In this episode, we will discuss the death of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him). When someone leaves us, we get a glimpse of their life in just a few words as we remember them. But Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) was a man whose praise or life story cannot be summed up in a few words. First, we would like to mention an incident of Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA). When Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (RA) migrated from Mecca to Medina with Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), they had financial problems. They didn’t have enough money to live on. They left all their belongings in Mecca and came to Medina almost empty-handed. One day, during the scorching heat, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) entered the mosque at noon. At that time, Hazrat Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) was already present in the mosque. He saw Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, “O Abu Bakr, what are you doing in the mosque at this time?” In the north, Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) informed her (may Allah be pleased with him) that he had come to the mosque because he was very hungry. Then Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) said that I too had come to the mosque for the same reason. That is, both of them came to the mosque very hungry and asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) if he could help them in any way to satisfy their hunger.
Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the only refuge for the companions. Seeing Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) and Hazrat Umar (RA), the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “Why have you two come to the mosque at this time?” Then they replied that we are very hungry, so we have come to you, if you can make any arrangements for us. Then Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) said with great sadness that I myself came to the mosque because of hunger and left my house. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) accompanied by two of his companions, namely Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) and Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), went to the house of a companion named Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him).
When Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) went to the house of a companion Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) with two of his companions, he was not at home. Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) wife opened the door and welcomed Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) and said, “Welcome.” Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) asked, “Where is Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him)?” His wife replied, “He is not at home now, he is in the date palm garden.” Then the Prophet (PBUH) set out with his two companions towards the date palm garden.
Seeing Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “You are welcome, but why have you come here at this time?” When Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) informed them of their arrival, he brought some dates from the date palm tree, some of which were raw and some of which were ripe.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said that there was no need for so much. Then Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) replied, “I know you like eating dates very much.” He also said that I am adding something to this. Then Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) said that if you slaughter an animal, then do not slaughter an animal that gives milk or is lactating. Then Then Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) slaughtered a goat and a sheep and told his wife to cook them very well.
Then the food was presented before Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all three of them ate the dates, bread, and meat with satisfaction. Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) told Abu Buwaya Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) to take some bread and meat from here to Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) because she had never eaten such good food before.
Then Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) started crying because a while ago the three of them were very hungry but Allah had provided this food for them out of His mercy. Therefore, he started crying remembering Allah’s mercy. He said that by Allah, one will be questioned about this blessing on the Day of Resurrection.
Hearing these words from the mouth of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), his two companions Hazrat Umar and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them) stopped. Then, looking at them, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “From now on, when you eat, start by saying Bismillah and after eating, praise Allah and say, ‘All praise is due to Allah, who has bestowed this blessing upon you.'” Then this prayer of yours will be an atonement for you.
The reason for mentioning this incident here is to illustrate the good relationship between Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). They went together wherever they went, ate together, and shared everything.
Even when hungry, they would stay together, and even after their hunger was satisfied, they would gather together with satisfaction. That is, to know the biography of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), one must know the biography of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), and similarly, to know the biography of Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), one must know the life of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), because all three of them were connected by the same source.
The second incident happened with Hazrat Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him). Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) freed Hazrat Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) from his oppressive master Munib in exchange for a large amount of wealth. Then, when Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) became the Caliph, Hazrat Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) came to him and said, “If you have freed me for the sake of Allah and given me complete freedom, I have something to tell you.” Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) replied, “I have freed you for the sake of Allah.” Then Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) said that he intended to fight in the way of Allah. Then Hazrat Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) and Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) gave him permission to go to war and Hazrat Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) participated in the war. After that, however, Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) never met again because two years after Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) went to war, Hajj Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) died.
Another incident of Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) is that one day he saw a sparrow sitting on the top of a tree. Seeing that bird, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) took a deep breath and said, “O bird, how fortunate you are! You gather your own food and you are not responsible for it, and one day you will die and even then you will not have to answer for it.” Then Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “If only I could become a bird, I would not have to answer for anything in the Hereafter.” In other words, this incident shows the extent of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him)’s fear of Allah.
Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) was one of the greatest in terms of faith. There is a hadith in this regard. Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) used to sit in discussion with his companions after the Fajr prayer. They would discuss various topics lightly, often laughing and joking, and sometimes even telling what they had seen in their dreams. One day, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) told his companions that once a butcher was slaughtering a cow, and while slaughtering it, the cow said, “Why are you killing me? I was created to plow the land.” Hearing this, the people present said, “Subhan Allah” and were surprised to think that a cow was talking. Then Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) said, “Do you believe in this event?” The people present said, “Of course we do.” Then he said, “This event is believed by Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) and also by Hazrat Umar (RA).
But at that time, Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) were not present in that mosque, but even though they were not present, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) declared that whether they were present or not, they would certainly believe in these events without seeing them because they were at the highest level of faith.
He said that Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) would believe this incident, even though they were not present in this gathering, they would certainly believe it.
In this regard, Allah mentions in the Quran that:
Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them.
(Quran 2:3)
Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) was a man of great foresight. When he was on his deathbed, he made a will to Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). He told Hazrat Aisha (RA) that after my death, all my property will be divided between two brothers and two sisters. Hazrat Aisha (RA) was surprised and said, “I am the only daughter. Where is your other sister?” Abu Bakr (RA) replied, “Your sister will be born from your mother’s womb.” After a few days, it suddenly turned out that Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) was right and a daughter was born from the womb of Abu Bakr Siddiq’s wife (may Allah be pleased with her).
Another thing about Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) is that he was very skilled in interpreting dreams. We know from various hadiths that dream interpretation is a very important subject in Islam. People basically dream about three things: one is that which is shown by Allah, the second is that which is shown by Satan, and the third type of dream is that which has no explanation or is a simple dream. Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) could interpret dreams and he always went to bed at night in a pure state to interpret them.
Once a man came to Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) and told him about a dream. The man said that in his dream, he saw a cloud suddenly gathering in the sky and ghee was pouring from that cloud. Some people are holding a small amount of ghee in their hands, while others are able to store a large amount of ghee. Then I saw that a rope had risen from the ground to the sky and you, Muhammad Salah Salam, first climbed up on that rope, then another person climbed up, then another person climbed up, and then another person climbed up, and when the rope was about to break, Then the rope is tied back together.
Then Harja Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Messenger of Allah, if you allow me, I would like to interpret the dream.” When Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave permission to Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) to interpret the dream, he began to say, “The first thing you saw was the black cloud, which was Islam, and the ghee and honey that was being poured from that cloud was the Quran, and some people were taking the blessings of that Quran with their hands full, and some were taking them in large quantities.”
And the rope that you saw is the chain of prophethood, meaning that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) will climb up that rope first, then the next person will follow the chain of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and in this way, up to the third person, after following the chain, this chain will be damaged for some time, but then the chain will resume again.
Then Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), “O Messenger of Allah, have I explained it correctly?” In response, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that you said some things right and some things wrong.
When Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) was sick with a high fever, he was asked about the Caliphate, he sat up from his bed and wrote on a piece of paper that he would give the Caliphate to Hazrat Umar (RA) after him. Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) assumed the caliphate while Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) was still alive. On the other hand, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) was getting worse.
Two weeks after the caliphate was granted, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (RA)’s health continued to deteriorate. One day, he asked his daughter Hazrat Aisha (RA) what day it was when Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) died. Hazrat Aisha (RA) replied that it was Monday. Hearing this, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) said that today is also Monday and I hope that I will die today.
To us, this statement of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) seems very simple, but it is a very important statement because he used to follow everything the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did in all situations. As a result, he wished in his heart that he too would die on the day that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) died.
At the moment of his death, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) said, “O Allah, You are our Guardian and Protector.” Accept me as a righteous person and accept my soul. Also, make me the companion of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) and make me the companion of those who are with him.
These were the last words of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) before his death. The total duration of his caliphate was two years, three months and ten days. Hazrat Umar (RA) led the funeral prayer of Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) and the other companions performed the funeral prayer behind him. Then Hazrat Umar (RA) and four companions buried Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) in the grave. Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was buried to the right of the grave of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) and as a sign of respect, his grave was not placed at the same level as the head of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) but was placed slightly lower.
