It is often mentioned that Sa'id ibn al-Mussayib سعید بن المسیب was one of the 7 scholars or fuqahaa' of Medina. My guess is that this refers to scholars of the age of the followers (at-Tabi'yn التابعين), but this era might similarlyto that of the sahabah be divided into sighar and kibar as-Sahabah (Sahabah who were very young when the prophet() died or when they met the prophet() I'm not 100% clear about the correct use of this term).
- Who are the others?
- Where they really seven and why where they called so?
- Did all of them live at the same time period?
This might look as a multi question post, but I guess we can only know whether these questions are really that much different after receiving an answer or input!