The people of Islam.

Ādam

آدَم

The first human, first prophet

The first human and first prophet. Taught the names of all things (Q 2:31), fell from the Garden, and repented with the words Allāh Himself taught him (Q 7:23).

Qur'ān 2:30–39, 7:19–25 · Bukhārī 3326

Nūḥ

نُوح

Noah — the second Ādam

Preached for 950 years (Q 29:14) before the Deluge. Called the 'second Ādam' because all later humans descend from his line (Q 37:77).

Sūrat Nūḥ (71) · Q 11:25–49 · Bukhārī 3339

Ibrāhīm

إِبْرَاهِيم

Abraham · Khalīl Allāh

Khalīl Allāh — the intimate friend of God (Q 4:125). Rebuilt the Kaʿbah with his son Ismāʿīl (Q 2:127). Progenitor of the prophetic lineage.

Q 2:124–141, 6:74–83, 37:83–113 · Bukhārī 3364

Mūsā

مُوسَى

Moses · Kalīm Allāh

Kalīm Allāh — the one to whom God spoke directly (Q 4:164). Received the Tawrāh at Mount Sinai. The Qur'ān mentions him by name more than any other prophet.

Sūrat Ṭāhā (20), Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ (28) · Bukhārī 3401

ʿĪsā ibn Maryam

عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَم

Jesus, son of Mary

Born of the Virgin Maryam by God's word (Q 3:47). Received the Injīl. Raised bodily to God (Q 4:158) and will return before the Day of Judgment.

Sūrat Maryam (19), Q 3:33–63, 5:110–120 · Muslim 155

Dāwūd

دَاوُد

David · Prophet-King

Prophet and king. Given the Zabūr (Psalms). Softened iron in his hands (Q 34:10). Father of Sulaymān.

Q 2:251, 21:78–80, 34:10–11, 38:17–26

Muḥammad ﷺ

مُحَمَّد ﷺ

Khātam an-Nabiyyīn — the Seal of the Prophets

The final prophet. Born in the Year of the Elephant, c. 570 CE. Received revelation over 23 years. His life is the primary lens through which every earlier prophet is remembered in Islam.

Ibn Hishām · Ibn Kathīr's Sīrah · the Ṣaḥīḥayn passim

Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq

أَبُو بَكْرٍ الصِّدِّيقُ

The Truthful · First Caliph

First caliph. The Prophet's ﷺ companion in the cave of Thawr — a moment preserved in Q 9:40. Led the Riddah wars; initiated the compilation of the Qur'ān as one text.

Bukhārī 3653–3691 · Ibn Kathīr, Bidāyah vol. 6

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb

عُمَر بْن الْخَطَّاب

Al-Fārūq — the Distinguisher

Second caliph. Established the Hijri calendar, the ʿaṭāʾ registers, and much of the early administrative order.

Bukhārī 3689 · adh-Dhahabī, Siyar · Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān

عُثْمَان بْن عَفَّان

Dhū an-Nūrayn — of the Two Lights

Third caliph. 'Dhū an-Nūrayn' — 'the one of two lights' — for marrying two of the Prophet's ﷺ daughters. Standardized the muṣḥaf into the ʿUthmānī rasm still used today.

Bukhārī 3695–3706 · Ibn Kathīr, Bidāyah vol. 7

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib

عَلِي بْن أَبِي طَالِب

Bāb madīnat al-ʿilm — Gate of the City of Knowledge

Fourth caliph. Cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet ﷺ. The first child to embrace Islam. Renowned for eloquence, judgment, and courage.

Bukhārī 3701 · Muslim 2404 · Nahj al-Balāghah (attrib.)

ʿĀʾishah bint Abī Bakr

عَائِشَة بِنْت أَبِي بَكْر

Umm al-Muʾminīn — Mother of the Believers

c. 614 – 678 CE. Wife of the Prophet ﷺ. Transmitter of 2,210 aḥādīth. Foundational voice in fiqh, tafsīr, and Sīrah.

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 2 · Bukhārī passim

Khadījah bint Khuwaylid

خَدِيجَة بِنْت خُوَيْلِد

The first believer

c. 555 – 619 CE. The Prophet's ﷺ first wife. First person to accept Islam. Merchant of Makkah.

Bukhārī 3820, Muslim 2432 · Ibn Hishām

Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ

بِلَال بْن رَبَاح

First muʾadhdhin of Islam

c. 580 – 640 CE. Abyssinian former slave. First muʾadhdhin of Islam. Tortured under Umayyah in Makkah, freed by Abū Bakr.

Bukhārī 3754 · Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt vol. 3

Abū Hurayrah

أَبُو هُرَيْرَة

Most prolific transmitter of ḥadīth

d. 678 CE. From the Dawsī tribe. The most prolific transmitter of prophetic ḥadīth — 5,374 narrations. Accompanied the Prophet ﷺ intensely for the last three years of his life.

