«وَهُوَ مَنْ لَقِيَ الصَّحَابِيَّ»
A Successor is one who met a Companion.
The relevant encounter is not with the Prophet ﷺ but with a Companion. The broad term “met” remains central; a formal teacher–student relationship or years of constant association are not the defining test.
Application: If a person demonstrably met a Companion and met the relevant religious qualifications, they can belong to the Successor generation even without narrating a hadith directly from that Companion. Merely being born during a Companion’s lifetime, by contrast, does not prove an actual meeting.