I have previously mentioned that the Suffah was like a scientific school where everyone who came to Madinah learned. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would constantly pass by them, advise them, and teach them. Abu Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I passed by and saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) teaching the people of the Suffah Surah An-Nisa. He (peace be upon him) encouraged them to seek knowledge and learn the Holy Quran. It is narrated from Uqbah ibn Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came out while we were in the Suffah and said: 'Which of you would like to go every morning to Bathan or Al-Aqiq and bring two large-humped she-camels without sin or severing ties of kinship?' We said: 'O Messenger of Allah, we would like that.' He said: 'Would not one of you go to the mosque and learn or recite two verses from the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, which is better for him than two she-camels, and three are better than three, and four are better than four, and so on in number of camels?' Narrated by Muslim. Due to the Prophet's (peace be upon him) care for the people of the Suffah, their closeness to him, and their constant companionship with him, many scholars, interpreters, hadith narrators, and jurists emerged from among them. After the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), they spread to all corners of the earth and practically applied what they had learned in this school from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). They narrated the hadiths they had heard from him. Thus, the people of the Suffah played a great role in spreading Islam throughout the world, because they understood the importance of da'wah and conveying this knowledge to all people. I can outline their efforts in spreading Islam as follows:

First: The most important sources of education in Islam are the Holy Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah. A number of Companions from the people of the Suffah excelled in both. Some of them competed in memorizing the Quran, reciting it, and acting upon it. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) encouraged and motivated them to do so. Abu Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I passed by and saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) teaching the people of the Suffah Surah An-Nisa. Sometimes, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would ask someone to recite the Quran to him, as he asked Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) to recite to him. He said: 'Recite to me.' Ibn Mas'ud said: 'O Messenger of Allah, shall I recite to you when it was revealed to you?' He said: 'I love to hear it from someone else.' Ibn Mas'ud said: So I recited from Surah An-Nisa until I reached the verse: 'How then if We brought from each nation a witness and We brought you as a witness against these people?' (4:41). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him: 'That is enough.' Ibn Mas'ud said: I turned to him and saw his eyes were shedding tears. (Agreed upon). Thus, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would renew his teaching methods to teach them the Holy Quran, until a considerable number of reciters graduated from this school. In the fourth year of Hijrah, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent seventy men from the Companions, known as the reciters (qurra'), to a tribe to teach them, but they betrayed them and killed them all. Among these scholars was Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), who became one of the famous Companions known for memorizing the Holy Quran and excelling in its interpretation, knowledge of its reasons for revelation, abrogating and abrogated verses. His knowledge and virtue spread far and wide due to his many companions and students, whose number exceeds one hundred. He (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 'I took from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) seventy surahs, with no one disputing with me about them.' (Narrated by Ahmad). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) testified to his knowledge, saying: 'Learn the Quran from four: Abdullah (i.e., Ibn Mas'ud), Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Mu'adh ibn Jabal.' (Narrated by Bukhari). His knowledge of the Book of Allah reached such a level that he said: 'No verse of the Book of Allah was revealed except that I know where it was revealed and concerning what it was revealed.' Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was keen to spread knowledge to future generations because he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say: 'Whoever conceals knowledge that is beneficial, Allah will bridle him with a bridle of fire on the Day of Resurrection.' Therefore, he advised his children to spread knowledge and convey the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

After the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) moved to Iraq and had his own school there for teaching the Holy Quran and teaching it to the people. The Companions and the Followers raced to Ibn Mas'ud to learn the Quran from him. Al-Dhahabi said: Recited to him (i.e., studied under him) Alqamah, Masruq, Al-Aswad, Zirr ibn Hubaysh, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, and a group... and many people gained deep understanding of religion through him, and they did not prefer anyone over him in knowledge.

Ibn al-Qayyim said in 'I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in': 'Religion, jurisprudence, and knowledge spread in the Ummah through the companions of Ibn Mas'ud, the companions of Zayd ibn Thabit, the companions of Abdullah ibn Umar, and the companions of Ibn Abbas. So the general knowledge of the people came from the companions of these four.' Ibn Mas'ud was the most prolific narrator of hadith among the Companions and the most active in teaching the Quran and spreading jurisprudence and fatwa. He had many students who became sources for subsequent generations in interpreting the Quran, understanding its rulings, and knowing its reasons for revelation.

Second: They preserved the noble hadiths, applied them, and became the primary source for the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Among them was Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), who narrated five thousand three hundred and sixty-four hadiths (including repetitions). He was the most prolific narrator of hadith among the Companions and the most retentive. Al-Nawawi reported consensus on this. Among them was Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, who was concerned with the hadiths of trials (fitan) and used to say: 'The people used to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about good, but I used to ask him about evil for fear that it might overtake me. I said: O Messenger of Allah, we were in ignorance and evil, then Allah brought this good; will there be evil after this good? He said: Yes. I said: Will there be good after that evil? He said: Yes, but it will be tainted. I said: What is its taint? He said: A people who follow a way other than my way and are guided by other than my guidance; you will recognize some and reject others. I said: Will there be evil after that good? He said: Yes, callers at the gates of Hell; whoever responds to them, they will throw him into it. I said: O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us. He said: Yes, they are people from our own skin and speak our language. I said: O Messenger of Allah, what do you command me if I encounter that? He said: Stick to the main body of Muslims and their leader. I said: What if there is no main body of Muslims nor a leader? He said: Then withdraw from all those sects, even if you have to bite onto the root of a tree until death overtakes you while you are in that state.' (Agreed upon). Among them was Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). He was a man of piety and knowledge. He narrated much beneficial knowledge from the Prophet (peace be upon him), from his father, Abu Bakr, Uthman, Ali, Bilal, Suhayb, Amir ibn Rabi'ah, Zayd ibn Thabit, his sister Hafsah, Aisha, and others (may Allah be pleased with them all). Many Companions narrated from him, such as Jabir, Ibn Abbas, and others. Among the senior Followers who narrated from him were Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Aslam, Alqamah ibn Waqqas, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Nahdi, Masruq, Jubayr ibn Nufayr, and later their freed slaves: Abdullah ibn Dinar, Nafi', Zayd, Khalid ibn Aslam, and others.

There are dozens of other names from the people of the Suffah who played a great role in spreading the teachings and rulings of Islam, such as: Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Salman al-Farsi, Ka'b ibn Malik al-Ansari, Bilal ibn Rabah, Al-Bara' ibn Malik al-Ansari, Wathilah ibn al-Asqa', Harithah ibn al-Nu'man, Abdullah Dhu al-Bijadayn, Tukhfah ibn Qays al-Ghifari, Sa'id ibn Amir al-Jumahi, Hanzalah ibn Amir al-Ansari (Ghasil al-Mala'ikah), Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, Zayd ibn al-Khattab, Salim ibn Umayr, and many others. Thus, the people of the Suffah became among the most important sources for transmitting the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).