Bukhārī 3708 · adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 2

Fāṭimah az-Zahrāʾ

فَاطِمَة الزَّهْرَاء

Mistress of the women of Paradise

c. 604 – 632 CE. Youngest daughter of the Prophet ﷺ, wife of ʿAlī, mother of Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.

Bukhārī 3623–3624 · Muslim 2450

Khālid ibn al-Walīd

خَالِد بْن الْوَلِيد

Sayf Allāh al-Maslūl — the Drawn Sword of God

d. 642 CE. Undefeated commander through the Riddah wars and the conquests of ash-Shām and ʿIrāq.

Bukhārī 3757 · Ṭabarī, Tārīkh

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās

عَبْدُ اللَّه بْن عَبَّاس

Ḥabr al-Ummah — the Scholar of the Ummah

c. 619 – 687 CE. Cousin of the Prophet ﷺ. Foundational voice in tafsīr; the Prophet ﷺ prayed for him to be taught taʾwīl.

Bukhārī 75 (the duʿāʾ) · Ibn Kathīr's Muqaddimah

Salmān al-Fārisī

سَلْمَان الْفَارِسِي

The Persian seeker

d. c. 656 CE. Persian by origin. Sought the truth across Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and finally Islam. Proposed the trench at the Battle of the Khandaq.

Bukhārī 4104 · Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr

Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān

أَبُو حَنِيفَة النُّعْمَان

Al-Imām al-Aʿẓam

Cloth merchant, systematic jurist. Founder of the Ḥanafī madhhab. Refused to serve as chief qāḍī and died in an Abbasid prison.

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 6 · al-Khaṭīb, Tārīkh Baghdād

Mālik ibn Anas

مَالِك بْن أَنَس

Imām Dār al-Hijrah

Compiler of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, the earliest surviving major work of ḥadīth-fiqh. Founder of the Mālikī madhhab. Taught for 62 years.

al-Muwaṭṭaʾ · Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, Tartīb al-Madārik

Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ash-Shāfiʿī

الشَّافِعِي

Nāṣir as-Sunnah — Defender of the Sunnah

Founder of uṣūl al-fiqh as a formal discipline via his Risālah. Student of Mālik.

ar-Rāzī, Manāqib ash-Shāfiʿī · Ibn Abī Ḥātim

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal

أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل

Imām Ahl as-Sunnah

Compiled the Musnad of 30,000+ narrations. Endured the Miḥnah under three caliphs rather than affirm the createdness of the Qur'ān.

Ibn al-Jawzī, Manāqib al-Imām Aḥmad · adh-Dhahabī, Siyar

Muḥammad al-Bukhārī

الْبُخَارِي

Amīr al-Muʾminīn fī al-Ḥadīth

Selected 7,563 narrations from ~600,000. His Ṣaḥīḥ is the most authoritative book after the Qur'ān in Sunnī tradition.

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 12 · Ibn Ḥajar, Hady as-Sārī

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj

مُسْلِم بْن الْحَجَّاج

Compiler of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim

Student of Bukhārī. His Ṣaḥīḥ is arranged thematically and second only to Bukhārī's in authority.

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 12 · an-Nawawī's Muqaddimah

Abū Dāwūd as-Sijistānī

أَبُو دَاوُد

Compiler of Sunan Abī Dāwūd

Focused his Sunan on legal ḥadīth. One of the 'Kutub as-Sittah.'

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 13

Muḥammad at-Tirmidhī

التِّرْمِذِي

Compiler of al-Jāmiʿ

His Jāmiʿ grades each ḥadīth (ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, ḍaʿīf) — a first in the genre.

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 13

Aḥmad an-Nasāʾī

النَّسَائِي

Compiler of Sunan an-Nasāʾī

His Sunan al-Kubrā and its abridgement al-Mujtabā are among the strictest of the Six Books.

adh-Dhahabī, Siyar vol. 14

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī

الْغَزَالِي

Ḥujjat al-Islām

Author of Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm ad-Dīn. Bridged fiqh, kalām, and taṣawwuf.

as-Subkī, Ṭabaqāt ash-Shāfiʿiyyah vol. 6

Ibn Taymiyyah

ابْن تَيْمِيَّة

Shaykh al-Islām

Reformer and prolific writer. His Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā spans 37 volumes. Died in the Damascus citadel.

Ibn Kathīr, Bidāyah vol. 14

Ibn Kathīr

ابْن كَثِير

Mufassir · Historian

Student of Ibn Taymiyyah. Author of the widely read Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm and al-Bidāyah wa-n-Nihāyah.

Ibn Ḥajar, ad-Durar al-Kāminah

Yaḥyā an-Nawawī

النَّوَوِي

Muḥyī ad-Dīn

Author of al-Arbaʿīn (the Forty Ḥadīth), Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn, and the commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. Died at 44.

as-Sakhāwī, at-Tarjamah · adh-Dhahabī