The Four Companions


The Four Companions, also called the Four Pillars of the Sahaba is a Shiʿah term for the four Sahaba who stayed most loyal to Ali ibn Abi Talib after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad:
  1. Salman al-Fārsī
  2. Abū Dharr al-Ghifāri
  3. Miqdad ibn Aswād al-Kindi
  4. Ammār ibn Yāsir
Salman is generally considered to be the loftiest amongst these elite four. It is narrated from Muhammad that:
Faith has ten grades, and Salman is on the tenth grade, Abu Dharr on the ninth, and Miqdad on the eighth grade.

over Salman al-Farsi's grave in Mada'in, Iraq
Those among Muhammad's companions who were closest to both Muhammad and Ali were called Shiʿah of Ali during Muhammad's lifetime, and it was for these the following hadith narrated from Jabir al-Ansari takes root:

يا علي أبشر فإنك و أصحابك و شيعتك في الجنَّة

Glad tidings, Ali! Verily you and your Shiʿah will be in Paradise.

These companions were later referred to as "The Real Shiʿah." Abdullah ibn Abbas, Ubay ibn Ka'b, Bilal ibn Rabah, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, Malik al-Ashtar, and Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman were other such partisans, however; it is only The Four Companions that have attained distinction in their devotion to Ali.