Ahl al-Ṣuffa ("people of the bench") or aṣḥāb al-ṣuffa ("those of the bench") is the name given in ḥadīth reports and in Muslim literature to a group of Companions of the prophet Muḥammad who lived in the portico or vestibule, the ṣuffa , often translated as "bench" or "banquette," of the Prophet's mosque in Medina. This portico was their only home. Sources make varying estimates as to how many of them there were, and their number changed over the years the Prophet spent in Medina. Reports variously mention