Seerah Part 104 - The 1st Rightful Khalifah of Islam (2)

Seerah of Prophet Muhammad (sws) - Yasir Qadhi - Supporting Yasir Qadhi

This episode explores the election of Abu Bakr as the first caliph after Prophet Muhammad's death, highlighting theological and historical debates between Sunni and Shia perspectives. It examines various Islamic sources

Key takeaways

• Abu Bakr's selection marked a pivotal moment in Islamic history

Transcript preview

Asa Rabi will Islam moodini, where Muhammad and Rasululah he was al-Ihqiyi. al-A-Lihahahih al-A-Ahabad after so many breaks that were unexpected because of the cold front and whatnot, in sha-law where finally al-hamdala coming back I think after one month how long has it been more than a month one month one month for weeks break I think right we had so in the what machea so it is a four week now we're coming back after that this is a fifth week to be very pedantic about it so said, Hamdala, and we are now resuming our session and some people have suggested I should not call this sera anymore. And this is a valid point because of course the sera is now over. Nonetheless, what we're discussing today is related to the death of the Prophet Allahu al-Aulah al-Ahla al-Ahla al-Ahla al-Ahla al-Ahlaiboubakar al-Ah. And as every single Muslim is very intimately aware, this is where this is where the theological divide begins between Sunnis and Sheeism. This is really where it all begins. So today's lecture is not just historical, it is also theological. Today's lecture is not just historical, it is also theological. Because we believe, and this is the difference between Sunnis and Sheeism, we believe that Abubakr Soudi K radi al-Uwah and who was the person who was the most suitable to be the chalifa and this is a relief. And this is a relief. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a reliefa. And this is a matter and not just a political matter and of course the other group disagrees with this. So the question arises and so today we're going to do a little bit about this issue. It's not going to be that detail because this is not a class of Sunnis and versus Sheizhism. And I'm not going to give you the Shehry evidence is why not. That's a separate class. I have spoken about this in other seminars, not in this historical, but you cannot talk about the election of aubakar without at least giving some indications of the theological differences as well. How was a Wobakar a soudi chosen? What was the methodology of his choosing? There are three opinions, if you like, about this issue within Sunni Islam. The first of them is that the Sahaba amongst themselves decided to choose a Wobak and a studi. There's nothing from the Prophet Salahua what so. And this, some have said this is the majority opinion. themselves thought and talked and then they chose Abu Bakr. The second opinion and this is narrated from al-Hassan-L-Bazali and others is that the Prophet-Lahu al-U-Sala al-Ausam, indirectly indicated that Abu-Bakar should be the Khali-fah. Indirectly indicated, not directly and neither was there nothing which is the first opinion. And well let me be precise, the first opinion does not say there was nothing. The first opinion says no doubt the process of the process of the best in terms of his fadul, in terms of his status. But the first opinion would say the process of some did not indicate who should be the political leader after him, right? All of Sunni Islam agrees that Abbakar a sadir is the best Sahabi amongst all of the Sahaba, right? So the difference comes, how was he chosen to be the Khalifa? Some group will say, the Sahab realize he was the best, so they chose him to be the Khalifa? The. The. The Salihl, who al-I was Sala, subtly indicated that he should be the Khalifa. And the Hassan al-Bazan and others held this position. That there's nothing explicit, but neither is it neutral. Rather, there's hints, Ish-Arat, that Abu Bakr should be the Khalifa. And the third opinion is what's left now. The process is clearly said. And this opinion has also been hinted at by some of the early... authorities and it is also the position of the famous Andalusian scholar Ibn Hazim. Ibn Hazam said that the Prophet, Allah who al-Aislam explicitly commanded the Sahab. It's a command, right? And this is an exact contradistinction to the Shiai theology, which is that he commanded Ali to be the Khalifa. That's the Shiai theology. And Ibn Hazam and others say no, the exact opposite. He commanded Abu Bakkar to be the Khalifa, right. And this is a minority opinion. opinion and frankly I did some research today I could not find another name other than Iben Hasim it has been narrated you find it that some people said who are these people I could not find anybody other than I'm has it maybe there are other people that I'm saying this is a very small minority opinion that the prophecy system explicitly commanded the Sahaba that for example when I die the Khalifa should be Abbakar al-Sadir this is not the majority opinion the majority opinion is between one and two the majority opinion the majority opinion is between one And frankly, the two opinions are not mutually exclusive, one and two. One and two are not mutually exclusive. Is that clear? In other words, both of them are valid. Because the first group, what is it saying? The first group is saying that the Ahadith about Abu Bakr just mention how great of a person he is, and he's the greatest. But then isn't that an indication as well that? That he should be the leader. So therefore in my opinion really the first and the second opinions are really the same opinion which is that the prophet salla salla salla did not explicitly say a bubakk should be the khalifa but there were enough indications that the sahaba therefore understood who should be the khalifa so you can kind of combine between the two opinions and make it into one opinion and al-A al-Zoajal knows best and interestingly enough as time went by many ullama and many theologians attempted to derive koranic evidences for the Khilafa Abbuka, believe it or not. They attempted to derive koranic evidences for the Khilafa of Abu Bakr Azadir, Radi al-Ahyaahuan. So much so that the famous Shankitli, who is the author of al-Bain, he actually derived a little bit of advanced, advanced, convoluted evidence from. al-Hambulah R b' al-Amin. From the first verse of the Quran, he kept on going, going until he basically got