Tabi'un

Tabi'un
The tābiʿūn (also accusative or genitive tābiʿīn , singular tābiʿ ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the companions (ṣaḥāba) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and thus received their teachings secondhand. A tābiʿ knew at least one ṣaḥābī. As such, they played an important part in the development of Islamic thought and knowledge, and in the political development of the early caliphate.
The next generation of Muslims after the tabiʿūn are called the tābiʿ at-tābiʿīn . The first three generations of Muhammad’s followers make up the salaf of Islam.
Sunni definition
Muslims from the Sunni branch of Islam define a tābiʿ as a Muslim who:
Saw at least one of the companions of Muhammad
Was rightly-guided (ar-rāšidūn)
One who died in that state. The Khawarij are therefore not referred to as tābiʿūn even though they saw many of Muhammad's companions.
Sunni Muslims also regard the tābiʿūn as the best generation after the companions. According to Sunni Muslims, Muhammad said: "The best people are those living in my generation, then those coming after them, and then those coming after (the second generation)"
The tābiʿūn are divided by most Muslim scholars into three classes:
The students of companions who accepted Islam before the conquest of Mecca
The students of companions who accepted Islam after the conquest of Mecca
The students of companions who were not yet adults at the time of Muhammad's passing
List of tābiʿūn
The first tābiʿ to die was Zayd ibn Ma'mar ibn Zayd, 30 years after the hijra, and the last to die was Khalaf ibn Khalifa, who died in 180 AH. Alternatively, since the status of Khalaf ibn Khalifa as a tābiʿ is strongly challenged by reputed scholars, the last to die from amongst them may have been Jarir bin Haazim in 170 AH. Therefore, many of the tābiʿūn were tasked with the preservation of Islamic traditions from the era of the companions to later Muslims.
Aban ibn Uthman
Abbad ibn Abd Allah az-Zubair
Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah
Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i
Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla al-Kindi (d. 701), transmitter of traditions on Ali and the companions, joined the uprising of Ibn al-Ash'ath and killed at the Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim.
Abu Muslim al-Khawlani
Abu Hanifa (80 - 150 A.H.)
Ahnaf ibn Qais
Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin
Alqama ibn Qays
Amr ibn Uthman
Amir al-Sha'bi
Ata ibn Abi Rabah (d. 106 A.H.)
Hammam ibn Munabbih
Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah (d. 100 A.H.)
Hasan al-Basri (21 - 110 A.H.)
Ibn Jurayj
Ibn Kathir al-Makki
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 124 A.H.)
Ibn Sirin
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Malik Dinar
Masruq ibn al-Ajda' (d. 103 A.H.)
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr
Muhammad al-Baqir
Mujahid ibn Jabr
Nafi Mawla Ibn Umar
Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (d. 103 A.H.)
Said ibn al-Musayyib (d. 93 A.H.)
Sa'id ibn Jubayr
Salim ibn Abd-Allah
Shaikh Habib Al-Raee
Sulaym ibn Qays
Sulaiman al-Aʽmash
Tawus ibn Kaysan
Ubayd-Allah ibn Abd-Allah (d. 98 A.H.)
Umar II
Urwah ibn Zubayr (d. 94 A.H.)
Uwais al-Qarani
Wuhayb ibn al-Ward
Yahya ibn Sa'd (d. 143 A.H.)
Zayd ibn Ali (d. 740 C.E. (122 A.H. ?))
Al-Nakhai (d.714) Al-Nakhai
See also
Salaf
Sahaba
List of Sahaba
Taba al-Tabi‘in
References
7th-century Islam
Islamic terminology