It is narrated from Iyad bin Sulayman (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The best people of my Ummah, as the Highest Assembly (al-Mala' al-A'la, the angels closest to Allah) has informed me, are people who laugh openly (with joy) at the vastness of their Lord's mercy, and weep in secret out of fear of their Lord's severe punishment. They remember their Lord morning and evening in the pure houses, namely the mosques. They call upon Him with their tongues in longing and in fear, they spread out their hands before Him in humility and entreaty, and they turn to Him with their hearts again and again. Their burden upon people is light, while their own selves are weighed down (by the toil of worship). They walk upon the earth on their feet in humility, just as ants walk, with no strutting or arrogance in their gait. They walk with tranquility and seek nearness to Allah through the means (of righteous deeds). They recite the Qur'an and offer sacrifices. They wear old clothes. Witnesses from Allah are appointed over them, and His guarding eye is upon them. They recognize people by their signs, and they reflect upon the lands (the power of Allah). Their souls are in this world and their hearts are in the Hereafter. They have no concern except (the Hereafter) that lies before them. They have prepared provisions for their graves, a permit for their path, and readiness for their standing (before Allah)." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recited this verse: "That (success) is for whoever fears standing before Me and fears My threat." [Surah Ibrahim: 14] Imam al-Hakim says: Whoever among the Sufis of our time is granted the ability to adopt these qualities, glad tidings to him, for he is following his predecessors. The Sufis are one of the various groups of the Muslims; among them are good people and bad people, not as the ignorant and the common people imagine. If these people knew the station of the first generation (of this group) in Islam and their closeness to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they would refrain from censuring and reviling them. As for the people of the Suffah in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), their names are scattered in the narrations that have reached us. If I had mentioned every hadith with its chain and the full wording of its text, this book would have become very long, and the chains of some of them do not meet the conditions of this book of mine; so I have mentioned a summary of their names from those narrations, and they are: Abu Abdullah Salman al-Farisi, Abu Ubaydah Amir bin Abdullah bin al-Jarrah, Abu al-Yaqzan Ammar bin Yasir, Abdullah bin Mas'ud al-Hudhali, al-Miqdad bin Amr bin Tha'labah (whom al-Aswad bin Abd Yaghuth had adopted, so he came to be called al-Miqdad bin al-Aswad al-Kindi), Khabbab bin al-Aratt, Bilal bin Rabah, Suhayb bin Sinan, Utbah bin Ghazwan, Zayd bin al-Khattab (the brother of Sayyiduna Umar), Abu Kabshah (the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)), Abu Marthad Kannaz bin Husayn al-Ghanawi, Salim (the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah bin Utbah bin Rabi'ah), Mistah bin Uthathah bin Abbad bin Abd al-Muttalib, Ukkashah bin Mihsan al-Asadi, Mas'ud bin al-Rabi' al-Qari, Umayr bin Awf (the freed slave of Suhayl bin Amr), Safwan bin Bayda', Abu Abs bin Jabr, Uwaym bin Sa'idah, Abu Lubabah bin Abd al-Mundhir, and Salim bin Umayr bin Thabit (he was among the Companions who wept much, and it was about him that this verse was revealed: "And their eyes were overflowing with tears out of grief." [Surah al-Tawbah: 92] ), Abu al-Yasar Ka'b bin Amr, Khubayb bin Yasaf, Abdullah bin Unays, Abu Dharr Jundub bin Junadah al-Ghifari and Utbah bin Mas'ud al-Hudhali. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both) also used to stay with them and spend the night with them in the mosque, and likewise Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) also used to stay with them and spend the night with them. Furthermore, Abu al-Darda' Uwaymir bin Amir, Abdullah bin Badr al-Juhani, al-Hajjaj bin Amr al-Aslami, Abu Hurayrah al-Dawsi, Thawban (the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)), Mu'adh bin al-Harith al-Qari, al-Sa'ib bin Khallad and Thabit bin Wadi'ah (may Allah be pleased with them all) are also among them. Imam al-Hakim says: I have gathered these names from many scattered narrations in which the people of the Suffah and those who stayed with them in the mosque are mentioned. Among them are those who emigrated early, such as Ammar bin Yasir, Salman, Bilal, Suhayb, al-Miqdad and others; among them are those who emigrated later and took up residence in the mosque as part of the people of the Suffah; and among them are those who accepted Islam in the year of the Conquest of Makkah, then came to Madinah with him (peace and blessings be upon him) and joined the people of the Suffah, since they had no home or wealth in Madinah. They are not counted (formally) among the Muhajirun, because he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no (such) emigration after the Conquest of Makkah, but jihad and intention remain." And by the grace of Allah Almighty, I hope that whoever follows in their footsteps in reliance (upon Allah) and poverty until the Day of Resurrection will be counted among them and will be raised with them; and whoever loves them, even if he is a man of the world and of wealth, the same is hoped for him too, because he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever loves a people will be raised (on the Day of Resurrection) with them."