Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. So, tonight we start with, and I was thinking about how to title anything about Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu. Anything about him falls short, and so I thought the ultimate first. You think about someone who is quick to believe, quick to do any good, never hesitant with anything that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam asks of him, and also has a natural instinct towards good, it's always Abu Bakr. Now, I struggled because it's hard to piece what part of Abu Bakr's life radiAllahu anhu to take for this, and I don't want this to become a biography or a seerah course. I want it to become something where we look at these people from the perspective of what it entailed to be sabiqoon, what it meant to be from those that were first, those that were always forerunners, those that were always preceding others to good. And so with Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, it'll probably take us two classes, maybe three, to just go over that aspect of his life and what makes him so unique in the way that he is distinguished within the books of seerah, within the books of biography. So we'll kind of go to the very beginning of this. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is from a tribe called Banu Taym, Banu Taym. And Banu Taym is not one of those big tribes that you find in early Mecca. It's not Banu Mahzum, it's not Banu Adi, it's not one of the major tribes, Banu Hashim. These are some of the big tribes of Quraysh that you often hear about. Banu Taym is a sub-tribe of Quraysh, and it's a very small tribe. One of the good things about this tribe is that it's noble, it has a reputation for not being combative, not being messy, not inserting itself into some of the tribal warfare that would take
place. It has a good reputation as a tribe, people that would generally play the role of being peacemakers. So it has the nobility of a big tribe in Mecca, but at the same time it doesn't have the size, nor does it participate in the type of combat that a lot of the other big tribes in Mecca participated in. And when you look at the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you can often group them in tribes. The only two real notable people from the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, from Banu Taym, are actually Abu Bakr and Talha. Two pretty big names. But those are the two notable names from this tribe of Banu Taym, and of course all of Abu Bakr's family and all of Talha's family, may Allah be pleased with them, will come under this tribe of Banu Taym. Now Abu Bakr's actual name, what's Abu Bakr's real name? Abdullah ibn Abi Quhafa. What's Abu Quhafa's name? Abu Quhafa also is a Kunya. Anyone know Abu Quhafa's name? So his name was Abdullah ibn Uthman. Abu Quhafa is Uthman. Abdullah ibn Uthman. Some of the narrations say his name prior to Islam was Abd al-Ka'ba. The servant of the Ka'ba and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam changed his name to the servant of Allah. And his father is Abi Quhafa. His mother is Umm Khayr. Her name is the mother of good. SubhanAllah, it's like she was meant for this. Salma bin Sakhr radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha, also would become Muslim pretty early on. The mother of Abu Bakr. So Abu Bakr has a lot of interesting names and there are meanings to these names. There are meanings to these names for us to take lesson from. Who can tell me, and Abu Bakr, let's just put this out there for now. Abu Bakr means the father
of what? What is Bakr? It's the young camel. So Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu had a particular interest with the different types of animals that were there. He had a particular interest in raising camels and so his nickname became Abu Bakr. Usually if you have an interest in something or you indulge in something too much, they'll call you Abu, the father of that thing. So he's the father of the young camel. That became his nickname. And he would go by that for the rest of his life, radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu. There's also a nickname that he had, Atiq. Atiq. What does Atiq mean? The one who is freed. The one who is freed. And typically speaking, many will look at this as a post-Islam name. Meaning this was a name that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam gave him. But if you actually look into the history of Abu Bakr's name, it's actually a name that his mother called him. And the reason being is that Abu Bakr's parents, Abi Quhafa and Umm Khair, had trouble having a boy. They kept on miscarrying boys. So he had sisters but he could not have, she could not have a boy. And so when Abu Bakr was born and he survived the pregnancy, she called him Atiq. Meaning he survived death. He was freed from death. So he was freed into this world. SubhanAllah, so there's some miracle even in his birth that his mother actually felt compelled to call him Atiq. And then after Abu Bakr was born, she had another son. So she called him Mu'taqan. And then they had another son, so she called him Utaqan, which is Tasgheer, which is like a small Atiq. So they all ended up with those nicknames. So his name is Abdullah but still Atiq, which is freed because he was freed from death and that he was allowed to survive. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam took that name and he gave it another meaning. So Atiq is a name that preceded Islam but it has a post-Islamic
meaning that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, man sarrahu an yanzuru ila Atiqin minan naar, fal yanzuru ila hadha. Whoever wants to see someone who's been freed from the fire, then let them look at this one here. Let them look at Abu Bakr. So Abu Bakr was freed from death and coming into this world and then freed from hellfire on the tongue of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. What are the characteristics of him? So he was born about two and a half years after the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So two and a half years after the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, which would put his birth year at what? What is it? You can't say two. 572. The Prophet peace be upon him was born in 570. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu was born approximately in the year 572. He grows up in this noble tribe, very special young man. The characteristics of him sound very much so like the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He loved poetry. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu had a great love for poetry. But subhanAllah he had an aversion to poetry that contained shirk, that contained polytheism, even as a young man. So he loved poetry. He was known to study ancestry. He knew the tribes. He knew where each person came from. Without you having to spit into a cup and send it to somewhere that will eventually be used to destroy you. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu could look at you, he could tell you where you were from, what you were from, who your great great great grandparents were, where this tribe mixed with this tribe. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu had an incredible memory and an incredible understanding of the lineage of the Arabs. Extremely eloquent, extremely sharp, very
