Why did around hundred and twenty thousand Companions (ṣaḥāba) leave Madinah after the beloved Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) departed this world?
To answer this question, we need to:
1. Understand the model of Islamic education (madrasah) called Suffa established by the beloved Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam)
2. Understand how Islam was propagated under the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs (al-Khulafāʾ al-Rāshidūn) of Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq (r), Umar ibn al-Khattab (r), Uthman ibn a-Affan (r) and Ali ibn Abu-Talib (r)
The caliphate of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs (al-Khulafāʾ al-Rāshidūn) saw the expansion of the fledging Islamic State through newly liberated territories of the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires. Wherever Islam liberated, a student of Suffa was sent. This was in accordance with the methodology of the beloved Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) to send instructors from his circle of students to Arab Bedouin tribes and foreign kingdoms to teach the essence and fundamentals of Islam. The Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) educated his noble companions (ṣaḥāba) with a firm Islamic Creed (Aqeedah) and nurtured them mentally and spiritually within the hallowed grounds of Masjid Nabawi on a raised platform called Suffa (located at the rear end of the mosque). Suffa could accommodate an estimated seventy permanent students, but the total number of students varied (up to three-four hundred).
While ‘the emigrants’ (Muhajiroun) were engaged in trade and ‘the helpers’ (Ansar) worked the fields in agriculture, the Ashab us-Suffa were completely immersed in their studies while their welfare was attended to by the beloved Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and other companions. However, the Ashab us-Suffa were never restricted to the study of Islamic knowledge only, as some participated in military campaigns and battles.
Throughout the caliphate of the Four Righly Guided Caliphs (al-Khulafāʾ al-Rāshidūn), a network of schools modelled on Suffa were established, overseen and taught by a prominent companion from the ranks of Ashab us-Suffa. An example is Abdullah Bin Mas’ud (r), the ṣāḥib most knowledgeable of the Qu’ran, who was sent by Umar ibn al-Khattab (r) to the city of Kufa to establish a circle of learning.
There were many Suffa model schools established, numbering greater than six in major cities during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab (r).
They include:
1. Medina
2. Mecca
3. Sham
4. Kufa
5. Basra
6. Qudus
7. Median
8. Cairo
It this through the Suffa model that the Imams of the Four Schools of Jurisprudence (mathab) acquired Islamic knowledge (ilm) from teachers who studied under their teachers, with a chain that stretched to include a prominent ṣāḥib and concluded with the beloved Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
Ibn ‘Abidin said:
The need for fiqh is like bread for people. The seed of this knowledge was sown by Ibn Mas’ud (r), who is considered one of the most outstanding jurists and scholars of the Companions. His disciple Alqama (r) watered this seed and made it a crop. His disciples, Ibrahim Nahai (r) cooked this crop and gathered the knowledge together. Hammad (r) threshed this crop and brought it to a state of threshing. Imam A’zam Abu Hanifa (r) brought this mixture to the state of flour i.e. he divided the science of fiqh into different parts. Imam Abu Yusuf made dough from it and Imam Muhammad baked it and delivered it to the people in the form of bread. This is the bread that people eat today. That is, by studying these sciences, they achieve the happiness of both worlds.”
Key Lesson: A person may be given iman but it is their responsibility and duty to strengthen it by carrying and upholding the da'wah of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) by actively seeking knowledge, applying and teaching it.