Last week we mentioned the main incidents of the Meccan era, today we'll finish off the incidents of the Madani era, and also mention some of the ahadith of the blessings of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq RA, the fadaail of the Abu Bakr i.e. how did th e prophet SAW praise Abu Bakr? We'll focus on these things for this lesson. Next week we begin post-seerah. Obviously Abu Bakr's name occurs so many times during the Madani era, and the re ason is obvious: the prophet SAW never ever participated in any expidition excep t that Abu Bakr RA was by his sides. In other words he is one of the VERY few sa haba who participated in each and every gazwa of the prophet SAW without any exc eption, and that is very rare. Only a handful of sahaba have this honour. Theref ore, ibn Kathir the famous historian writes "none of the historians disagree abo ut the fact that Abu Bakr as Siddiq participated in every single battle alongsid e the prophet SAW". Therefore there is so much narrated about him for each incid ent/battle that occured. So we'll have a refresher and discuss these incidents f rom the perspective of Abu Bakr RA. We begin with the battle of Badr, and when the prophet SAW found out that the ca ravan of Abu Suffyan was in fact that army from Mecca - he stopped and asked the sahabah "what should we do?" The first person to stand up was indeed Abu Bakr a s-Siddiq and he said "ya RasulAllah we are behind you". The prophet SAW thanked him, he sat down and then the prophet SAW asked again. At this Umar RA stood up and said the same, the prophet SAW thanked him and Umar RA sat down. Then the An sar understood "you mean us ya RasulAllah" and they gave the passionate speech w e all know. The point is that Abu Bakr RA was the first person to stand up and s ay "we are behind you". Also in Badr when the prophet SAW went on a stealth miss ion, and only he wanted to go along with Abu Bakr - they passed by the old man f rom Najd, but he did not recognise them so he said "who are you?" The prophet SA W said "I will tell you where we are from if you tell me what we want to know". So this conversation started back and forth, but who was there with the prophet SAW? Again it was Abu Bakr as Siddiq RA. He is the one the prophet SAW is taking with him. Also, before the battle of Badr, the prophet SAW had a canope built for him. Rig ht before the battle for many hours he stood outside the canope with his hands r aised up to Allah, asking and begging for help. And he said "OH Allah if we are defeated then you might not be worshipped on this Earth. We beg for your help" a nd he kept on begging until his garment fell down. Who stood up at that time? It was Abu Bakr. He lifted up the garment, put it back on, held on the prophet SAW s hand and said "oh messenger of Allah, enough - Allah will help you! Allah is e nough for you!" This is one of the most bizzare incidents. Abu Bakr is the one t elling the prophet SAW to calm down and consoling him. It's a difficult thing to put into words - it's not as if the prophet SAW needs anyone but still he's hum an. And Abu Bakr is consoling him "it is enough" and he's reassuring the prophet SAW, and that is enough of a miqam (level) - who else could have possibly done this other than Abu Bakr as Siddiq? Ibn Ishaaq says as soon as the prophet SAW l owered his hands and walked back into the canope, right then and there, he fell into the trance of wahi - and he opened his eyes and his face was shining and he said "I give you good news Abu Bakr for here he is Jibreel and he has come tell ing me Allah has promised His aid upon us". So look at the linkage of Abu Bakr i n this whole episode. He's the one telling the prophet SAW "it is enough, Allah will answer" - and indeed right then and there Jibreel comes, and the first pers on to be given the good news is Abu Bakr RA. The whole battle of Badr, the pre-c ursors, Abu Bakr is along with the prophet SAW. As-Suyuti mentions that narration found in other books where later on Abdur Rehm an, the son of Abu Bakr, who accepted Islam AFTER Badr, says to Abu Bakr "oh my father, on the day of Badr I actually saw you (From the other side) and I purpos efully avoided you i.e. if I wanted to I could have but I let you go". Abu Bakr as Siddiq said to him "but if you had come to me, I would have been the one to g