very smart. He rose in the marketplace very quickly. He was sharp and he was brilliant at his trade. He was a merchant radiAllahu anhu. His sharpness is what caused him to be very wealthy, very good at trade. And people loved to do business with him because he was very honest. There's actually an Arab that wrote a poem about him excelling in the marketplace, getting rich off of honesty. How few people get rich off of honesty. So his honesty gained him a reputation in the marketplace and trade. And he used to trade in garments and cloth radiAllahu anhu. So different types of fabrics and things of that sort. And that was what gained his reputation in the marketplace. In his intelligence and in his fitrah, in his natural disposition, he found idol worship silly. Very early on. And so his father took him, Abu Quhafa took him to the Kaaba as a young man. And he sat him in front of an idol, front of one of the aslam and he said, go ahead and worship it, I'm going to go and I'll come back. So he left him there with the idol in front of the Kaaba. Just think of the image, right? Abu Bakr is a young man standing in front of the Kaaba, there are idols in front of him. He said, I'm going to go, come back, you know, do some worship. So he looked at the idol and he said, Ya Rabb, he called the idol, Oh my God, but in a way of testing it. He said, I need some nice clothes. So clothe me. He looked around, nothing happened. Then he said to another idol, I'm hungry, give me food. Nothing happened. So then he kept on talking to them and he said, what is it with these, they don't talk, they don't benefit. He said, if I pushed one of them, it would break. So he said, what type of God?
Ayyu ila an hadhi? It just didn't click with him, even as a young man. And so Abu Bakr took a stone and he looked at one of the idols and he said, I'm about to throw a stone at you. If you're a God, protect yourself. Threw the stone at the idol, it fell over. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu said, this is nonsense. So he completely abandoned idol worship and he practiced as, he just never worshipped idols. Similar to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Of course this is his best friend. The Prophet never worshipped an idol. Abu Bakr never worshipped an idol. There's one more person who Aisha radiyaAllahu anhu says, never worshipped an idol or drank alcohol. Other than, I'm not talking about Zaid radiyaAllahu anhu or some of those others that were Hanif. They weren't hostile to idolatry, they didn't say anything or they weren't publicly preaching against it, but they didn't worship idols nor did they drink alcohol. So he said there were three. Or she said there were three. Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam, obviously, Muhammad, Abu Bakr and Uthman. So these three never worshipped idols nor did they drink alcohol. They found it to be counter to their fitrah, to their natural intelligence, their natural goodness. And that incidence of Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu with the idols, what does it remind you of when you think of a Prophet? Who does it remind you of? Is there an image that comes to your mind? It reminds you of Ibrahim, doesn't it? Ibrahim radiyaAllahu anhu. This is Ibrahim radiyaAllahu anhu being put in front of the idols as a kid as well. It's very interesting because Abu Bakr is nicknamed with the same title as Ibrahim, as-Siddiq, the truthful one. He inclines towards the truth. There is Sidq in him. There is a desire to the truth, there is an inclination to the truth. What is inside of him agrees with the truth naturally. So just like Ibrahim radiyaAllahu anhu, I'm extremely intelligent, eloquent, poking holes in idol worship, Abu
Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu is doing the same thing as a young man even in those moments. Now when did Abu Bakr become Muslim? So there's some narration. So for example there's Maimun ibn Mahran. He says that when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam went to Damascus, now we said the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam went to Ash-Sham twice. I'm always going to try to pull back other parts of this series so that you can keep on getting a full picture. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam went to Ash-Sham twice. When he went as a very young man, who did he go with? Who took him to Ash-Sham the first time? His uncle, Abu Talib. And what happened when Abu Talib took him to Ash-Sham? Who saw him there? That's where the narration of Bahira, the monk, who saw the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and who saw signs of prophethood in him, spoke of him and praised him. So the narration mentions Abu Bakr was also part of that group. So Abu Talib was with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam as well as Abu Bakr. And Abu Bakr grew up going to Ash-Sham. And if you read the seerah of Abu Bakr, so that narration, there are different forms of it anyway. But Abu Bakr grew up going to Ash-Sham on an annual basis. This was his life to go to Ash-Sham and go to Yemen on the trade routes because he was a merchant. He didn't have the constraints that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam had growing up. So Maimur ibn Mahra says that Abu Bakr knew of what was prophesied of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam then and already had a feeling. Knowing that there was something unique about his best friend, Muhammad salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu also was very close to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and would take or would spend private time with him. So he's seeing signs
