Post by ottoman on Jul 19, 2007 10:42:46 GMT
The Shaikhayn, i.e. Hadrat Abû Bakr and Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’, are the highest ones of the Ashâb-i-kirâm. Concomitant to a recent increase in the number of holders of bid’at, i.e. heretics, doubts have been being voiced concerning their superiority. So dreadful is the decaying trend that the correct tenets of belief taught by the Salaf as-sâlihîn (the early Islamic scholars) are being forgotten gradually. Indeed, it is an open fact based both on narrations and on logic that the Shaikhayn are the highest. Narrations come to us through three different courses. Allâhu ta’âlâ promised to His beloved Prophet in the fifty-fifth âyat of Nûr sûra that He would give him believing and pious Khalîfas and reinforce the Islamic religion through those Khalîfas. This fact is confirmed by the dreams which the Messenger of Allah had as well as by the dreams that the Ashâb-i-kirâm had and which the Messenger of Allah explained. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated several times both directly and indirectly that the Shaikhayn would succeed him as his Khalîfas after him. His statements, which are documentary sources, have been conveyed to us through (an authentic chain of narrations and reports termed) tawâtur. Then, the Shaikhayn are the highest Muslims. It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf reported by Tirmuzî and Hâkim: “After me, follow Abû Bakr and ’Umar!” This hadîth-i-sherîf was reported by Huzayfa and ibn Mas’ûd. Hâkim’s book quotes Enes bin Mâlik as having related: The tribe of Benî Mustalâq sent me to the Messenger of Allah to ask him to name the person to whom we were to pay our zakâts after him. When I came to Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and asked him, he said, “Give them to Abû Bakr!” They sent me again. When I reported their question who would be the person to receive our zakâts after Abû Bakr, he said, “’Umar!” I came to him once again with the message asking for the name of the person to take our zakâts. The Prophet’s answer was: “(You will be giving them to) ’Uthmân!” As the Messenger of Allah had to repair to bed during his last fatal illness, he appointed Hadrat Abû Bakr ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ as the imâm (to conduct the public prayers called salât, [or namâz,] in jamâ’at). He explicitly rejected the question if someone else could be the imâm. This was the event from which the notables of the Sahâba such as Hadrat ’Umar and Hadrat Alî inferred that Abû Bakr was to be (the first) Khalîfa. None of the Sahâba was opposed to their inference. According to a narration in Bukhârî, Abû Bakr as-Siddîq was conducting the morning prayer in jamâ’at with the command of Rasûlullah, when the blessed Messenger slightly raised the curtain hanging in the doorway and, seeing his Sahâba performing the namâz, he gave a happy smile. Thinking that the Messenger of Allah intended to come in and conduct the namâz, Abû Bakr as-Siddîq moved aside, which made the Sahâba rejoice with the same expectation. Motioning with his blessed hand, the most beautiful human being commanded, “Complete your namâz!” Then he let the curtain go down. He passed away that day. According to a narration unanimously reported by the scholars of Hadîth, one day a woman asked Rasûlullah a question. “Come back later and ask (the same question),” was the blessed Prophet’s reply. The woman asked again, “O Messenger of Allah! What do I do if I can’t find you here?” Rasûlullah stated, “If you can’t find me when you come here, ask Abû Bakr!”