et you first" meaning 'your kufr at that time was such a big deal it was not rel evant we are biologically connected i.e. I would have killed you'. As well in Ba dr towards the end of the battle, Abu Bakr was also involved with the issues of the prisoners of war. When the prophet SAW had the 72 prisoners before him and a sked "what should we do?" Once again the first person to answer was Abu Bakr RA and this is a constant theme throughout the seerah. The first person to answer a ny question of the prophet SAW is always Abu Bakr. So Abu Bakr says about the pr isoners "let them stay alive, they are our family and relatives, perhaps Allah w ill guide them". Umar RA was the one who said "I disagree, these people wanted t o fight and kill you, they don't deserve our sympathy, they should be executed". At this our prophet SAW said to Abu Bakr as Siddiq "Allah makes the hearts of so me people so soft it becomes like milk, and the hearts of others so hard it beco mes like rock". Referring to Abu Bakr and Umar RA. And then he said "Oh Abu Bakr you are similar to Isa AS when he said in the Qur'an to Allah on the day of Jud gement 'If you punish you have a right to punish, but if you forgive then you ar e the one who is all wise and powerful'". So Isa AS wants Allah to forgive. Then he turned to Umar RA and said "And you oh Umar are similar to Nuh AS when he sa id 'Oh Allah don't leave a single kaafir on Earth' and Musa AS when Musa made du a to Allah and said 'Oh Allah make their hearts dark so they don't believe until the punishment comes to them'". So Musa AS made a dua against Firone, and there was no mercy. So Umar RA is compared to Musa AS and Abu Bakr RA is compared to Isa AS. This is the sunnah of Allah's creation - some are soft and some are stri cter; the world needs a little bit of both. Both Umar and Abu Bakr had a point. It's interesting in this issue the prophet SAW sided with Abu Bakr RA but Allah revealed "you should not have done this, but I will forgive you". The prophet SA W agreed with Abu Bakr but the verses of the Qur'an came down "it is not appropi ate a prophet SAW take prisoners until he has established his power". Right now the prophet SAW was just beginning, so keeping prisoners might have indicated we akness. But Allah overlooked and forgave the prophet SAW for doing what he did. But interestingly, it was the position of Umar RA Allah approved more in this ca se. As for the battle of Uhud, once again Abu Bakr has a role to play. First when th e prophet SAW wanted to remain, Abu Bakr agreed with the prophet SAW. Remember t he younger sahabah wanted to go and fight, and it was the senior sahabah to had to set them right. Abu Bakr RA got irritiated and said "how can you have disagre ed when the prophet SAW wanted to stay?" And when the battle of Uhud turned its tide, it was Abu Bakr as Siddiq along with a very small group who directly defen ded the prophet SAW. But in this incident Abu Bakr was not at the immediate fore front. He himself says "on that day Talha had the honour over me" - Talha was on e of the 10 promised Jannah. At Uhud it so happened Talha was always with the pr ophet SAW throughout whereas Abu Bakr as Siddiq had walked a little bit away fro m the prophet SAW when the chaos began. So when the prophet SAW ran backwards af ter warning the sahabah, Abu Bakr was not running with him. And it took some tim e for Abu Bakr to catch up and find him. During that time Talha was with the pro phet SAW and Abu Bakr was not. So Abu Bakr always felt this and said "that day w as the day for Talha". So Abu Bakr always had this in his heart even though it i s trivial in the long run. In the end the fact is Abu Bakr was one of the first people who found the prophet SAW and defended him. What really demonstrates the status of Abu Bakr even from the non-muslims point of view is that when everything was said and done at Uhud and Abu Suffyan shouts out from the other side "is Muhammad alive?" The sahabah were quiet. Then Abu S uffyan said "is Abi Qahafa alive?" The sahabah were quiet. Then Abu Suffyan said "is ibn al Khattab alive?" And the sahabah were quiet. Look at his own line of questions: the prophet SAW, Abu Bakr and Umar RA. This is truly significant. Why ? This is the battle of Uhud. Many years still to go to the death of the prophet SAW. Yet still in their minds who are the two right after the prophet SAW? This
is the testimony of the leader of the Quraysh at the time. Even they recognised the heirachy. The prophet SAW, Abu Bakr RA and then Umar RA. This is an amazing testimony that it is said that some muslim groups i.e. shia, do not recognise. Even the jaheleya Quraysh recognised this. Right after the battle of Badr there was the expulsion of the Banu Nadeer, the t ribe that wanted to assassinate the prophet SAW. Once again it was the prophet S AW, Abu Bakr and Umar who went to negotiate. And the prophet SAW sat under the w all of the fortress. And the Banu Nadeer tried to throw the stone on him, but Ji breel came and said to him "leave right now before they get to the top". Who was next to the prophet SAW at the time? Abu Bakr and Umar RA. Likewise, in the inc ident of the Banu Mustaliq, something happened on the way back and Abu Bakr was involved. The necklace of A'isha was