of his character. You can't spend that much time with him and not know there's something special about him. So that's why it would make sense then why Abu Bakr just clicked right away when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam told him I'm a messenger of God. It just immediately clicked with him. He's been seeing the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in his alone time in those private moments for so much time. Now when did he become Muslim? Abu Hanif radiAllahu alayhi wa sallam says that the first woman to become Muslim was Khadija. The first youth to accept Islam was Ali. The first man to accept Islam was Abu Bakr. So that's how Abu Hanif actually brought it all together. Khadija was the first to accept Islam from the women. Ali was the first from the youth. Abu Bakr was the first from the men. Now obviously there is the situation of waraqa which we talked about which is a very different and unique situation in and of itself. But when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam went to Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, Abu Bakr immediately told him Sadaqtuka, I believe you. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam told Abu Bakr what happened and his experience with Jibreel and Allah appointing him as a messenger of Allah, he immediately said I believe you. So it was a complete buy in. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu alayhi wa sallam who resembled the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam most in qualities, most in his character. Some of the scholars point out the hadith of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Al mar'u ala dini khalili. A person is on the religion of his friends, is on the way of his friends. If these two were best friends, if you're the best friend of Muhammad salAllahu alayhi wa sallam for 40 years or 38 years, best friend from childhood, then obviously those characteristics will match. Ibn al-Jawzi radiAllahu alayhi wa sallam points to, he says look at the description of Khadijah to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam came back to the house. And Khadijah
comforted the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam by mentioning his good qualities. The way that he treats his family, the way he treats his neighbor, the way he treats the poor, the way he treats the orphans, the way that he treated anyone that had a cause. And he said that was the way that Ibn al-Daghina, who was a Meccan chief, when Abu Bakr was on his way to Abyssinia to make hijrah, to migrate, to escape persecution, Ibn al-Daghina stopped him and he took Abu Bakr to the different leaders of Quraysh and said this is a person who should not be expelled. And he mentioned the exact same qualities about the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, about Abu Bakr that Khadijah mentioned about the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Abu Bakr is a copy of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in regards to his character and in regards to the opinion that people had of him, except he was a chief of his people, he experienced wealth his entire life. And Imam al-Nawwi rahimahullah said that one of the blessings of Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu or something to think about is that as soon as the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam told him about who he was, about the religion coming to him, Abu Bakr did not think about his rank or his position or what would happen to him as a result of supporting the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He immediately, he found the truth, he immediately accepted it, he immediately accepted the calling and he knew that there were going to be serious ramifications to that. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, every single person that I invited to Islam, they had doubts at first, except for Abu Bakr, as soon as I invited him to Islam, as soon as I called him to Allah, he did not hesitate. He immediately accepted the religion and he believed in me and he supported me right away. Now obviously it's not including Khadijah radiAllahu anhu. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is talking about on the outside of his household, right, that Abu Bakr believed in him right away and supported him right away and had absolutely no qualms about the types of ramifications
that would come. But not only does he believe in the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he builds the community around the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So he doesn't just say to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, I believe in you. He goes out and he starts calling people to Allah, calling people to the religion and people start to convert right and left through the tongue of Abu Bakr. Remember he was extremely eloquent, he had position, he had rank, people took his word seriously. And so think about this, he accounts for six, so there are the ten promised paradises, the ten promised paradises, right? We'll go through all ten of them but we can start with seven. Abu Bakr is one and then he brought six others. Who else did Abu Bakr bring to Islam? Uthman, that's one. Talha, who is inseparable from Talha? Zubair, who else? Abdurrahman ibn Auf, who else? What is it? We said Zubair, there are two more. Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas. Two of those, six, okay? Uthman and Abdurrahman ibn Auf were also of that same class as Abu Bakr, right? Wealthy, elite in their tribal status, have a certain word. Uthman and Abdurrahman ibn Auf are most similar to Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with them. Talha and Zubair are youth, they're young teenagers that come to Islam through Abu Bakr and of course Sa'd and Abu Ubaidah are from some of the respectable members as well. So these six that he brought to Islam, other than himself, obviously being the seventh, these six that he brought to Islam make up with him seven of al-ashr al-mubashr
ibn al-tan that were promised paradise. So think about this, all of the good deeds of Abdurrahman ibn Auf and Uthman ibn Affan, all the wealth they spent, all the charity that they gave, goes to the scale of Abu Bakr. So it's not just Abu Bakr's own sadaqa, his own charity, all of their charity is his and the Prophet ﷺ said, the one who guides to good is like the one who does it without decreasing from the original doer in any way whatsoever. So every time you read a narration of... about the generosity of Uthman or Abdurrahman ibn Auf, Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala was cashing in on the good deeds of that. That's all his sadaqa as if he gave that to. So consider his incredible generosity radiyaAllahu ta'ala on him, and then the two pools of Uthman and Abdurrahman ibn Auf, the three most generous people that spent on the Prophet ﷺ, all stem from Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala on him. Talha al-Zubair, the neighbors of the Prophet ﷺ in Jannah, who defended the Prophet ﷺ, who were always by his side, all of that goes to him. We talked about Islam going to China, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas, that's Abu Bakr's da'wah. Every person, the 30 million people that say la ilaha illallah in China, stem from Sa'd, that's all Abu Bakr's good deeds. I mean think about the way that this all spreads and what this all means in terms of his good deeds. And it's not just them. Abu Salama radiyaAllahu ta'ala on him, Abu Salama is from the da'wah of Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala on him. He was a noble man who of course passed away and Umm Salama radiyaAllahu ta'ala on her would marry the Prophet ﷺ after he passes away. So he brings in some of the most important people to Islam. I'm talking about in terms of the elites and those that would give it respectability at that level. And then he goes with the Prophet ﷺ to meet all of the different tribes as support. So he's always there with the Prophet ﷺ when he goes out there to call people to Islam.
