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This is al Siddiq praising the family relation between him and the Ahlul Bayt in a way that befits them and befits him—May Allah be pleased with all of them.
Imam al Bukhari narrates in his Sahih that Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu told ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu:
والذي نفسي بيده لقرابة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم أحب إلي من أن أصل من قرابتي
By Allah, the maintaining of family ties with the family of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is more important to me than maintaining my own family ties.[1]
It is also narrated from Ibn ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhuma who narrates from Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu that he said:
ارقبوا محمدا صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم في أهل بيته
Please Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam by doing good to his family.[2]
It is narrated from ‘Uqbah ibn al Harith in Musnad Abi Ya’la:
صلى أبو بكر رضي الله عنه العصر ثم خرج يمسي بعد وفاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم بليال، ، فرأى الحسن رضي الله عنه يلعب مع الصبيان، فحمله على عاتقه، وقال: بأبي شبيه بالنبي، لا شبيه بعلي وعلي رضي الله عنه يضحك
Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu performed ‘Asr and thereafter he began walking. This happened a few days after the passing away of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He saw Hassan radiya Llahu ‘anhu playing with some children. He lifted Hassan radiya Llahu ‘anhu, placed him onto his shoulder and said, “I take an oath on the honour of my father, he resembles the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and he does not resemble ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu.” ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu laughed upon hearing this.[3]
The aforementioned incident took place a few days after the demise of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This shows that the fact which has found its way into some of the books of history about ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu not pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu and that he chose to differ with all of the other Sahabah for a few months; is baseless. It is impossible for him to forsake his brothers, i.e. the other Sahabah, or that he opposes all the Sahabah or that he foregoes the right of his which was given to him by Allah, as they think.
This is because all of the Sahabah had agreed to pledge allegiance to al Siddiq at that time including ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and Zubair ibn al ‘Awwam radiya Llahu ‘anhum.
The proof of this is that which has been narrated by al Bayhaqi with a chain of transmission from Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu that he said:
قبض رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم- واجتمع الناس في دار سعد بن عبادة وفيهم أبو بكر وعمر قال: فقام خطيب الأنصار فقال: أتعلمون أنا انصار رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فنحن أنصار خليفته كما كنا أنصاره. قال: فقام عمر بن الخطاب فقال: صدق قائلكم ولو قلتم غير هذا لم نبايعكم. فأخذ بيد أبي بكر وقال: هذا صاحبكم. فبايعوه فبايعه عمر وبايعه المهاجرون والأنصار. وقال: فصعد أبو بكر المنبر فنظر في وجوه القوم فلم ير الزبير قال: فدعا الزبير فجاء قال: قلت ابن عمة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أردت أن تشق عصا المسلمين قال: لا تثريب يا خليفة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقام فبايعه. ثم نظر في وجوه القوم فلم ير عليا فدعا بعلي بن أبي طالب قال: قلت ابن عم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وختنه على ابنته أردت أن تشق عصا المسلمين. قال: لا تثريب يا خليفة رسول الله فبايعه هذا او معناه قال الحافظ أبو علي النيسابوري: سمعت ابن خزيمة يقول: جاءني مسلم بن الحجاج، فسألني عن هذا الحديث، فكتبته له في رقعة وقرأت عليه، فقال: هذا حديث يساوي بدنة. فقلت: يسوى بدنة بل هذا يسوى بدرة. وقد رواه الإمام أحمد عن الثقة، عن وهيب مختصرا. وأخرجه الحاكم في ” مستدركه ” من طريق عفان بن مسلم، عن وهيب مطولا كنحو ما تقدم
The Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam passed away and all the people gathered in the house of Sa’d ibn ‘Ubadah. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anha were also present.
Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu said, “The spokesman of the Ansar stood up and said, ‘Do you know that we were the helpers of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, so, we will be the helpers of the vicegerent of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam just as we were the helpers of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.’
‘Umar ibn al Khattab radiya Llahu ‘anhu stood up and said, ‘Your spokesman has stated the truth and if you would have said anything else then we wouldn’t have pledged our allegiance to you.’ He then took the hand of Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu and said, ‘This is the person who is deserving of this position. So pledge allegiance to him.’ Thereafter ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu pledged his allegiance and the Muhajirin and the Ansar followed suit.
Then Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu climbed the pulpit and looked at the faces of the people. He did not see Zubair. So he asked for Zubair and Zubair arrived.
He asked him, ‘O the cousin of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, Do you wish to weaken the unity of the Muslims?’
Zubair replied, ‘There is no blame on you, O Khalifah of the Rasul of Allah.’ He then stood up and pledged allegiance.’