missing (NOT to be confused with the slande r) - A'isha's necklace was lost and she told the prophet SAW it was lost. In the slander incident, A'isha went to relieve herself and was not inside her tent, b ut the carriers did not know this. In the Banu Mustaliq she lost her necklace an d told the prophet SAW. So he sent some people to find it, and the entire army i s looking for it - eventually they run out of water because they planned to go b ack to Madinah by a certain day. But when they ran out of water, they didn't hav e water to make wudu. And so at this Allah reveals the verses of tayammum. And w hen they come down Usayl ibn Hudhayr of the Ansar says "this is not the first of your blessings oh Abu Bakr". Meaning it was a gift to the ummah because of Abu Bakrs family i.e. his daughter A'isha. Also Abu Bakr RA participated in the battle of Khandak, and he was sent as a com mander to take care of one of the larger fortresses, and in the expulsion of the Banu Quraydha. Of course during the incident of the slander of A'isha itself, A bu Bakr played a difficult role - on the one side is A'isha and on the other sid e is the prophet SAW. And we felt his pain throughout the whole incident. And at the end of it he made a vow to Allah that he will never support his cousin Mist ah. Because he was one of those who spread the slander. So he said in anger "wal ahi I won't support Mistah". At this Allah revealed in the Qur'an in surah Nur v erse 22 "..and let not the people of fadal (money/superiority in blessing) make promises to Allah that they will not support the muhajir, and the masakeen (poor ) and their close relatives. Let them forgive and move on - don't you love that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is the most forgiving". So this ayah was rev ealed as a reference to Abu Bakr RA. So Allah calls him from the people of fadal - the one who has fadeela i.e. honour and sa'a meaning ease of living. And here Allah is saying to Abu Bakr that he shall be forgiven, so this is an explicit p hrase in the Qur'an because it came down literally for him. So he's referenced b y the pronoun. Abu Bakr also played a prominent role in the incident of Hudaybiyyah when the pr ophet SAW asked the sahabah what they should do when he heard Khalid ibn Waleed came to block him. Once again Abu Bakr said first "ya RasulAllah you left Madina h wanting to go to the house of Allah. You had no desire to wage war or fight; t hey have prevented us from entering. We shall continue forth as you had intended and if they fight then we shall fight back". And the prophet SAW agreed to this suggestion and went on, but then camped at Hudaybiyyah. So Abu Bakr was the one who said "we are not going back - we should continue going forth" so they went on and the treaty of Hudaybiyyah was formed as a result. Of course the highlight of the incident was the interesting anecdote that occured during negotiations. If you recall there were several people who went back and forth for the negotiat ions. One of them was Urwa ibn Mas'ud from the tribe of Taqif. The Quraysh had n ot up until this person sent someone from their said. Urwa was the cheifton from the Taqif tribe and he said "don't you trust me - let me resolve this issue for you". So Urwa visited the camp of the prophet SAW. A number of things happened; Urwa held onto the beard of the prophet SAW, but his hand was hit and he was to ld "get your hand of the beard of the prophet SAW". So Urwa ibn Mas'ud said "oh Muhammad here you are having attacked your own home city, and the Quraysh have g
athered everyone to attack you - even their women and children and allies". So h e's blaming the prophet SAW - he's saying YOU are attacking your own city. So he 's spinning the truth on its head. Then Urwa said the famous line "the people of Mecca are all related, but as for you I see nothing but strangers. Unknown faces. Who are these people?" From his perspective there is no one tribe. What is their combining them together? Nothin g. So he said "I see a group of unknown strangers, as soon as the first blow fal ls, these people will leave you all alone!" At THIS Abu Bakr as-Siddiq's voice w as heard in a very loud and crude manner. It is truly a vulgar statement, but it demonstrates clearly so many things. The anger and range of the Abu Bakr as Sid diq - he is without a doubt NOT the type to use foul language. Yet here he utter s something worse than the F word. And he's uttering in Arabic something involvi ng the genetalia of female idols. And what Urwa should do with those genetalia. And this phrase is so crude and vulgar, and yet it is coming from the mouth of t he greatest sahabi. It shows many things: primarily, how angry Abu Bakr became. And it is a legitimate anger, because this man had insulted the prophet SAW, and the