[gabbaman]

I read somewhere in either Bukhari or Muslim that Syedna RasulUllah said sometime around the conquest of Mecca (or was it Hunayn?) something to the effect that "do not trouble me about my Sahaba", meaning thereby the old companions (who had been with him at least before the Battle of Ditch or perhaps at Hudaybia?). Does this mean that Sahaba in the real sense were the older companions who had been with the Prophet in difficult times? (May God forgive me if I am wrong in what amounts to nothing more than a stray reflection on the said Hadith) There are different types of Sahabah. In here the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) was talking about those who had fought with him in the earlier battles of Islam. So these types of Ahadith are talking about the seniority in Sahabah, and the different ranks amongst them. But technically the definition of Sahabah includes all those who saw the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) believed in him and died as Muslims. So in here the Hadith is not using the technical meaning, but rather pointing to a sub-classification among the Sahabah.