The First Caliph, Abu Bakr(632-634 A.C.)

"If I were to take a friend other than my Lord, I would take Abu Bakr
as a friend." (Hadeeth)
Election to the Caliphate
The Prophet's closest Companion, Abu Bakr, was not present when the
Holy Prophet (peace be on him) breathed his last in the apartment of
his beloved wife of later years, Aisha, Abu Bakr's daughter. When he
came to know of the Prophet's passing, Abu Bakr hurried to the house
of sorrow.
"How blessed was your life and how beatific is your death,"
he whispered as he kissed the cheek of his beloved friend and master
who now was no more.
When Abu Bakr came out of the Prophet's apartment and broke the news,
disbelief and dismay gripped the community of Muslims in Medina.
Muhammad (peace be on him) had been the leader, the guide and the
bearer of Divine revelation through whom they had been brought from
idolatry and barbarism intothe way of God. How could he die? Even
Umar, one of the bravest and strongest of the Prophet's Companions,
lost his composure and drew his sword and threatened to kill anyone
who said that the Prophet was dead. Abu Bakr gently pushed him aside,
ascended the steps ofthe lectern in the mosque and addressed the
people, saying
"O people, verily whoever worshipped Muhammad, behold! Muhammad is
indeed dead. But whoever worships God, behold! God is alive and
willnever die."
And then he concluded with a verse from the Qur'an:
"And Muhammad is but a Messenger. Many Messengers have gone before
him; if then hedies or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels?"
[3:144]
On hearing these words, the people were consoled. Despondency gave
place to confidence and tranquility. This critical moment had passed.
But the Muslim community was nowfaced with an extremely serious
problem: that of choosing a leader. After some discussion among the
Companions of the Prophet who had assembled in order to select a
leader, it became apparent that no one was better suited for this
responsibility than Abu Bakr. A portion of the speech the First Caliph
gave after his election hasalready been quoted in the introduction.
Abu Bakr's Life
Abu Bakr ('The Owner of Camels')was not his real name. He acquired
this name later in life because of his great interest in raising
camels. His real name was Abdul Ka'aba ('Slave of Ka'aba'), which
Muhammad (peace be on him) later changed to Abdullah ('Slave of God').
The Prophet also gave him the title of 'Siddiq' - 'The Testifier to
the Truth.'
Abu Bakr was a fairly wealthy merchant, and before he embraced Islam,
was a respected citizen of Mecca. He was three years younger than
Muhammad (peace be on him) and some natural affinity drew them
together from earliest child hood. He remained the closest Companion
of the Prophet all through the Prophet's life. When Muhammadfirst
invited his closest friends and relatives to Islam, Abu Bakr was among
the earliest to accept it. He also persuaded Uthman and Bilal to
accept Islam. In the early days of the Prophet's mission, when the
handful of Muslims were subjected to relentless persecution and
torture, Abu Bakr bore his full share of hardship. Finally when God's
permission came to emigrate from Mecca, he was the one chosen by the
Prophet to accompany him on the dangerous journey to Medina. In the
numerous battles which took place during the life of the Prophet, Abu
Bakr was always byhis side. Once, he brought all his belongings to the
Prophet, who was raising money for the defense of Medina. The Prophet
asked "Abu Bakr, what did you leave for your family?" The reply came:
"God and His Prophet."
Even before Islam, Abu Bakr was known to be a man of upright character
and amiable and compassionate nature. All through his life he was
sensitive to human suffering and kind to the poor and helpless. Even
though he was wealthy, he lived very simply and spent his moneyfor
charity, for freeing slaves andfor the cause of Islam. He often spent
part of the night in supplication and prayer. He shared with his
family a cheerfuland affectionate home life.
Abu-Bakr's Caliphate
Such, then, was the man upon whom the burden of leadership fell at the
most sensitive period in the history of the Muslims.
As the news of the Prophet's death spread, a number of tribesrebelled
and refused to pay Zakat (poor-due), saying that this was due only to
the Prophet(peace be on him). At the same time a number of impostors
claimed that the prophethood had passed to them after Muhammad and
they raised the standard of revolt. To add to all this, two powerful
empires, the Eastern Roman and the Persian, also threatened the
new-born Islamic state at Medina.
Under these circumstances, many Companions of the Prophet, including
Umar, advisedAbu Bakr to make concessions to the Zakat evaders, at
least for a time. The new Caliph disagreed. He insisted that the
Divine Law cannot be divided, that there is no distinction between the
obligations of Zakat and Salat (prayer), and that any compromise with
the injunctions of God would eventually erode the foundations of
Islam. Umar and others were quick to realize their error of judgment.
The revolting tribes attacked Medina but the Muslims were prepared.
Abu Bakr himself led the charge, forcing them to retreat. He then made
a relentless war on the false claimants to prophethood, most of whom
submitted and again professed lslam.
The threat from the Roman Empire had actually arisen earlier, during
the Prophet's lifetime. The Prophet had organized an army under the
command of Usama, the son of afreed slave. The army had not gone far
when the Prophet had fallen ill so they stopped. After the death of
the Prophet the question was raised whether the army should be sent
again or should remain for the defenceof Medina. Again Abu Bakr showed
a firm determination. He said, "I shall send Usama's army on its way
as ordered by the Prophet, even if I am left alone."
The final instructions he gave to Usama prescribed a code of conduct
in war which remains unsurpassed to this day. Part of his instructions
to the Muslim army were:
"Do not be deserters, nor be guilty of disobedience. Do not kill an
old man, a woman or a child. Do not injure date palms and do not cut
down fruit trees. Do not slaughter any sheep or cows or camels except
for food. You will encounter persons who spend their lives in
monasteries. Leave them alone and do not molest them."
Khalid bin Waleed had been chosen by the Prophet (peace beon him) on
several occasions to lead Muslim armies. A man of supreme courage and
a born leader, his military genius came to full flower during the
Caliphate of Abu Bakr. Throughout Abu Bakr's reign Khalid led his
troops from one victory to another against the attacking Romans.
Another contribution of Abu Bakr to the cause of Islam was the
collection and compilation of the verses of the Qur'an.
Abu Bakr died on 21 Jamadi-al Akhir, 13 A.H. (23 August 634 A.C.), at
the age of sixty-three, and was buried by the side of the Holy Prophet
(peace be on him). His caliphate had been of amere twenty-seven months
duration. In this brief span, however, Abu Bakr had managed, by the
Grace of God, to strengthen and consolidate his community and the
state, and to secure the Muslims against the perils which had
threatened their existence.