imaan of the sahabah. Abu Bakr's rage just spilled out! "Who are YOU to que stion our loyalty to the prophet SAW?" This also shows this anger, even though g enerally it is not allowed, yet at times some anger is healthy. Now that Urwa ha s insulted the prophet SAW and the sahabah, perhaps the only way to make him und erstand is get down to his own level. Again this is generally something not perm itted - you cannot make fun of any Gods. Yet what can be said is that, at some t imes it IS permitted. This is the majority opinion because the prophet SAW was s ilent. If it was sinful or wrong he would have later on corrected. So one can sa y this act was permissable, OR that Abu Bakr was forgiven because it was the hea t of the moment. It's not something however that should be aimed for. The point is this anger that made a shy, calm and collect man utter this vulgar phrase that was very crude, just to get the point accross that "how dare you que stion our loyalty to the prophet SAW". Urwa's response was "Who uttered such a t hing?" And he was told it was Abu Bakr as Siddiq. So Urwa said "were it not for the fact that you have a favour over me that I still haven't repaid, I would hav e responded back to you". Urwa here is referring to a loan that Abu Bakr had giv en Urwa in the days of jaheleya that was still unpaid. So Urwa said "because I s till owe you, my tongue will be queit". Once again we see the amazing personalit y of Abu Bakr that so many people OWE him a kindness. Moving on in the conquest of Mecca a few years after Hudaybiyyah, the prophet SA W enters Mecca and right next to him is Abu Bakr as Siddiq. And he asks Abu Bakr "what were the lines that Hasan ibn Thabit said?" Hasan had written a poem hopi ng the muslims would re-enter Mecca. So it's like a poem full of hope. So he's a sking Abu Bakr what those lines were. So Abu Bakr with his excellent memory reci ted back the poem; so Abu Bakr is the one who is reciting the poetry of Hasan ib n Thabit. After the conquest, when the prophet SAW fought in Hunayn and the arro ws began coming down in the valley, the sahabah began fleeing other than a small group protecting the prophet SAW, and Abu Bakr was apart of that group. Abu Bak r RA never once turned his back to the prophet SAW. In the seige of Ta'if he als o participated, and in this seige his eldest son Abdullah was severely wounded b y an arrow that was semi-fatal. The wound never healed for the next 1.5 years un til eventually his son Abdullah died 40 days after the death of the prophet SAW. He never recovered from that wound he recieved at the seige of Ta'if. It's narr ated the tribe of Taqif visited Abu Bakr as-Siddiq during his khilafa. And Abu B akr had kept the arrow that had killed his son - so he took it and asked the tri be "do you recognise whose this arrow belongs to?" Until one of them, Saeed ibn Ubayd said "this is my arrow - I'm the one who carved it, feathered it and shot it". Each arrow back then was custom made and hand made. Arrows themselves were collected and used again. So Saeed said he was the one who did it but of course he dosen't know who it hit. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq says, and look at his imaan "this is the arrow that killed my son Abdullah, so alhamdhulillah who honoured him th
rough you, and did not humiliate you through him, for that is better for the bot h of you". What does this mean? Allah gave his son shahada through Saeed. And Allah did not humiliate Saeed because he became muslim, so his sins are forgiven and he won't be punished. When he shot the arrow he wasn't a muslim, but now coming to Madin ah he is a muslim. So Abu Bakr is thanking Allah for the both: Allah honoured hi s son AND did not humiliate Saeed for killing his son. This is the imaan of Abu Bakr as Siddiq. After that was the battle of Tabuk - the competition between Abu Bakr and Umar of raising the money took place here. When Umar said "today I sha ll win over Abu Bakr - I shall give more than him". And Umar brought with him HA LF of his wealth, and Abu Bakr brought ALL of his wealth. Also in Tabuk the prop het SAW handed him the main primary flag so he was a flag bearer. Also when they were going there they ran out of supplies and water. So much so they sacrificed their camels just to get water out of their humps. And Abu Bakr went to the pro phet SAW and said "make dua for all of us that Allah gives us rain". The prophet SAW complied and rain immediately came down. After Tabuk was the Hajj of the 9th year - who was put in charge? Abu Bakr as Si ddiq. And we see here more and more Abu Bakrs role is getting higher and higher. He's given the flag of Tabuk, he becomes the leader of the Hajj - the only Hajj that was done in which the prophet SAW himself did not participate in. And Ali RA is explicitly