Even If The Wolves Snatched Me (4/5)

Then, he went out, followed by Umar, until he came to the place where the army was encamping. He ordered the soldiers to start proceeding by Allah's blessing. He also walked with them in order to bid them farewell.

The caliph walked on foot, beside Usamah, who was riding his horse. Usamah felt shy, and intended to get down, asking the successor of The Messenger of Allah (Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him) to ride (on the horse). But, Abu Bakr made him firm in his riding place and said: "By Allah! Neither you would get down, nor would I ride. Why would I not cover my feet with dust for some time in the cause of Allah?"

Everything might be simple in his sight, and every matter, whatever important or difficult it might be, could be made easy, in case there was anything that would lead him, even as little as а hairbreadth, to obey Allah and His Messenger.

No doubt, there was а treaty and pledge between him and Allah, manifest in his silent deep-rooted faith. For this reason, he was determined to undertake, as long as he was alive, all the obligations enjoined by this belief, even if the wolves snatched him away. Moreover, he was certain that such а faith had with it the deep insight, which would guide him to both the truth and the right way. The truthfulness of this certainty was evidently clear in this story of Usamah.

His insistence on sending (the detachment of) Usamah did not only grant him the reward of obedience (to Allah and His Messenger), but also led him to the right guidance and method. Towards North, the affliction had started to bring out its horns. But, as soon as those tribes, upon which the army of Usamah on his way to Sham came, had seen this sweeping army, they came back to their minds. They said to one another: "By Allah! Had Madinah been suffering from weakness and differences of opinions as we heard, it would not have been able to send such an army during those days in order to fight the Romans."

Thus, only the movement of the army towards its destination was а great disappointment and а significant discouragement to so many tribes, into which the affliction of apostasy started to enter.

Now, let’s return to As-Siddiq while facing the apostasy with his constant faith. When we go through the historical sources, which recorded the events of those decisive days, we could observe а very important question: What would the expected destiny of Islam be if Abu Bakr did not exist there (at this time)?

However, Ibn Mas'ud seemed to have simplified the matter when he said, as we mentioned earlier: "Following the death of The Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) we were put to а situation, (which was so much critical) that we would have been ruined because of it, unless Allah Almighty had granted us (the privilege of having) Abu Bakr among us."

Yes. Abu Bakr was, at this time, the blessing bestowed by Allah upon both the religion and people. The earth flamed with rebellion in some places, which were far from Madinah, whose inhabitants, at most, did not embrace Islam but а short time ago. They did not imagine, according to their naive nature that The Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) would die as all of the people die, particularly а short time (after their embracing Islam).

The result was that they fell under the influence of the cries of those liars (who pretended to be prophets), with lurking evil and wickedness against Islam. Suddenly, all those who had suspicion and lurking evil against it emerged. There appeared also false prophets, who led, depending upon their plotted lies, all those whose ignorance made them fall as victims of their untruths, particularly from those living far from Madinah, who did not embrace Islam but а short time earlier than the death of the Prophet.

Tulaihah Al-Asadi stood up, announcing falsely that he was а prophet, and а lot of people from the tribes of Asad, Ghatfan, Taiyy, Abs and Dhubayn followed him. Then, the fire of apostasy flamed in the tribes of Amir, Hawazin and Sulaim. Then, it broke up in the tribe of Tamim, depending upon the appearance of Sajah, this woman who claimed false prophecy. Then, there rebelled the inhabitants of Yamamah, raising the flag of the most dangerous claimant of false prophecy at all, i.e. Musailamah the Liar.

In this way, Abu Bakr was forced to face so many armies consisting of tens of thousands of soldiers, instead of confronting а small groups of troops. Soon, the inhabitants of Вahrain and Oman were infected (by this affliction of apostasy), and all of them went on changing the following poetic verse composed by one of their poets: "We obeyed The Messenger of Allah as long as he was living among us. Then, О slaves of Allah, what does Abu Bakr have to do with us?"

But, Allah Almighty has, from amongst His creatures, some men, at whose hands the distresses would turn to be blessings and the catastrophes would turn to be а spring of life; and Abu Bakr was one of such men. During this fusing distress of Islam, all points of human weakness appeared. Then, (Abu Bakr) the wise man got up, very immediately, in order to bring together (what was destroyed of Islamic society), and made firm and strengthened the rows of Muslims.

Therefore, Islam itself was greatly fortunate and prosperous for when it was befallen by such а distress, Abu Bakr was the carrier of the flag, and the leader of the nation. By Allah’s virtue and mercy, this great man and the believing caliph was able to overcome those dangers which were about to ruin the structure of а high strong and firm empire, not to speak of а new born and still developing religion!

However, those shattering days were the greatest, the richest, the most flourishing, and the most blessed days after The Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him). The veils of the disguised faces fell down, the chests vomited all of their lurking grudges, and the blessed fire (of truth) came to fuse (the faith of) the new nation, and entirely remove away its impurities.

At this point, the faith of Abu Bakr proved to be able not only to break through obstacles, but also to guide the whole world to the importance of faith. He surely believed that Allah is а fact, Islam is а fact, and Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) is а fact. Having such a faith, he no longer was able to break his commitment, or go back on his pledge.

The Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) had left them on the straight path, whose night was (as pure) as its day; and Abu Bakr, who became the successor of The Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) was following this tradition. He had to do what he thought The Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) would have done if he had been alive during those days (of apostasy).

 (Continued)