The worldly life came!

Rabi’ah al-Aslami narrated:

I used to serve the Messenger of Allah. So, he gave me a piece of land, and gave Abu Bakr a piece of land. Then, the worldly life came and and we argued over a bunch of palm trees, and Abu Bakr said: “It is in my piece of land!” and I said: “It is in my piece of land!” Then, there was an exchange of words between Abu Bakr and myself. So, Abu Bakr said something to me that I disliked, and he regretted that.

So, he said to me: “O Rabi’ah! Say back to me what I said to you so that we would be equal.”

I said: “I will not do so!”

Abu Bakr said: “Say it, or I will call the Messenger of Allah on you!”

I said: “I will not do so.”

So, Abu Bakr – may Allaah be pleased with him – went to the Prophet and I followed him, so the people from (the tribe of) Aslam came and said: “May Allah have mercy on Abu Bakr! Why would he call the Messenger of Allah on you when he (the Prophet) has said to you what he has said?”

So, I said: “Do you know who that is? That is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq! He is the one who was in the Cave with the Prophet, and he is the elder of the Muslims! So, you had better not cause him to turn around and see you helping me against him, making him angry, causing the Messenger of Allah to come and become angry because of Abu Bakr’s anger, thereby causing Allah to become angry for both of their anger, thereby causing me to be destroyed!”

So, they said: “So, what do you want us to do?”

I said: “Go back to where you came from.”

So, Abu Bakr went to the Messenger of Allah and I followed him by myself and continued until he got to the Prophet and informed him of our conversation as it happened.

So, he (the Prophet) raised his head to me and said: “O Rabi’ah! What is going on between you and as-Siddiq?”

So, I said: “O Messenger of Allah, this happened and that happened, and he said something to me that I disliked, and he told me to say the same thing back to him so that we would be equal.”

So, the Messenger of Allah said: “Do not return his comment to him. Rather, say ‘May Allah forgive you, O Abu Bakr! May Allah forgive you O Abu Bakr!’”

So, Abu Bakr – may Allah have Mercy on him – turned his face and began to cry.

['as-Silsilah as-Sahihah'; # 3258]
[With thanks: Brotherhood in Islam, facebook fan page]

The Eeman of Abu Bakr

On the authority of Umar:

“If the Eemaan of Abu Bakr was weighed against the Eemaan of the people of the earth, the Eemaan of Abu Bakr would outweigh the others.”

Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in ‘al-Jamia’ lashu’ab al-Eemaan’ (1:18) and its narrators are trustworthy.

What do you think about two when Allah is their third?

Every Companion and every Muslim for that matter would have loved to have been singled out for the honour of accompanying the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) during his migration to Al-Madeenah. However it was Abu Bakr (radiAllahu Andu) who was chosen and blessed with this great honour.

It is narrated in an authentic hadith:

“Anas ibn Malik (radiAllahu Andu) reported that Abu Bakr As Siddiq (radiAllahu Andu) reported him, he Abu Bakr said: I saw the feet of the polytheists very close to us as we were in the cave. I said: O Messenger of Allah(sal Allahu alayhi wasallam), if one amongst them were to look at his feet he would have surely seen us. Thereupon he said: O Abu Bakr, what do you think about two, when Allah is their third .” [Sahih Muslim (Book 31, Hadith 5698)]