Now was he tortured? Was Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala on him actually going to be tortured? We know that the Meccans would make an example out of the weak and the poor. Would Abu Bakr be tortured? Yes. Who dared to torture Abu Bakr? This is where the picture starts to fill. Abu Bakr and Talha belonged to Banu Taym. They're noble and the nobles would be reprimanded behind the scenes. They'd be beaten and reprimanded behind the scenes. They weren't going to be publicly humiliated the way that the slaves would be humiliated, the way that the poor would be humiliated. They would humiliate them privately and try to get them to renounce the religion privately. Because in their tribalism, they did not want to humiliate their tribesmen in public because they would see that as collective humiliation of the tribe. So we can only do this in private. There was no one from Banu Taym. So the idea with the noble tribes was you take your noble ones and you punish them privately. Banu Taym, small tribe, no one was willing to torture Abu Bakr and Talha. Guess who takes the challenge to torture Abu Bakr and Talha? The brother of Khadija. Naufal ibn Khuwaylid, who was known as the lion of Quraysh, Asadu Quraysh. The brother of Khadija radiAllahu anha, who was nicknamed because of what he did to the Muslims as Shaytan Quraysh, the devil of Quraysh. I gave a khutba about him two years ago I believe. Because how could the brother of Khadija be such a horrible evil man to even go out in Badr to try to kill the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So the brother of Khadija, Naufal ibn Khuwaylid, takes a rope, he ties Abu Bakr and Talha together and he beats them and tortures them in private together. With one rope. Crazy right?
SubhanAllah. The brother of Khadija torturing Abu Bakr and Talha. That's why they were actually called Al-Qarinain, the two tied ones. Because Abu Bakr and Talha were tied together by the same rope of Naufal. SubhanAllah. When you start to dig deep into these things, you start to see it's all interconnected. Everything that's happening in this society is related to another part of the society and another dimension of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam's life. So Al-Qarinain, the two that are tied together, Abu Bakr and Talha, are bounded by the rope of Naufal, beaten and tortured only in private. Now not beaten the way that the slaves were being beaten. Not to a point of death, not to a point where they're not having their skin burned off of them, they're not having their nails pulled out. Some of the really harsh things that are being done to the slaves, that's not to that level. But it's enough to try to get them to renounce their faith. But it's all done, again, away from the public sphere. This isn't happening around the Ka'bah because that would be a shame on the tribe itself. So Naufal ibn Khuwaylid tortures Abu Bakr and Talha. Now, this is probably, this next part, is probably the most underestimated dimension of Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu's life and his good in the very beginning of Islam. Which is the freeing of slaves. Abu Bakr is the emancipator of slaves, early on in Islam. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu freed multiple slaves. And obviously the most famous one is who? Bilal radiAllahu anhu. The most famous one is Bilal radiAllahu anhu. Bilal is being tortured, humiliated, being made an example of. Bilal, how dare you? Abyssinian, black slave with absolutely no protection in a deeply tribalistic racist society, how dare you challenge Umayyah?
Bilal radiAllahu anhu is doing everything, basically it's suicidal for Bilal to become Muslim. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu goes and says, I will purchase his freedom. Umayyah radiAllahu anhu was making an example of him, Abu Bakr says how much, he says 7 uqiyahs. And one narration, 10. Uqiyahs are a huge amount of money. A huge amount of money to free Bilal radiAllahu anhu. So Abu Bakr says deal. Gives him all the money, takes Bilal. As Abu Bakr is taking Bilal, Umayyah wants to throw a comment. You know, he almost tortured him to death. He literally had him under a stone, whipped, dehydrated. Bilal radiAllahu anhu is barely alive, he's beaten to a bloody pulp. And as Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is taking Bilal, Umayyah says, لو اعطيتني دينار, you could have given me one coin for him. He wasn't worth more than one dinar for you to take him. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, he says, Wallahi if you would have said only 100 uqiyahs, I would have given it to you. I would have given you everything for Bilal. It wasn't just freeing these slaves, it was something else. And Umar radiAllahu anhu used to call Bilal, our master who was freed by our master. Bilal was our master, freed by our master Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu. Khabbab radiAllahu anhu, freed by Abu Bakr. A'abr ibn Fuhayrah, freed by Abu Bakr. There are some women that were freed by Abu Bakr, female slaves that were freed by Abu Bakr. And it didn't matter what their status was or what benefit they would bring to this new Muslim community. If Abu Bakr heard that a slave had become Muslim and was being tortured for that, he takes his money and he goes and he frees them. There was one woman by the name of Zunayrah, and she was beaten to blindness for becoming Muslim. So they beat her till she lost her sight.
