If I could meet any 4 of the Companions and have a one-hour conversation, I’d choose: • ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb – justice and strength • Abu Hurayrah (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr) – guardian of hadith • Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq – the closest friend and companion of the Prophet Pbuh • Khālid ibn al-Walīd – the Sword of Allah (extra) As for the Tābiʿeen, I’d choose ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ. I read his story as a kid and it never left me – a man who took Islam across lands, riding until the edge of the ocean. That kind of conviction imprints on you. The guy who rode his horse to the Atlantic, raised his hands, and (as the stories say) called out that if it weren’t for the sea, he’d keep going fi sabīlillāh.