salaf

{{Short description|First three generations of Muslims}}

{{Distinguish|Salafi movement}}

{{more footnotes|date=February 2015}}

{{Islam|collapsed=1}}

Salaf ({{langx|ar|سلف}}, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ ({{lang|ar|السلف الصالح}}, "the pious predecessors"), are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims.{{cite book|last=Lacey|first=Robert|title=Inside the Kingdom, Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia|year=2009|publisher=Viking|location=New York|page=9}} This comprises companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (the {{transl|ar|Sahabah}}), their followers (the {{transl|ar|Tabi'un}}), and the followers of the followers (the {{transl|ar|Taba al-Tabi'in}}).{{cite web |title=The Meaning of the Word "Salaf" – Abu 'Abdis-Salaam Hasan bin Qaasim ar-Raymee |url=https://abdurrahman.org/2014/09/29/the-meaning-of-the-word-salaf-abu-abdis-salaam-hasan-bin-qaasim-ar-raymee/ |website=AbdurRahman.org |date=2014-09-29 |language=en |access-date=2019-11-30}} Their religious significance lay in the statement attributed to Muhammad: "The best of my community are my generation, the ones who follow them and the ones who follow them",{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp8RDQAAQBAJ&q=salaf+3+generations&pg=PT20 |title=The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State |last=Wood |first=Graeme |date=20 December 2016 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=9780241240120 |language=en}} a period believed to exemplify the purest form of Islam. The generations of Muslims after the third are referred to as the Khalaf.{{cite web |url= https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0070.xml?rskey=0OpaqS&result=204 |title= Islamic Studies: Salafism |last= Brown |first= Jonathan A. C. |date= 14 December 2009 |website= Oxford Bibliographies |publisher= Oxford University Press|access-date= 21 September 2023 |quote=}}