Thereafter Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu looked at the faces of the people. He did not see ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu. So he asked for ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu and ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu came.
He asked him, ‘O the cousin and the son in law of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, Do you wish to weaken the unity of the Muslims?’
Ali replied, ‘There is no blame on you, O Khalifah of the Rasul of Allah.”
He then stood up and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu. ”
Hafiz Abu’ Ali al Naysaburi said, “I heard Ibn Khuzaimah saying, ‘Muslim ibn Hajjaj came to me and asked me about this Hadith. I wrote it for him on a piece of cloth and read it for him.’
He said, ‘This Hadith holds the rank of camel.’ So I replied, ‘Rather it holds the rank of a vast treasure.’”
This Hadith has also been reported by Imam Ahmed from a reliable narrator who narrated it from Wuhayb. (A short version of it)
It has also been narrated by al Hakim in his Mustadrak from ‘Affan ibn Muslim from Wuhayb just as it passed. (The full version)[4]
The quote from Ibn Kathir ends here. This quote does not contradict that which was narrated by Aisha radiya Llahu ‘anha that ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu only pledged allegiance after six months because Aisha radiya Llahu ‘anha narrated that what she knew and Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu narrated that what he knew and the statement of the person who has more knowledge about a certain aspect will always be preferred over the person who does not have that knowledge.
Al Daraqutni narrates in Fada’il al Sahabah wa Manaqibuhum with a chain of narration from ‘Abdullah ibn Jafar radiya Llahu ‘anhu that he said:
رحم الله أبا بكر، كان لنا وليا، فنعم الوالي كان لنا، ما رأينا حاضنا قط كان خيرا منه، إنا لجلوس عنده يوما في البيت إذ جاءه عمر وكان الاستئذان ثلاثا، فاستأذن مرة فلم يؤذن له، ثم استأذن الثانية فلم يؤذن له، فلما كان الثالثة استأذن فقال له أبو بكر: ادخل، فدخل ومعه أصحاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال عمر: يا خليفة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، لم حبستنا بالباب، استأذنا مرتين فلم يأذن لنا فهذه الثالثة قال: إن بني جعفر كان بين أيديهم طعام يأكلونه؛ فخفت أن تدخلوا فتشركوهم في طعامهم
May Allah have mercy on Abu Bakr. He was our leader and what a splendid leader was he. We have not seen any guardian better than him.[5] Once we were sitting with him in the house when ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu arrived. It was necessary to ask for permission three times in order to enter.
So ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu sought permission to enter and he was not given permission. Thereafter he sought permission to enter once more and he was refused again. When he sought permission for the third time, Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu said, “Enter.” He entered with some of the Sahabah of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu asked, “O the Khalifah of the Rasul of Allah, why did you keep us waiting at the door for a while? We sought permission twice to enter and were denied entrance. This was the third time we had sought permission.”
Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu replied, “The Banu Jafar were seated and were partaking of meals, so I feared that you will enter and join them in their meals.”[6]
This shows the great consideration of Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu for the children of Jafar radiya Llahu ‘anhu and his emphasis in seeing to their well-being.
NEXT⇒ The praise of Amir al Mu’minin ‘Umar ibn al Khattab radiya Llahu ‘anhu
[1] Sahih al Bukhari, # 3712, Chapter regarding the virtues of the family relations of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Also see Bihar al Anwar vol. 43 pg. 301
[2] Sahih al Bukhari, # 3713, Chapter regarding the virtues of Hassan and Hussain radiya Llahu ‘anhuma.
[3] Musnad Abi Ya’la, # 38 (This is according to the edition printed by Dar al Ma’mun lil al Turath with the research of Hussain Salim Asad 1984.) The researcher has pointed out that the chain of transmission is Sahih. This Hadith is also in Sahih al Bukhari, # 3542 and in Kasf al Ghummah fi Ma’rifat al A’immah vol. 2 pg. 16.
[4] Al Bidayah wa al Nihayah, vol. 6 pg. 301
[5] This was because Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu had married Asma bint ‘Umays radiya Llahu ‘anha who was the mother of ‘Abdullah ibn Jafar after Jafar radiya Llahu ‘anhu had attained martyrdom. She gave gave birth to Muhammad from Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu. Thereafter ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib radiya Llahu ‘anhu married her after the demise of Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu
[6] This has been quoted from a portion of the eleventh volume of the book Fada’il al Sahabah wa Manaqibuhum which has been found. It was printed by Maktabah al Gharbaʾ al Athariyyah in Al Madinah Al Munawwarah.
BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents
This is al Siddiq praising the family relation between him and the Ahlul Bayt in a way that befits them and befits him—May Allah be pleased with all of them.
Imam al Bukhari narrates in his Sahih that Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu told ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu:
والذي نفسي بيده لقرابة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم أحب إلي من أن أصل من قرابتي
By Allah, the maintaining of family ties with the family of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is more important to me than maintaining my own family ties.[1]
It is also narrated from Ibn ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhuma who narrates from Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu that he said:
ارقبوا محمدا صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم في أهل بيته
Please Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam by doing good to his family.[2]
It is narrated from ‘Uqbah ibn al Harith in Musnad Abi Ya’la:
صلى أبو بكر رضي الله عنه العصر ثم خرج يمسي بعد وفاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم بليال، ، فرأى الحسن رضي الله عنه يلعب مع الصبيان، فحمله على عاتقه، وقال: بأبي شبيه بالنبي، لا شبيه بعلي وعلي رضي الله عنه يضحك
Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu performed ‘Asr and thereafter he began walking. This happened a few days after the passing away of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He saw Hassan radiya Llahu ‘anhu playing with some children. He lifted Hassan radiya Llahu ‘anhu, placed him onto his shoulder and said, “I take an oath on the honour of my father, he resembles the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and he does not resemble ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu.” ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu laughed upon hearing this.[3]
The aforementioned incident took place a few days after the demise of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This shows that the fact which has found its way into some of the books of history about ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu not pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu and that he chose to differ with all of the other Sahabah for a few months; is baseless. It is impossible for him to forsake his brothers, i.e. the other Sahabah, or that he opposes all the Sahabah or that he foregoes the right of his which was given to him by Allah, as they think.
This is because all of the Sahabah had agreed to pledge allegiance to al Siddiq at that time including ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and Zubair ibn al ‘Awwam radiya Llahu ‘anhum.
The proof of this is that which has been narrated by al Bayhaqi with a chain of transmission from Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu that he said:
قبض رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم- واجتمع الناس في دار سعد بن عبادة وفيهم أبو بكر وعمر قال: فقام خطيب الأنصار فقال: أتعلمون أنا انصار رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فنحن أنصار خليفته كما كنا أنصاره. قال: فقام عمر بن الخطاب فقال: صدق قائلكم ولو قلتم غير هذا لم نبايعكم. فأخذ بيد أبي بكر وقال: هذا صاحبكم. فبايعوه فبايعه عمر وبايعه المهاجرون والأنصار. وقال: فصعد أبو بكر المنبر فنظر في وجوه القوم فلم ير الزبير قال: فدعا الزبير فجاء قال: قلت ابن عمة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أردت أن تشق عصا المسلمين قال: لا تثريب يا خليفة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقام فبايعه. ثم نظر في وجوه القوم فلم ير عليا فدعا بعلي بن أبي طالب قال: قلت ابن عم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وختنه على ابنته أردت أن تشق عصا المسلمين. قال: لا تثريب يا خليفة رسول الله فبايعه هذا او معناه قال الحافظ أبو علي النيسابوري: سمعت ابن خزيمة يقول: جاءني مسلم بن الحجاج، فسألني عن هذا الحديث، فكتبته له في رقعة وقرأت عليه، فقال: هذا حديث يساوي بدنة. فقلت: يسوى بدنة بل هذا يسوى بدرة. وقد رواه الإمام أحمد عن الثقة، عن وهيب مختصرا. وأخرجه الحاكم في ” مستدركه ” من طريق عفان بن مسلم، عن وهيب مطولا كنحو ما تقدم
The Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam passed away and all the people gathered in the house of Sa’d ibn ‘Ubadah. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anha were also present.
Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu said, “The spokesman of the Ansar stood up and said, ‘Do you know that we were the helpers of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, so, we will be the helpers of the vicegerent of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam just as we were the helpers of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.’
‘Umar ibn al Khattab radiya Llahu ‘anhu stood up and said, ‘Your spokesman has stated the truth and if you would have said anything else then we wouldn’t have pledged our allegiance to you.’ He then took the hand of Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu and said, ‘This is the person who is deserving of this position. So pledge allegiance to him.’ Thereafter ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu pledged his allegiance and the Muhajirin and the Ansar followed suit.
Then Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu climbed the pulpit and looked at the faces of the people. He did not see Zubair. So he asked for Zubair and Zubair arrived.
He asked him, ‘O the cousin of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, Do you wish to weaken the unity of the Muslims?’
Zubair replied, ‘There is no blame on you, O Khalifah of the Rasul of Allah.’ He then stood up and pledged allegiance.’