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Biographies of the Companions (Sahabah)

The Sahaabah were the companions of Prophet Muhammad (saas). They are
described in glowing terms by the Prophet (saas) as the following
hadith from Sahih Muslim shows:
Book 30, Number 6159
Narrated Aisha:
A person asked Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) as to who amongst
the people were the best.He said: Of the generation to which I belong,
then of the second generation (generation adjacent to my generation),
then of the third generation (generation adjacent to the second
generation).

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The Emperor and the Seed

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to
choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his
children, he decided something different. He called young people in
the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down
and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give
each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to
plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with
what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants
that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling wasthere that day and he, like the others, received
a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She
helped him get a pot and planting soil, and heplanted the seed and
watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if
it had grown. Afterabout three weeks, some of the other youthsbegan to
talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, 4
weeks, 5 weeks went by.Still nothing. By now, others were talking
about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a
failure. Six months went by-still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew
he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling
didn't say anything to his friends, however. He justkept waiting for
his seedto grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their
plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he
wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened,
Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He
took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at
the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were
beautiful-in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor
and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him
and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young
people. Ling just tried to hide in the back."My, what great plants,
trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of
you will be appointed the next emperor!" All ofa sudden, the emperor
spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered
his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor
knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor askedhis name. "My name is
Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.
The emperor asked everyoneto quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then
announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"
Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. Howcould
he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I
gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it,
water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled
seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me
trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not
grow, you substituted another seed for the oneI gave you. Ling was the
only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed
in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"
The Prophet taught,"Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and
righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth
until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to Al-Fajur (i.e.
wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fajur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell)
Fire, and a manmay keep on telling lies till he is written before
Allah, a liar." [Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8:116]

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What is meant by profaning the names of Allah and types of profanation

What is meant by profaning the names of Allah, may He be exalted?.
Praise be to Allaah.
The scholars have mentioned different types of profaning the names of
Allah, may He be exalted, all of which involve distorting the meaning
in a way other than the way it should be understood. There are several
types:
1.
Denying any of His names or the attribute to which a name refers. For
example: those who deny that the name ar-Rahmaan (the Most Gracious)
is one of the names of Allah, may He be exalted, as the peopleof the
Jaahiliyyah did.
Or they may affirm the name but deny the attribute to which it refers,
as some of the innovators said that Allah, may He be exalted,is
Merciful without mercy, All-Hearing without hearing.
2.
Calling Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, by a name by which He
did not call Himself.
The reason why this is profanation is that the names of Allah, may He
be glorified and exalted,are limited to what is mentioned in the texts
of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and it is not permissible for anyone to call
Allah, may He be exalted, by a name by which He did not call Himself.
This comes under the heading of speaking about Allah without
knowledge, andtransgressing against the rights of Allah, may He be
glorified and exalted. This is what some of the philosophers did, when
they called God the primary cause, and as the Christians did when they
called Allah, may He be exalted, the Father, and so on.
3.
Believing that these names refer to attributesof created beings, and
hence thinking that this points to likening Allah to His creation.
The reason why this is profanation is that the one who believes that
the names of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, point to likening
Allah to His creation has misinterpreted them anddistorted them from
the correct meaning. He has understood the words ofAllah and the words
of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) as
pointing tokufr (disbelief), because likening Allah to His creation is
kufr, as it is a rejection of the words (interpretation of the
meaning): "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer,
the All-Seer" [ash-Shoora42:11] and "Do you know of any who is similar
to Him?" [Maryam19:65]. Na'eem ibn Hammaad al-Khuzaa'i, the shaykh of
al-Bukhaari (may Allah have mercy on them both) said: The one who
likens Allah to His creation has committed an act of kufr, and the one
who denies any attribute that Allah has ascribed to Himself has
committed an act of kufr; there is nothing in the attributes that
Allah has ascribed to himself that is similar to the attributes of His
creation.
4.
Deriving names of idols from the names of Allah, may He be exalted,
such as deriving the name al-Laat from al-Ilaah (theGod), and al-'Uzza
from al-'Azeez (the Almighty) and Manaat from al-Mannaan (the
Benefactor).

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