sent to give some announcement but Ali is clearly sent as someo ne UNDER Abu Bakr. This is something even Abu Bakr asked "are you coming to take charge or are you coming to help out?" Ali RA said "No you are in charge but I will help out". This is very clear and explicit symbolism. As for Abu Bakrs role and incidents in the final days of the seerah: the patience, the fact that he c amped out inside the masjid, he didn't visit his families for days, until finall y when they thought the prophet SAW was feeling better, on the same morning he S AW passed away Abu Bakr went back home. But that is when the news comes that the prophet SAW passed away. OF course when the news came we all know what Umar RA did and what Abu Bakr did. And that he was the one who had the courage to tell Umar ibn al Khattab to SIT DOWN. The same thing also happened in the treaty of Hudaybiyyah - after the trea ty, Umar RA began to question the wisdom of the treaty: "Oh messenger why should accept humiliation? Are you not the messenger of Allah?" Then Umar goes to Abu Bakr and says the same thing, but Abu Bakr holds onto Umar and said "OH Umar!" w ith a raised voice. And no one but Abu Bakr had the audacity to raise their voic e against Umar. "Oh Umar know your place for he IS the messenger of Allah!" So i t needed Abu Bakr to put Umar in his place. That is the imaan of Abu Bakr RA. An d this is also demonstrated of course at the death of the prophet SAW. Some other incidents we didn't cover in the seerah that occured and are mentione d in books of tafsir and literature. There's a story mentioned about his debate with a rabbi by the name of Finhas. And he was arguing with Finhas - this shows Abu Bakr went out to give daw'ah to others. So he's debating until Finhas says s omething that is completely inappropiate and frankly kufr: you are allowed to na rrate kufr by narrating and not believing, so Finhas said "we have no need of yo ur Lord, rather Allah has a need for us, because we do not ask Him as much as he asks us for our wealth". Basically because Allah is saying 'give sadaqah' Finha s is saying Allah needs them. At this Abu Bakr got so angry that he punched him. Again this is not in the nature of Abu Bakr, but when he got angry he punched h im and said "were it not for the fact we have a treaty with you I would have exe cuted you for that". This is mockery of Allah. Beyond the red line. This also sh ows us there are types of blasphemy in Islam. One type is simply stating what yo u believe i.e. a christian says "I believe in the trinity". That is fine - but t o go beyond this and intentionally mock Allah and His messenger, that is not sim ply saying what you believe. This person mocked Allah and made fun and so Abu Ba kr hits him very hard. Finhas complained to the prophet SAW and said "look at wh
at your companion has done". So the prophet SAW called Abu Bakr and Abu Bakr tol d him the whole story. But Finhas denied and at this Allah revealed Surah al Imr an verse 181: "Allah has certainly heard the statement of those [Jews] who said, "Indeed, Alla h is poor, while we are rich." We will record what they said and their killing o f the prophets without right and will say, "Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire." So this ayat came down to defend Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. When the man denied Allah d efended Abu Bakr as-Siddiq RA. Another incident narrated that when the husband of Hafsah died and Umar went to Abu Bakr and said "my daughter is now a widow, would you be interested?" Abu Bak r was silent and embarassed and said "I'm not thinking of marriage at this time" . Later on Abu Bakr found Umar RA after the prophet SAW has proposed for Hafsah and said "remember that time you came to my house and offered your daughter, per haps you felt something in your heart" i.e. Umar felt something 'why is Abu Bakr rejecting my daughter?' So later on Abu Bakr wanted to clear the air up: "Oh Um ar maybe you felt something that day?" Umar RA said "Yes I did". Abu Bakr said " I knew the prophet SAW was interested in Hafsah and I would never share the secr ets of the prophet SAW before they are opened by himself" meaning he could not t ell Umar RA the secret that the prophet SAW was interested until he himself said it. The point is that, again we see the amanah and protection Abu Bakr has for the prophet SAW. And also his imaan and taqwah. There's an interesting narration in Imam Ahmeds book and in it it's mentioned on ce Abu Bakr's servant gave him a delicious meal to eat and after he had eatan th e servant said "do you know where I got the money for this? In the days of jahel eya I used to be someone who predicted the future and so I did this palmestry an d I saved up some money - so now I gifted you this food" meaning the servant