In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Mawaddah Association presents: The Ten Promised Paradise.
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him.
Love for the Companions and the Prophet's kin is a established Sunnah,
By which I hope to meet my Lord when He resurrects me.
Love for the Companions and the Prophet's kin...
Here is the Saqifah of Banu Sa'idah,
Where the people gathered to deliberate over a momentous matter:
The matter of the Caliphate.
The Companions differed as to who should be the Caliph over them after the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The Ansar said, "Let there be a leader from among us, and a leader from among you."
But Abu Bakr said, "No, rather we are the leaders and you are the viziers;
They [Quraysh] hold the most central dwelling among the Arabs and the noblest lineages.
So pledge allegiance either to 'Umar or to Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah."
'Umar replied, "Rather, we pledge allegiance to you!
For you are our master, the best of us, and the most beloved of us to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
So 'Umar took his hand and pledged allegiance to him, and the people pledged allegiance to him.
Yes, as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, was given the pledge of Caliphate,
And who could be more deserving of it than him?
He was the strong and trustworthy, the primary vizier of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And the object of his trust and choice.
Then Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up
And delivered a sermon to the people, saying after praising and glorifying Allah:
"O people!
I have been appointed as your leader, though I am not the best among you.
If I do well, then assist me; and if I do wrong, then set me straight.
Truthfulness is a sacred trust, and lying is betrayal.
The weak among you is strong in my sight until I secure his right for him,
And the strong among you is weak in my sight until I take what is due from him.
No people ever abandon jihad in the cause of Allah
Except that Allah strikes them with humiliation;
Nor does immorality ever spread among a people
Except that Allah afflicts them all with tribulation.
Obey me so long as I obey Allah and His Messenger;
But if I disobey Allah and His Messenger, then you owe me no obedience."
Various factions of the Arabs apostatized and withheld the zakat after the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
Yet Allah kept firm the people of the two cities:
Mecca and Medina,
As well as the people of at-Ta'if,
Along with a few scattered individuals here and there.
Thus the extraordinary character of Abu Bakr shone forth—
The character of a courageous leader
Who was nurtured in the prophetic school of Muhammad
And was its most distinguished student.
For the very first command he issued
Was the dispatch of the army of Usamah, may Allah be pleased with him,
That very army which the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had ordered.
The people spoke to him regarding that,
Fearing that Medina would be left undefended
And become an easy target for its enemies.
But he declared, "By Allah, even if dogs were to drag the anklets of the women of Medina,
I would never turn back an army dispatched by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him!
Do you command me to be the first to untie a knot tied by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him?"
He also ordered the fighting against the apostates
And against anyone who differentiated between prayer and zakat.
Some of the Companions objected, saying,
"How can we fight them when they are Muslims?"
Abu Bakr responded,
"That I should fall from the sky to the earth and be snatched away by birds
Is dearer to me than agreeing with you on this view!"
And he said to them, "By Allah, even if all of you abandon me,
I will fight them alone until my neck is severed!
Even if they withhold from me a single hobbling cord [of zakat], I will wage jihad against them over it!
Or do you doubt that the promise of Allah is true?"
Thus, Allah preserved the integrity of Islam through this stance of as-Siddiq.
As-Siddiq ordered Usamah's army to march
Toward its objective that had been designated by the Prophet, peace be upon him, before his demise.
He ordered guards to be stationed around Medina,
And Abu Bakr set out walking alongside the army while Usamah was riding.
Usamah said to him,
"O successor of the Messenger of Allah, by Allah, you will either ride or I will dismount!"
He replied, "By Allah, you shall not dismount, and by Allah, I shall not ride!
What harm is there for me to get my feet dusty in the cause of Allah for an hour?"
The departure of the army at that moment proved to be of the utmost strategic benefit,
For they did not pass by any Arab clan
Except that the clan was awestruck by them and said,
"Had these people not possessed great strength,
The likes of these soldiers would never have departed from their midst!
Let us leave them alone until they engage the Byzantines:
If the Byzantines are victorious, they will have spared us the burden of fighting them;
And if Usamah is victorious, then Islam has firmly prevailed."
Indeed, Usamah's army was victorious,
And they returned safe and sound, and Islam stood firm.
