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Thursday, October 1, 2020

The Successor of the Prophet

The first Hajj under Islam was in the ninth year of Hijrah. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was too busy at Madinah to lead the Hajj, so he sent Abu Bakr as his agent, he was to lead the Hajj in place of the Prophet.

The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam led the prayers himself ever since he arrived at Madinah. During his last illness, the Prophet could no longer lead the prayers, he was too weak to go to the mosque, he therefore had to choose someone to fill such high position after him. Abu Bakr was also the one who was honored to be chosen by the Prophet for such a task.

Such was the quality of the humble and generous Companion who believed the Prophet in everything to the extent that he was called As Siddiq, by the Prophet. His great personality and service to Islam and Muslims earned him the love and respect of all Muslims, so that he was chosen as the first Caliph after the death of the Prophet by all Muslims.

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ABU BAKR WITH THE WEALTH

Abu Bakar As Siddiq had a major role in freeing some of the Muslim slaves, who were barbarically tortured by their heartless Mushrik masters to give up the faith and return to their masters’ beliefs. The heartless monsters tried all kinds of torture: they made them lie all naked on the burning desert sand, putting big stones on their chest, as well as other kinds of torture.

Here Abu Bakr’s wealth came to the rescue, as he bought the poor helpless slaves from their inhuman masters and set them free, Bilal alHabashi, the slave of ‘Umayyah ibn Khalaf, was among those who were set free by Abu Bakr. Bilal became afterwards the mu’adhin at the Prophet’s mosque.

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ABU BAKR’S LOVE FOR THE PROPHET

Abu Bakar As Siddiq was so great that he was willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of protecting and comforting the Prophet saw. Such love and sacrifice were demonstrated when one day the Holy Prophet was saying his prayers in the Ka’bah, while some of the chiefs of Makkah were sitting in the courtyard of the Ka’bah. Seeing the Prophet praying, ‘Uqba h ibn Abi Mu’it took a long piece of cloth and put it around the Prophet’s neck and twisted it hard in an attempt to strangle the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to death.

At that moment Abu Bakr happened to pass by from a distance, he saw ‘Uqbah trying to strangle the Prophet to death. Immediately Abu Bakr ran to the help of the Prophet, he pushed ‘Uqbah aside and took the cloth from around the Prophet’s neck. Thereupon the enemies of Islam came down upon Abu Bakr and beat him unmercifully. Abu Bakr with faith like a rock did not care for his own suffering, he was glad that he was able to save the Prophet of Allah, even at the risk of his own life.

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Abu Bakr As Siddiq was always a very close Companion of the Prophet SAW, he knew him better than any other man. He knew how honest and upright the Prophet was. He was indeed the first adult male to accept Islam.

He submitted to Islam with such determination that once the Prophet himself remarked, “I called people to Islam, everybody thought over it, at least for a while, but this was not the case with Abu Bakr, the moment I put Islam before him, he accepted it without any hesitation.” He was titled as Siddiq by the Prophet because his faith was too strong to be shaken by anything.

In fact, Abu Bakr was more than a great believer, as soon as he became a Muslim, he immediately began to preach Islam to others. Among those who accepted Abu Bakr’s invitation to Islam were ‘Uth man, Az Talhah, ‘Abdur– Zubayr, Rahman ibn Awf, Sa’ad ibn Waqqas and others who later became the pillars of Islam.

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