is trying to impress Abu Bakr RA. But Abu Bakr when he heard this got angry. Obviou sly to pratice palm reading is not halal. Technically speaking this money is not clear cut haraam; firstly because the servant had embraced Islam so what he did in Jaheleya was back then and not know. Second, haraam money does not remain ha raam as it passes hand to hand - this is a grey issue but the point is, Allah di d not put an obligation on us to find out "where did you get YOUR money from?" I f it's haraam that is the bearer's responsibility, but when it is transferred ov er it becomes halal. But when Abu Bakr had heard this man had earned the money t hrough this haraam means, Abu Bakr put his finger in his mouth and forced himsel f to vomit. Because he never ate a morsel of haraam. Again this shows us the ima an and taqwah of Abu Bakr. One final incident of the seerah which is truly beautiful: a hadith narrated in the sunan of Abu Dawud, in which it's narrated that once the prophet SAW and A'i sha were in their house and Abu Bakr came to visit them. And he heard A'isha's v oice raising up over the prophet SAW - as any marital issue happens. So she is s peaking loudly over the prophet SAW in some heated discussion. When Abu Bakr hea rs this he becomes very angry. He asks permission to come in and it is granted, and he begins to rebuke his daughter A'isha. And he says to her "how dare you ra ise your voice against the prophet SAW" and his temper begins to flare until A'i sha thinks she is going to be hit by your father, and the prophet SAW comes in b etween the two of them and calms Abu Bakr down. Then when Abu Bakr leaves the pr ophet SAW turns to A'isha and says "don't you see how I defended you from him?" A few days later Abu Bakr comes to visit them again and he hears laughter and jo king so they have now reconciled. Again this is from the blessings of Allah that we get tidbits of the marriage of the prophet SAW, and the fact that he had a n ormal marital life. We know just enough to feel comfortable we are human. We don 't need to know the details of the arguments etc. But alhamdhulillah their marri ages were the best marriages and they still engage in some form of arguments. Ev
en the prophet SAW raised his voice with his wives - this is apart of a married life. No big deal. So Abu Bakr visits them again and hears them joking. So he knocks on the door an d says "oh messenger of Allah allow me to visit you while you're in peace, as yo u allowed me to visit you while you were at war". This is a beautiful narration which shows the joking nature - Abu Bakr is his best friend, and in-law etc all of this comes together. So this really is a beautiful narration that demonstrate s that of course Abu Bakr was a father in law, he was also a close friend and th e best disciple. For the next part in we'll discuss Sahih al Bhukari book 62, the blessings of th e sahabah. In it, imam Bhukari goes over many sahabah one after another. Of cour se the first one is Abu Bakr as-Saddiq. The superiority and blessings of Abu Bak r as-Siddiq. So we'll discuss these hadith: 1) Ibn Umar said "during the lifetime of the prophet SAW we would come together and discuss who was the best of the people. And we would always consider Abu Bak r was the best of us, then Umar ibn al-Khattab, and then Uthman ibn Affan." It's interesting ibn Umar is narrating this hadith; he himself says Abu Bakr was the best, and then his father Umar next, and then Uthman. 2) Ibn Abbass narrated the prophet SAW said "if I were to take a khaleel (close friend) I would have taken Abu Bakr but I cannot so he is my brother and compani on". In another version the prophet SAW says "Allah has taken me as a khaleel". 3) Imam al Bhukari says "a women came to the prophet SAW and asked for something so he said 'come back on the next day'. She said 'what if I cannot find you?' i .e. what if death overtakes the prophet SAW? The prophet SAW said 'if you do not find me then go to Abu Bakr'". This hadith is used by ibn Hajar, and imam an-Na wawi and so many people to indicate the khilafa. It is AS explicit as you can ge t. The prophet SAW said "If you do not find ME, then GO TO ABU BAKR". Even thoug h the store is about a women and her money, the wording is VERY clear. 