During the absence of Usamah's army—
During the absence of Usamah's army from Medina,
When most of the Companions were with him—
Delegations came to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, in Medina,
Asking him to exempt them from zakat.
But he refused their demand,
So they returned harboring ill intentions.
Then the rightly-guided Caliph,
Having read treachery in the faces of those people,
Perceived their baseness,
And discerned their malicious intent,
Said to his companions:
"The land around you is in disbelief,
And their delegation has seen how few you are.
You do not know
Whether you will be attacked by night or by day,
And their nearest forces are merely a postal stage away from you.
These people had hoped that we would accept their terms and make a truce with them,
But we have rejected their demands
And repudiated their treaty.
So be prepared and get ready!"
As-Siddiq devised a tightly coordinated defensive plan:
He instructed the people of Medina to spend the night in the Mosque
So they would be in complete readiness to defend,
And he organized guards stationed at the mountain passes of Medina,
Keeping watch around it through the night
To repel any incoming raid.
The intuition of as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, proved true:
Three days after the return of the apostate delegations,
Having made sure that Usamah's army was far from Medina,
Some tribes raided Medina by night,
Leaving part of their force behind at Dhu Husa,
A place near Medina,
To serve as rear support and reinforcements.
The guards at the mountain passes noticed them
And sent word to as-Siddiq.
He sent word back to them: "Hold your positions,"
Which they did.
Then he marched out toward the enemy with the people from the Mosque,
Causing the enemy to scatter.
The Muslims pursued them on their camels
Until they reached Dhu Husa,
Where the enemy reinforcements ambushed them
And rolled inflated skin bags before the camels' faces—
These were inflated butter-skins,
Which are the most terrifying things to camels.
The Muslims' camels bolted while the men were upon them,
And they lost control of their reins
Until the camels carried them back into Medina.
Yet not a single Muslim was thrown or harmed.
The enemy presumed the Muslims were weakened,
So they sent the news to their fellow apostates,
Who rushed to join them,
Unaware of the decree Allah had willed against them.
Abu Bakr spent that night preparing;
He mobilized the people,
Then set out on foot that very night,
With an-Nu'man ibn Muqarrin commanding the right flank,
'Abdullah ibn Muqarrin commanding the left flank,
Suwayd ibn Muqarrin commanding the rearguard,
Accompanied by the camel-riders.
Dawn did not break
Before they and the enemy stood on the same battlefield.
The treacherous enemy was caught completely by surprise
As the swords of the Muslims struck through their ranks.
By the mid-morning of that day,
The enemy had turned and fled,
And the Muslims pursued them until they reached Dhu al-Qassah.
There, Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, left an-Nu'man ibn Muqarrin
Along with a detachment of Muslims,
And returned with the rest of the people to Medina.
Then as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, resolved fearlessly to fight the apostates:
He tied eleven battle standards under the command of Khalid and the sincere heroes,
Ordering them to eliminate the apostates
Across all regions of the Arabian Peninsula.
Among the instructions as-Siddiq gave to these armies, he said:
"O people!
Halt, for I give you ten admonitions,
So memorize them from me:
Do not betray, do not embezzle spoils of war,
Do not act treacherously, do not mutilate the dead,
Do not kill a young child, an old man, or a woman,
Do not uproot palm trees nor burn them,
Do not cut down a fruit-bearing tree,
And do not slaughter a sheep, a cow, or a camel except for food.
You will surely pass by people who have devoted themselves to monasteries;
Leave them to that which they have devoted themselves."
The army dispatched by Abu Bakr marched under the command of Khalid ibn al-Walid
To fight Musaylimah the Liar.
The two opposing forces clashed
And fought fiercely at al-Yamamah,
Until Allah extinguished the sedition of Musaylimah
By the sword of Khalid and those with him.
During that battle, many of the Companions who were memorizers of the Qur'an were martyred—
Said to be seven hundred, or even more.
Thus began the consideration to compile the Qur'an before the remaining memorizers were killed,
Which will be the opening topic of our next session, Allah willing.
[Chant:] They are the distinguished men:
They are Talhah,
Ibn 'Awf,
Az-Zubayr,
Abu 'Ubaydah,
The two Sa'ds, and the Caliphs.