And subhanAllah, they said when Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu went to purchase her, a blind female slave, what use is she at this point, right? They said, maa adhhaba basraha illa laat wa al'uzza. They said that the reason why she went blind is because of laat and al'uzza, the two idols. So it was her insult of religion, it was the gods that took her sight. And when they said that, she said, wallahi maa tadur al laat wa al'uzza wa maa tanfa'an. She said, I swear by God, laat and al'uzza can't hurt anyone nor can they benefit anyone. This is a blind slave girl being pulled away by Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu. And because of that, raddallahu basraha. She actually could see after that. So her sight actually came back to her. Some of these people you don't hear about. One that absolutely shocked me. SubhanAllah, I've taught the story of Abu Bakr multiple times and I actually, because I'm trying to imagine the societal implications of this. One of the female slaves that Abu Bakr had freed was a woman by the name of Lubayna, who was the slave girl of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu. Umar was not a Muslim. Umar hated Islam. And when this particular slave became Muslim, Umar beat her until he would get tired. SubhanAllah, he said, I'm not stopping beating you because I pity you. It's because I'm tired. That's the type of wrath that she experienced from Umar before he became Muslim. And that was one of the regrets of Umar. That he beat someone like that for becoming Muslim. And Abu Bakr is the one who freed her, purchased her freedom. SubhanAllah, think about that. Who would have thought at some point the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Abu Bakr and Umar, Abu Bakr and Umar become the two sheikhs of the community, inseparable. And in this early day of Islam, Abu Bakr is the one purchasing a beaten slave from Umar radiAllahu anhu to free her from his cruelty.
So he is, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is going out looking for, if he can hear the news of any one of these slaves. And this is a religion that started with the slaves. This is who Islam appealed to in the first place. The du'afat, the masakeen, the weak, the downtrodden, the oppressed. This is where tawhid, the idea of monotheism really appealed. Because they've been brutalized in the name of those idols. Abu Bakr is going out and freeing them. And subhanAllah, his father, who is not a Muslim yet, Abu Quhafa says to him, he says to him, oh my son, people purchase slaves that are strong or healthy or have some sort of unique expertise that they can't get from anywhere else. Or they purchase a slave that would get everyone else in line. People purchase slaves for reasons. Why are you freeing these weak ones that can't even do anything for themselves? What's the point of freeing these slaves? What are these people going to do for you? And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu responded, Ya Abi, inni la arjoo bi itqihim ma'ind Allah. He said, oh my father, I am seeking with their freedom what is with Allah. Guess what came down as a result of that? Surah Al-Layl, which I was reading. Ibn Abbas radiAllahu anhu says the consensus that Surah Al-Layl was revealed about Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu. This particular moment where Abu Bakr was freeing these slaves that no one else wanted, that everyone else beat. And people start saying, maybe he's freeing Bilal because something happened in the past. They start to make up stories, right? Maybe there's some deal, some cover. Because it doesn't make sense. Why is Abu Bakr spending all of his money on these slaves? Freeing all of these slaves. What are these women going to do for him? What are these men going to do for him? They have absolutely no benefit to the religion. And Allah responded to what Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said,
Inni la arjoo bi itqihim ma'ind Allah. I seek with their freedom what is with Allah. wa ma li ahadin aindahu min ni'matin tujza illa bitigha wajhi rabbihi al-a'la wa la sawfa yarda. No one can compensate him for what he is doing. No one can compensate him for what he is doing. No one has enough money, enough power, nothing could stop Abu Bakr, could satisfy that craving that he had to free these people and to do this. Except for that which is with Allah, wa la sawfa yarda, and Allah will certainly please him. Allah will certainly please him. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu when he came into Islam he had 40,000 dinars. By the time they made hijrah, he only had 5,000 left, and most of it went to these types of things. I mean at this time, you're not financing, in Mecca at this point, you're not financing any expeditions, any journeys of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. What's there to spend upon? There's no masjid, there isn't much to spend, fi sabirillah, in Mecca. So out of his 40,000 which he saved all of that time, he left with only 5,000 because of all of the money that he was spending, primarily on freeing these slaves. And this is something that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam recognized that there was something about the man's spending very early on, that he did not care about the implications of spending fi sabirillah. So Abu Hurair radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, ما نفعني مال قط ما نفعني مال أبي بكر that no money ever benefited me more than the money that was spent by Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Abu Bakr when he heard that, he started to cry, and he said, هل أنا ومال إلا لك يا رسول الله? Am I and my money for anything but you, O Messenger of Allah? Like Abu Bakr was embarrassed when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would say that.