4) Amar ibn Yasir narrates "I remember a time when I Saw the prophet SAW and he only had following him five slaves, two women and Abu Bakr". Meaning the ONLY fr ee man following him at the beginning of Islam was Abu Bakr RA. 5) Abu Darda said "I was sitting with the prophet SAW when Abu Bakr came holding onto his garment, lifting up onto his shin and when teh prophet SAW saw him he said 'clearly your companion has been in an argument'. Abu Bakr came up, said sa laam and said 'oh messenger of Allah, Umar and myself had a dispute and I said s omething I regretted so I asked him to forgive me but he refused so I came rushi ng to you'. The prophet SAW said three times 'Allah will forgive you oh Abu Bakr '. Then Umar regretted and calmed down, went to the house of Abu Bakr but could not find him. Went to the prophet SAW and when he came the prophet SAWs face bec ame frowning with anger seeing Umar." SubhanAllah look at this. "Until Abu Bakr felt sorry for Umar and said 'oh messenger of Allah I was at fault more than him '. Until the prophet SAW said 'verily Allah has sent me to you and all of you sa id 'you are lying' except for Abu Bakr and he has helped me with his wealth and money, so leave my companion alone for me. Stop irritating my companion" and aft er this NO ONE ever irritated Abu Bakr. This clearly demonstrates even between U mar and Abu Bakr, Abu Bakr is much higher in status. 6) Amar ibn al-As - the prophet SAW sent him in the expidition of Thatusalasit w hen Amr was a new muslim. And the prophet SAW treated everyone so nicely they th ought 'I must be the prophet SAWs favourite'. This was his nature. So Amr ibn al -As asked him "oh messenger of Allah who is your favourite?" because Amr thought he was that person. Recall Amr was apart of the last three who converted before the conquest of Mecca. So he feels the prophet SAW loves him the most. The prop
het SAW replied "A'isha". So he gets akward and said "No I meant amongst men!" S o the prophet SAW said "Her father". Then Amr says "who after him?" The prophet SAW says "Umar". Amr said "Who after him?" and this continued until finally Amr kept quiet. SubhanAllah. Again this hadith clearly demonstrates Abu Bakr is firs t and Umar is number two. 7) Abu Hurairah narrates the prophet SAW said "one time there was a shepard amon gst his flock and a wolf came and took one of the sheep away. So the shepard wen t running after the wolf. The wolf turned around to the shepard and spoke and sa id 'who will protect the sheep on the day of calamity when there shall be no she pard other than me to protect your flock?'" Meaning the wolf is basically saying there'll be a day when you will be too busy to look after your sheep. Some of t he people said "SubhanAllah!" meaning they're amazed an animal spoke. The prophe t SAW said "I believe that this is true and so does Abu Bakr, and so does Umar". Without Abu Bakr even speaking, the prophet SAW testifies on Abu Bakrs behalf. This is again an explicit hadith of the praise of Abu Bakr as Siddiq. 8) Abu Hurairah narrates the prophet SAW said "When I was sleeping I had a dream I was at the edge of a well, and there was a bucket and I kept on pulling from the bucket as long as Allah wanted. Then ibn Abi Quhafa (Abu Bakr) pulled it one or two times and there was some weakness in his pulling" - meaning for a year o r two, and the 'weakness' in his pulling is a civil war and the fact that the um mah is almost going to break up (the wars of Riddah) - "and Allah will forgive h im for that weakness". Meaning it's not his fault. "Then it became a massive buc ket and Umar ibn al Khattab took it, and I never saw an ab-qari (amazing superna tural person) do the pulling like the pulling of Umar. And he kept on pulling un til even the camel drank". This is the prediction of the conquests of Umar RA an d indeed to this DAY we live off those amazing conquests of Umar RA. What Umar d id - the persian and Roman empires, all the way to Egypt and China. All of this was under Umar RA. 9) The prophet SAW said "whoever lowers his thobe out of arrogance and pride All ah will not look at him on the day of Judgement". Abu Bakr said "Oh messenger of Allah my thobe sometimes falls down unless I pull it up" because Abu Bakr was v ery skinny as we said and his belt would not hold. So the prophet SAW said "you are of those who does not do it out of pride". Meaning Abu Bakr is being praised for being humble and sincere. 10) The prophet SAW said "whoever gives charity for the sake of Allah, he'll be invited from that door of good. So whoever is of the people of salah will be cal led from the door of salah. And Whoever was from the people of jihad will be cal led from the door of jihad. And Whoever was from the people of charity will be c alled from the door of charity. And Whoever was from the people of fasting will be called from the door of fasting (ar-rayaan)." Abu Bakr said "How fortunate is the one called from any door but is there anyone that will be called from all o f them?" The prophet SAW said "yes and I'm optimistic you will one of them". Loo k at Abu Bakrs mind and his aim. He isn't content with one door. He wants all of those doors. So his question was "will it be POSSIBLE to be called from more th an one door?" Abu Bakr wants to conquer all of the doors. This is what you calle d truly aiming high. 11) Then imam al Bhukari has the very long hadith about the death of the prophet SAW and what happened. Abu Bakrs calmness and collectness, the fact that he spo ke to Umar, the fact that he said "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, then Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped Allah, then Allah is Alive and shall never die." T his is a long hadith that goes a page long. 12) The next hadith is Abu Musa al-Ashari that "one day I did wudu and made a pr omise to myself myself 'I will follow the prophet SAW SAW all day long long and see what what he doe s and I'll be his servant'. So I went to the masjid and asked where the prophet
