The view of the Sunnis and the Salafis is that the first generation of Muslims are called the companions of Muhammad. The second generation of Muslims are called tābi‘ūn "Successors". The third generation are called tabi‘ū al-tabi‘īn "successors of the Successors". The three generations make up the Salaf-us-Saalih the "Pious Predecessors", of Islam.

Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (Arabic: عُرْوَة بْن الزُّبَيْر بْن الْعَوَّام الأَسَدِيّ, romanized: ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-ʾAsadī; c. 644–713) was an early Muslim traditionist, widely regarded as a founding figure in the field of historical study among the Muslims. He was a son of Muhammad's close aide al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and a nephew of his wife A'isha. He spent much of his life in Medina, witnessed the First Fitna (656–661) as a youth, and supported his elder brother Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in his failed attempt to establish his caliphate in the Second Fitna (680–692). After Abd Allah's elimination by his Syria-based Umayyad rivals, Urwa reconciled with the Umayyads, whom he paid occasional visits and maintained a literary correspondence with.

Urwa's relations with important early Islamic figures gave him access to first-hand accounts on the early Islamic period, which he collected from his father, his aunt, and a number of companions of Muhammad, passing these on to his students, above all Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri and his son Hisham. A large number of these traditions are reported in the hadith and historical literature. Some of his literary correspondences with the Umayyad caliphs Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705) and al-Walid I (r. 705–715) have also been reported in historical works. Combined, they cover almost all important events of Muhammad's prophetic career as well as early caliphate, and are central to the historical study of Muhammad. Modern Western Historians have debated the authenticity of the Urwa corpus of traditions. Some hold that most of the traditions reported on his authority did indeed originate with him and the core of the information contained therein is genuine, although they have been modified and colored by later transmitters to some extent. On the other hand, some hold that much of the corpus is later, retrospective attribution to Urwa.