Jabir radiAllahu anhu and Abu Sa'id they narrate that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would spend from the wealth of Abu Bakr like he would spend from his own. Now that's not insulting. They had that type of a relationship. Where Abu Bakr's hand was free in spending on these good ventures, on these good things for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would spend of it like it was his own money. They shared that. That's how close they were. And that was an honor for Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu to be respected and to be loved by the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in such a manner. Now what happens as Islam starts to spread? Now Abu Bakr is first to believe in him from the men. He's someone who has a unique position. He has clout but it's not the type of clout that Abu Jahl or Umar or some of the more powerful as in physically strong warriors are known for. It's a clout that comes through respectability, through his money, through his tribe being elite. That's the type of clout that he has. He brings in the top tier of the Sahaba in regards to the economic and the tribal class. And then he brings in the lower tier. And I'm saying that in quotes very intentionally because there's nothing low about Bilal and Khabab and these people. But he's bringing in all these elements of society. He's building the community around the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He's using his money to build around the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He's financing Dar al-Arqam, everything that has to go with that. He's spending and spending and spending and spending. All of this in the da'wah is not public yet. Meaning the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam has not actually publicly preached yet. This is all within small gatherings. But the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam has not made the community wide call at this point. And obviously as the community is growing around the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, there's a fear that this is going to get worse. Ali radiAllahu anhu, and this is actually narrated by Ali Abdullah ibn Amr and Aisha,
that Quraysh were surrounding the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And so they started to rough him up. Now this is where you see the gradual beating, humiliation of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and his followers in public. So they were around the Ka'bah one day. And they started to rough up the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. They started to push him. They started to pull his clothes. Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id slapped the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So they're humiliating him. They're yelling at him. And they're saying to him, Anta allathee ja'altal aliyah ilahan wahida. You're the one who made all these idols into one God. You're that person. Mocking the religion of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And at this point there's no Hamza. There's no Umar. There's no one that's really strong to go out there and support the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam without getting themselves killed. Now, Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id, he escalated. When the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was humiliated, after getting beaten and slapped around, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam started to pray. And when Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id saw, remember Uqba is the one who would put the camel guts on the back of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He took his shawl and he put it around the neck of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and he started to choke him. The Prophet gave an order that the Sahaba don't do anything. Even if provoked, don't respond. Because ultimately what they were looking for was a brawl and then they'd have an excuse to kill them all. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was actually, it's a strategic reason too. Don't respond. Let them instigate. Let them provoke. Don't respond to this. Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu could not help himself. He heard about what was happening. He came to the Haram. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, he says the famous words, أَتَقْتُلُونَ رَجْرًا أَن يَقُولَ رَبِّيَ اللَّهِ Will you kill a man because he says his Lord is Allah? Would you really kill a man because he says his Lord is Allah?
Now Abu Bakr is not going and punching or anything like that. He's trying to protect the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And he's saying, would you really kill a man? Like what is wrong with you people? أَتَقْتُلُونَ رَجْرًا أَن يَقُولَ رَبِّيَ اللَّهِ Would you really kill a man who would say that his Lord is Allah? That was enough for them to start pouncing on Abu Bakr and making an example of him. So they took Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, they rubbed his face in the dirt, and they dragged it in the dirt. So actually Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu's face was covered and then they punched him, punched him, punched him, until Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu lost consciousness. And they thought he might have died. They didn't want him to die because if you killed him then that would be another level of this. But Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu was beaten to a point of unconsciousness. Some of Banu Taym who were not Muslims, they saw that Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu was not moving anymore. So they went and they picked him up and they took him home radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And the description of him, his face was unrecognizable because of the swelling. If you looked at Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu you would not be able to see his face or you wouldn't be able to recognize him because of the swelling. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu had a very sparse beard. He only had a few hairs on his face radiAllahu anhu. That's the description of him. And they said that the few hairs on his face were covered in blood. And he looked, I mean he looked lifeless radiAllahu anhu. So they started to treat him, and these are not Muslims, these are his tribesmen, right, that saw this as going too far. This was the first time a person is getting beaten like this, other than the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, in the proximity of the Ka'bah. Abu Bakr's mother is treating him. You've got to understand the direness of the situation. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, he wakes up and he says,
Ayn Rasool Allah, where is the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam? He does not even ask where am I, what happened to me, no sign of a lack of consciousness. Where is the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam? Where is the Messenger of Allah? They told him, relax, he said, not until I see the Prophet of Allah. So subhanAllah, to stop him from asking about the Prophet of Allah, they had to carry him to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So he could see the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, embrace the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and he embraced him for a long time. Ali radiAllahu anhu narrates this incident, he used to cry when he'd narrate the incident. Ali radiAllahu anhu would cry because he remembered, he was a young boy, he couldn't do anything. Ali radiAllahu anhu is a 9 year old, a 10 year old, he can't do anything about this. And Ali radiAllahu anhu said, I swear by Allah that Abu Bakr is greater than the Prophet of Allah. Than the man from the family of Fir'aun, who said, Ataqtuluna rajlan an yaqoolu rabi Allah? Would you kill a man who says my Lord is Allah? And he said, do you know why that is? And the people said, why? He said, because the family of Pharaoh, the man who said that, hid his iman, he concealed his faith. He said, whereas Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu declared his iman openly before everyone, and there was a Pharaoh, and Abu Jahl and those people that were there too, and he took the beating that came with that radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he said, by Allah, one moment in the life of Abu Bakr is superior to a thousand from the family of Fir'aun. Obviously not talking about Asiya radiAllahu anhu, but talking about the man who Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said, just like him, would you kill a man just because he said his Lord is Allah? So his whole thing, right, is the Prophet okay? Is Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam okay? And that becomes the theme of Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu's life, or one extremely important element of the life of Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, that he puts the Prophet before himself in everything.