SAW was, but he had left and went in a direction. SO I kept on following and ask ing people where he was until I entered a garden of Bi'r Arees. So I waited outs ide until the prophet SAW had finished his need. After he had done so, I entered upon him and saw him sitting on the well with his feet inside. So I said to mys elf 'today I shall be the one who sits at the door and lets people in of the pro phet SAW'. Then Abu Bakr came and knocked on the door so I said 'wait until I ge t permission'. So I went to the prophet SAW and he said 'who is at the door?' I said 'it's Abu Bakr'. So he said 'go and give him permission to enter, and tell him he is going to enter Jannah!' So I went back and I said 'enter and the proph et SAW is giving you glad tidings of Jannah'. Then Abu Bakr came and sat to the right of the prophet SAW and put his feet into the well, just like the prophet S AW. Then I went and sat at the door, and hoped my brother would come because I w anted him to get the glad tidings of Jannah. Another knocked on the door and it was Umar ibn al Khattab". Notice again always Abu Bakr and Umar. All the time. " So I said 'stay there'. I went back said salaam and said 'Umar is asking for per mission'. So the prophet SAW 'give him permission and give him glad tidings of J annah'. So Umar came in, sat on the left of the prophet SAW and also put his fee t into the well. Then I went and sat down and made dua my brother comes. Another comes knocking - Uthman ibn Affan. He gets permission from the prophet SAW but the prophet SAW said "give him permission to enter and glad tidings of Jannah de spite the fact there shall be some calamities and tragedies that will happen". U thman came inside and found there was no space for him to sit, so he sat on the other side facing them. There's clear symbolism here that no doubt Uthman is the best after Abu Bakr and Umar. 13) The prophet SAW was climbing Uhud and with him was Umar, Abu bakr and Uthman . So the prophet SAW said "calm down Uhud for you only have upon you a nabi, a S iddiq and two shaheeds". And this is exactly what happened. 14) Ibn Abbass narrates the day that Umar was stabbed and killed; Umar was place d on his bed as he's dying. So this is when Umar has been stabbed and is bleedin g to death with a few hours left to live. Ibn Abbass is a young man in his 20s ( 12 years after the death of the prophet SAW) and says "as I was standing there I felt on my shoulder someone's elbow and I heard him say 'may Allah have mercy o n you - I always hoped that Allah would place you together would your two compan ions because how often did I hear 'I used to along with Abu Bakr and Umar; I did along with Abu Bakr and Umar; I went along with Abu Bakr and Umar and so I want ed you to be with them in death aswell'". Ibn Abbass says he looked back to see who was speaking and it turns out to be Ali ibn Abi Talib RA. This is a very bea utiful narration. In our source book of Bhukari on the janazah of Umar ibn al Kh attab Ali is speaking and Ibn Abbass happens to hear what he's saying. And Ali s ays "how I would hope you would be reunited with your companions because I alway s heard the prophet SAW say 'I did along with Abu Bakr and Umar; I went along wi th Abu Bakr and Umar etc'." Who is saying this? Ali ibn Ali Talib. How can you t hen claim there was any issues at all? 15) The final hadith in Bhukari about Abu Bakrs blessing is a hadith narrated by Urwat ibn Zubair "I asked Abdullah ibn Amr 'what was the worst the mushrikoon e ver did to the prophet SAW?' SAW?' He said 'Uqba 'Uqba came to the prophet SAW while while he was praying and he put his riddah (upper garment) around the neck of the prophet SA W and began to strangle him until Abu Bakr came and defended and beat up on Urwa . And he said 'are you going to kill a man merely for saying Allah is my Lord?'" and of course Allah revealed this statement in the Qur'an. So it's a testimony for when Abu Bakr helped on a day NO sahabi did anything. Uqba ibn Abu Mu'ayt wa s a big shot amongst the Quraysh so none of the sahabi could really do anything except for Abu Bakr who came rushing and defending the prophet SAW.
