What support our contention – that Abu Bakr did not really...

What support our contention – that Abu Bakr did not really care about the Prophet’s life – are his latter actions on the battlefields. For instance, he abandoned the Messenger of Allah to the mercy of the pagans on different days of battle, and fled away, again and again, with his life from jihad . Imam Muslim (d.

261 H) records: حدثنا محمد بن أبي بكر المقدمي وحامد بن عمر البكراوي ومحمد بن عبدالأعلى قالوا حدثنا المعتمر (وهو ابن سليمان) قال سمعت أبي عن أبي عثمان قال لم يبق مع رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم في بعض تلك الأيام التي قاتل فيهن رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم غير طلحة وسعد عن حديثهما Muhammad b. Abi Bakr al-Muqaddami, Hamid b. ‘Umar al-Bakrawi and Muhammad b.

‘Abd al-A’la – al-Mu’tamar (and he is Ibn Sulayman) – father – Abu ‘Uthman: “ None remained with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, on some of the days in which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was fighting apart from Talhah and Sa’d . They both (i.e. Talhah and Sa’d) narrated that to me.”[^2] On several expeditions of the Prophet, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman fled and escaped from battle!

They ran way, and did not look back, knowing fully well that their actions could get the Prophet killed, injured or imprisoned. In any case, what matters to our discussion in this chapter is that Abu Bakr doubted the assurances of the Messenger of Allah while they both were in danger, in the cave. He was unconvinced by them. Therefore, when Allah sent down His sakinah , He excluded him. The same thing happened with ‘Umar later on the Day of al-Hudaybiyyah. Imam Ibn Hibban (d.

354 H) records his own words concerning what he did on that day: فقال عمر بن الخطاب رضوان الله عليه والله ما شككت منذ أسلمت إلا يومئذ فاتيت النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقلت ألست رسول الله حق So, ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭab, may Allah be pleased with him, said (about the Day of al-Hudaybiyyah): “By Allah! I never doubted since I accepted Islam EXCEPT on that day . So, I went to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and said, ‘ Are you not truly the Messenger of Allah ?’”[^3] ‘Allamah al-Albani (d.

1420 H) comments: صحيح Sahih ^4 Moreover, Shaykh al-Arnauṭ agrees: حديث صحيح It is a sahih hadith ^5 He doubted the nubuwwah of Muhammad on that day! This removed him from the ranks of believers.