He responds right away, and that's a special characteristic. He doesn't take time, he doesn't hesitate. Immediately responds. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam asks him for something, he responds. There's an opportunity to good, he responds. He's always there to respond. But there's also that selflessness, completely putting his life on the line, everything that would come with being a follower of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And that shows in the hijrah, obviously Aisha radiAllahu anhu, she says that before the migration, she says that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to visit Abu Bakr's house every day. Rarely would the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam fail to visit our house every day. Aisha is not married to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam yet, right? So she's experiencing this as the daughter of Abu Bakr. She said he would come either in the morning or the evening, but it was rare that he would not come radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So when the permission for the hijrah was granted, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was going to take his companions and flee to Yathrib, which would become Madinah, she said the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam came to us at noon. And it was a time that he would not typically come, so we knew that something was up. Abu Bakr was waiting for the news of what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was going to do with him, whether he was going to send him and the family out alone. He's waiting patiently to see what the plans of the Prophet are, alayhi salatu wasalam, to escape to Madinah. So he told Abu Bakr to just wait, and Abu Bakr is waiting, waiting, waiting. And so when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam came at that time, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said that this has to be something urgent. He's coming at a time that he usually does not come. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam asked permission to come in, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, let no one else be in the home while we speak, this is a private matter. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said,
Ya Rasulullah, they're only my two daughters, Asma and Aisha, are in the room, and that's it. Meaning they'll go to the side, and it'll just be you and I that will talk. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said to him that I've been informed, that I've been given the permission to migrate, to do hijrah. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said, As-suhba ya Rasulullah, you're a companionship, O Messenger of Allah, meaning do I get to come with you? You're a companionship? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, As-suhba, yes, the companionship, right, you'll get to be my companion. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu starts to shout in joy, crying, happiness. Now the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is the most wanted man in Mecca, everyone's trying to kill him. There's literally the biggest bounty that was known to the Meccans on his head. Every tribe is vying to kill the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and he just told Abu Bakr, you get to be with me, in the middle of the desert, while people come and try to find me and kill me. Aisha radiAllahu anhu, she said, when I saw my father cry like that, she said, I didn't think, that people actually cry out of joy. It's weird to think of someone crying out of joy, right? Crying to me was reserved as an emotion for sadness. She said, illa lama ra'aytu abi yapki tilka sa'a, until I saw my father cry that particular moment. The way that Abu Bakr cried out of joy, as-sohba ya Rasulullah, I get to come with you, I get to come with you, was something that I had never thought was possible from any person. RadiAllahu ta'ala anhu, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said, ya Rasulullah, I've got two camels prepared, they're ready to go, and I'll offer one of them to you, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, I'll only take it if I pay for it. So no, I'm not going to take my camel for hijrah, from you as a gift, I'll pay for it.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made that condition, and they went out radiAllahu ta'ala anhu wa alayhi salatu wassalam. Abu Bakr appointed Asma' who was older, and Abdullah to help them in the hijrah, and the freed slave Amr ibn Fuhayrah, Amr ibn Fuhayrah was known for being a guide, so Amr ibn Fuhayrah was one of those who was freed by Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, so he would be the guide of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Abu Bakr covered their tracks. Abdullah, the son of Abu Bakr would listen to the news in Mecca and bring it to them on that journey, so coordinate points with them, and Asma' radiAllahu anha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, would carry the food to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and to Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. When they went out in the hijrah, and I'm going to have to end within the next few minutes inshAllah ta'ala, so this is probably a good stopping point, but when they went out in the hijrah, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu did something strange. They'd be walking and then he'd go in front of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and then he'd go behind the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and then he'd go to his left and then he'd go to his right, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was looking at him like, what are you doing? Why do you keep on switching spots? And he said, Ya Rasulullah, every time I think about the potential of someone coming from this direction, I go to that direction, so I think about someone might be coming from this way, so I go to this way, then I think someone might be coming from this way, so I go to that way. So he's circling the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam even as they're walking on this journey to protect the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and of course that's where they enter into Ghar Thawr. Has anyone ever been to Ghar Thawr, like inside of it? It's hard to get up there, hijrah is a lot easier. Ghar Thawr is a tiny, tiny, tiny cave, meaning it can fit two people and that's it. If you extend your legs, it can only fit one of me, right? It's a tiny, tiny, tiny cave, I mean it hurts to actually get inside of Ghar Thawr.