Thereafter Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu looked at the faces of the people. He did not see ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu. So he asked for ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu and ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu came.
He asked him, ‘O the cousin and the son in law of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, Do you wish to weaken the unity of the Muslims?’
Ali replied, ‘There is no blame on you, O Khalifah of the Rasul of Allah.”
He then stood up and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu. ”
Hafiz Abu’ Ali al Naysaburi said, “I heard Ibn Khuzaimah saying, ‘Muslim ibn Hajjaj came to me and asked me about this Hadith. I wrote it for him on a piece of cloth and read it for him.’
He said, ‘This Hadith holds the rank of camel.’ So I replied, ‘Rather it holds the rank of a vast treasure.’”
This Hadith has also been reported by Imam Ahmed from a reliable narrator who narrated it from Wuhayb. (A short version of it)
It has also been narrated by al Hakim in his Mustadrak from ‘Affan ibn Muslim from Wuhayb just as it passed. (The full version)[4]
The quote from Ibn Kathir ends here. This quote does not contradict that which was narrated by Aisha radiya Llahu ‘anha that ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu only pledged allegiance after six months because Aisha radiya Llahu ‘anha narrated that what she knew and Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu narrated that what he knew and the statement of the person who has more knowledge about a certain aspect will always be preferred over the person who does not have that knowledge.
Al Daraqutni narrates in Fada’il al Sahabah wa Manaqibuhum with a chain of narration from ‘Abdullah ibn Jafar radiya Llahu ‘anhu that he said:
رحم الله أبا بكر، كان لنا وليا، فنعم الوالي كان لنا، ما رأينا حاضنا قط كان خيرا منه، إنا لجلوس عنده يوما في البيت إذ جاءه عمر وكان الاستئذان ثلاثا، فاستأذن مرة فلم يؤذن له، ثم استأذن الثانية فلم يؤذن له، فلما كان الثالثة استأذن فقال له أبو بكر: ادخل، فدخل ومعه أصحاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال عمر: يا خليفة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، لم حبستنا بالباب، استأذنا مرتين فلم يأذن لنا فهذه الثالثة قال: إن بني جعفر كان بين أيديهم طعام يأكلونه؛ فخفت أن تدخلوا فتشركوهم في طعامهم
May Allah have mercy on Abu Bakr. He was our leader and what a splendid leader was he. We have not seen any guardian better than him.[5] Once we were sitting with him in the house when ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu arrived. It was necessary to ask for permission three times in order to enter.
So ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu sought permission to enter and he was not given permission. Thereafter he sought permission to enter once more and he was refused again. When he sought permission for the third time, Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu said, “Enter.” He entered with some of the Sahabah of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhu asked, “O the Khalifah of the Rasul of Allah, why did you keep us waiting at the door for a while? We sought permission twice to enter and were denied entrance. This was the third time we had sought permission.”
Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu replied, “The Banu Jafar were seated and were partaking of meals, so I feared that you will enter and join them in their meals.”[6]
This shows the great consideration of Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu for the children of Jafar radiya Llahu ‘anhu and his emphasis in seeing to their well-being.
NEXT⇒ The praise of Amir al Mu’minin ‘Umar ibn al Khattab radiya Llahu ‘anhu
[1] Sahih al Bukhari, # 3712, Chapter regarding the virtues of the family relations of the Rasul of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Also see Bihar al Anwar vol. 43 pg. 301
[2] Sahih al Bukhari, # 3713, Chapter regarding the virtues of Hassan and Hussain radiya Llahu ‘anhuma.
[3] Musnad Abi Ya’la, # 38 (This is according to the edition printed by Dar al Ma’mun lil al Turath with the research of Hussain Salim Asad 1984.) The researcher has pointed out that the chain of transmission is Sahih. This Hadith is also in Sahih al Bukhari, # 3542 and in Kasf al Ghummah fi Ma’rifat al A’immah vol. 2 pg. 16.
[4] Al Bidayah wa al Nihayah, vol. 6 pg. 301
[5] This was because Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu had married Asma bint ‘Umays radiya Llahu ‘anha who was the mother of ‘Abdullah ibn Jafar after Jafar radiya Llahu ‘anhu had attained martyrdom. She gave gave birth to Muhammad from Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu. Thereafter ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib radiya Llahu ‘anhu married her after the demise of Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu
[6] This has been quoted from a portion of the eleventh volume of the book Fada’il al Sahabah wa Manaqibuhum which has been found. It was printed by Maktabah al Gharbaʾ al Athariyyah in Al Madinah Al Munawwarah.