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The Commitment of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
BY: Shaykh Muhammed Zubair El-Farooqui
Was the best friend and most beloved Companion of the Holy Prophet  .
Although God honored Abu Bakr by making him first in innumerable ways, his dearest title was probably, “The second of two when they were in the cave.” (9:40)
God granted him even more honor when he chose him to be second, for Abu Bakr was the only Companion of the Holy Prophet on his migration from persecution in Makkah to shelter in Madinah. Umar " said, “I
wish all the deeds of my life were equal to his deed of that one day.” Ibn Abbas said that one day the Prophet was sick. He went to the mosque, wrapped his head with a cloth, sat on the minbar, and said, “If I were to take anyone as my intimate friend, I would take Abu Bakr , but the best friend to me is the friendship of Islam.” He then ordered all doors of the neighboring houses that opened into the mosque of the Prophet to be
closed except the one of Abu Bakr And that door is still open to this day.
As we celebrated him, we must remember the event of the cave. This event exodus his love for the Prophet . He negated this world and its effects. He migrated to Medina without asking any question. In the Quran, God commands us, "Enter, resort to the cave! Your Lord will shower His Mercies on you and dispose of your affair towards comfort and ease." [18:16].
This is a great honor for Abu Bakr as-Siddiq that the Prophet has put his honorable head on his leg. For us the Prophet was sleeping, but for him, it was an ascension. He knows no sleep, "My eyes sleep, but my heart never sleeps." His Beloved was lying down with his head on the leg of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq , Abu Bakr saw a hole in the wall of the cave. Abu Bakr put his foot against the hole to close it He felt something
biting him, causing him intense pain. He felt as if he were losing his body. He was trying to control himself until the flesh of his foot was eaten half away. As his flesh was being eaten, a large snake reared its head. He began to cry. A tear fell on the Prophet's blessed face. Out Prophet said, "Oh Abu Bakr! Why are you crying? 'Do not be sad. God is with us!'" [9:40].
The Prophet's question also contains a teaching, because he knew the answer without asking. "Are you afraid," he asked Abu Bakr , "that people are going to come and kill us?" Abu Bakr said, "O Messenger of God, I am not crying for fear that they will kill me. I am not afraid of them. But I am crying because of a snake which is eating my foot.
When he finishes with me, he will come to you. I am afraid for you. My heart bleeds for you. That is why I cried." The Prophet spoke to the snake and said, "Do you not know that the flesh of prophets is forbidden for you to eat and the flesh of saints is also forbidden?"
17.65 "As for My servants, no authority shalt thou have over them:" Enough is thy Lord for a Disposer of affairs.
The snake answered, "O Messenger of God, when my Lord created me I knew about you. That was before you came into this world from your mother's womb. I asked my Lord 40,000 years ago to keep me alive to see your face and then die. Now Abu Bakr as-Siddiq is blocking my view with his feet. I have to see you and fulfill my Lord's promise, but he is blocking the hole with his feet. That is why I was obliged to bite his foot and come through the hole in order to be able to look at you."
Now the Prophet has said, "The saliva of a believer is a cure." Where is the belief in the Prophet's Tradition? God is the One who cures and the one who makes you sick, not the cup.
If God does not wish you to be sick, even if someone has tuberculosis and you drink after them-and this is quickly spread- through drinking-you will not get sick even if you drink hundreds of cups after that person. God is the Healer (al-Shafi), the Disabler (al-Muawiy), the One inflicting harm (al-Dharr). God is the one who alone holds cure and illness in His hands for people.
So the Prophet said, "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate," and applied his saliva to the foot of Abu Bakr . The foot immediately healed and became whole as before. Then the Prophet ordered the snake to look at him. The snake said, "I believe that there is no god but God. I believe that you are His Prophet ." As the snake said this, it wound around and around in circles.
Although a quiet and gentle man, he was also first on the battlefield. He supported the Holy Prophet in all of his campaigns both with his sword and with his counsel. When others failed or ran, he remained at the side of his beloved Prophet . It is stated that once Ali asked his companions who they considered to be the bravest. They replied that Ali was the bravest. But he answered: “No. Abu Bakr is the bravest. On the day of the Battle of Badr, when there was no one to stand guard where the Holy Prophet prayed, Abu Bakr as caliph and leader of the faithful. He instituted the public treasury to take care of the poor and needy.
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