And it's very, very private, very hard to find, and you'd have to look for it. But at the same time, like the idea that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Abu Bakr were there, and Quraysh came to the foot of that cave, subhanAllah, when you actually go there, it's a crazy thought. Because literally if they would have looked, it wouldn't take but one foot, right? You'd see their limbs, you'd see the leg of Abu Bakr or the leg of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So you imagine, they're hiding out in this cave, and while they're hiding out in this cave, before they're found, something happens. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam fell asleep, and they're crunched up. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu noticed that a scorpion was coming in through the cave, he put his foot on the hole, and he let the scorpion pierce away at his foot to protect the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam woke up by his tears. He couldn't hold his tears from the pain of that scorpion drilling into his foot radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, protecting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Then they're there, and of course, those that are trying to kill the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam find him. They get to the mouth of the cave. And if you're there, you're thinking, that's it. It's been a good life, alhamdulillah we came this far. There's no way you're getting out of that, right? But of course Allah protected with the nest and the birds that were there, that suggested that there was no one inside, as well as the spider web according to some of the narrations. And they didn't even think to look down because of the spider web and because of the birds, right? So why would anyone, or how is it possible that there would be a fully formed spider web and the birds that would be there and the nest that would be there if there was a human being that was in there? So you imagine those moments where you're looking at the feet of these people,
and you're sitting with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and the love that Abu Bakr had for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the sense of duty that he had to protect him all that time, and you're looking at those feet. And in those moments Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu starts to shake. He's scared, right? And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam says to him, ما ظنك بثنين الله ثالثهما He said, Oh Abu Bakr, what do you say of two people and God is the third? Don't worry, we're okay. لا تحزن إن الله معنا Don't worry, Allah is with us. Why are you worried? Because of the complete, complete tranquility that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had. Now was Abu Bakr worried about himself or was he worried about the Prophet? He's worried about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He's not worried about himself. He had no care for himself, right, in the presence of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to this in the Quran, اِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ اِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعْنَا فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأِيَدَهُ بِجُنُودٍ لَمْ تَرَوْهَا Allah mentions when the two were in the cave and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, one of them said to the other, meaning the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said to his companion, لِصَاحِبِهِ By the way, that's another distinction. Allah called him his companion. لِصَاحِبِهِ لا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعْنَا Don't worry, Allah is with us. So Allah revealed his tranquility upon him. Who's the tranquility coming down upon? Abu Bakr. Who is it speaking about in this moment? So Allah speaks about this in particular. It coming down on Abu Bakr radiallahu ta'ala anhu. And I'll end with this moment from the Hijrah inshaAllah ta'ala. They get out of the cave, they make their way to Medina. And on the way now, because the cave, you know, the Ghar is actually not very far away from Mecca. Right on the outskirts of Mecca. They hadn't really started the journey yet. But now they're on the way. Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam had not had anything to eat or drink for days.
Asma' radiallahu anhu is not able to reach them at this point. They're in the midst of the journey to Medina all by themselves. And they walk into, they find the home of a woman on the way by the name of Umm Ma'bad radiallahu ta'ala anhu. Umm Ma'bad didn't know who they were. Bedouin woman that had a house somewhere in the middle of nowhere, right, between Mecca and Medina. And they go in and she sees these two travelers who are in need of something, right. Something to eat, something to drink. They are dying of thirst at this point. Umm Ma'bad gives one of the most beautiful descriptions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So it's a long description describing his beauty, describing his grace, describing. She said, I never saw a man like this in my life, right, describing the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam asks, do you have any goat or sheep or anything to milk? She said, I've got this one that doesn't give any milk. That's what I have right now. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, bring it here. Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says, Bismillah in the name of Allah. And he rubs its udders and it starts to give milk. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam takes a cup of that milk. He first offers it to Abu Bakr. He says, ishrab ya Abu Bakr, drink Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr says, no way, you first. Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam drinks. Abu Bakr is looking at him. He says, ishrab ya Abu Bakr. He said, no, you keep drinking. Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam drinks. He says, ishrab ya Abu Bakr, drink Abu Bakr. Three times, insisted on Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu. And Abu Bakr says, ishrab ya RasulAllah, drink O Messenger of Allah. And then Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu says, Fasharib al-Habib hatta rtawayt aw hatta rawit. I looked at him drinking and he drank until I was full. Like that's actually the sentence. Until I was full. Like when I saw the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam drinking, and I saw him nourishing himself, I wasn't thirsty or hungry anymore.
Right? It was literally that type of a connection. His thirst is my thirst, his nourishment is my nourishment, his sickness is my sickness, his healing is my healing, his pain is my pain, his joy is my joy. Everything that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam goes through, that's how Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu views life, living through that with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. I want to end with, or actually you know what, I'll leave this for next time. I'll end on that note inshaAllah. We might need three for this. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be pleased with Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu, to grant us that love of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, to grant us that selflessness, and to reward Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu for all of those people that he freed for the sake of Allah, or brought for the sake of Allah to this religion that we all benefited from. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us that companionship of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, and to grant us that companionship of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and Jannatul Firdaus. Allahuma Ameen.
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