to the conclusion that, and this verse also indicates the kilaf of Abu Bakr. So I mean, there are all of these things. But there are some verses that are perhaps a little bit, perhaps more indicative than others. Of them, of course, is the verse that talks about Abu Bakr. He's the first that talks about al-Ubakar. He is the what? Heh. So, what is the an athnaini, ishuma a filghar? So what is the, how can this be used to derive, Abbukakha should be the chalifa? So they say, if he is the second of the two, then when the first one is missing, who is left? Abbukakar. Right? So, Allah says he is the second of the two. So, logically speaking, when the first is not there, the second must come and stand in his place. So when Allah's Allah's of Allah explicitly calls him Thanieth name, this indicates therefore that when the number one is not there and is missing, passed away, number two will take that place. And frankly, that's not a bad evidence. Okay, it's actually somewhat of a good evidence here. That when Allah says Abu Bakr is a second of the two, therefore, when number one is not there, number two then gets into the place. And in fact, linguistically, what does Khalifa mean, linguistically? Kalefa means the one who has been appointed to be in charge of. So, Kalafa means to take over when the person leaves. So when somebody leaves, then the Kaleifa comes. So when Allah said that aubakariz-Taniathane, then in fact this makes him kind of the Kaleifa. Because Kalefa means when the one goes, so the number two comes in, therefore this is one opinion. is soo-tet-t-tauba, verse 100, where Allah says, was Sabikun al-Auwalun, a minute mahajun al-Auah jianna, and those who are a Sabikun al-Auwanun, the earliest who race to convert to Islam, from the Muajrun and the Ansar and those who came after them. So in this verse, Allah's of al-Tahla is basically indicating that the earliest converts are the best. and they are in order after the Prophet so after the process of them who do you have a sabb ykoon al al-awaluna min al-ajirina while ansar the earliest of the batches who raced from and then even there's a tartif mohajurun then an-sar so who is the first adult convert of the mohajurun al-a-sadirun al-sah right so al-a-sudik right so al-a al-sudih al-a therefore therefore is also indicating after the process of Islam. Now these are the two verses that in my opinion have at least in my opinion some it makes some sense. There are at least seven eight others that are given that frankly I don't find much substance and it seems more imaginative such as al-Hambulahabine. He goes through here and there until he gets this I don't see this as being direct. But these two I think they have some semblance of authenticity that yes indeed the Quran is praising Abu Bakkar indirectly or directly in the first verse. and from this you can somewhat extract the theological point that Abu Bakr is the most qualified. Okay so the Quran does seem to have some indication. As for the Ahadith, there are so many Ahadith about the blessings of Abbakar. We can give an entire lecture or two just about those Ahadith, but I just want to mention three or four that indicate that. Abbakar is so there clearly has a status that the other Sahabha do not have even when it comes to issues of standing instead of or in place of the process of the process of the, i.e. the Khalifa of the prophet's of the, so, what does Khalifa mean? Khalifa means you're standing in place of somebody else. So what are some of these Ahadith? Of the most authentic and the most explicit is a Hadith and Sahibukari itself, that the prophet's seeing a dream. So he is predicting the future by seeing this dream. And he is saying, I saw in a dream that I was standing next to a well and I pulled from this well as long as a law will that I pull. So he is now pulling water. Then Abu Bakr came and he pulled a bucket or two and in his pulling was some weakness. It wasn't as strong as mine. There was some weakness in it. Then Rumbar I'm in a khatab came. bucket became a and the Arabic word is used which basically means a much larger so they have different in English we have bucket we say small bucket medium bucket large bucket in Arabic obviously when you're drawing water from a well you have so many different nouns to describe the size of the bucket and the first word used is delu and delu is basically a small canister then the next word is used umar came and it became basically the much bigger bucket and the first word that is used for watering camels or something. And so it transformed to this one. And the Prophet of Sala said, I have never seen an Abakari like Umar working with the bucket like anybody else. And Abkari, of course, in modern Arabic means genius. But in classical Arabic, it meant something above and beyond what is natural, supernatural. So the process is called, by the way, for the Arabs here, the process is called Umar and Abkari. He called Umar an Abkari. An Abkari means more than regular, more than whatnot. So the process said, I never saw anyone like Umar in the dream obviously, pulling the water out of the well, so much so that the people returned with their camels to the camel pens and of Hadith meaning. So much water was gone. given not only did the people drink, the camels drank and they drank all the way to their full and the camels then went back to go to sleep. So this Hadith is in Buchari and the symbolism is obvious, it's beautiful, it's profound, it's obvious. The process is saying that after I went away, after I left, Abu Bakr took over and he continued my job for a year or two, because he was only there for a year or two, for a bucket or two, right, for a year or two, right, right, for a to he continued and there was some jerkiness, it wasn't a smooth. Why? It's not Abu Bakr's fault. Things happen in his Khalafah that it wasn't as smooth. Because what happened in his Khalafah? Herubahidah, the whole Uyghrahahr. The Uyghur was about to collapse and Allah saved it through Abu Bakr. So this is now it wasn't as smooth. It's not that Abu Bakr is problematic. but he manages to continue the flow. No matter what happened he's still continuing the flow and this is what we believe that Abu Bakr a Siddhik salvaged by the blessings of Allah he healed the wounded U-Mah and were it not for Allah and then Allah's choosing of Abbakar the U-Bakar the U-Bakar the U-Bakar the U-Bukar the U-Bukar the U-B-Lanid the rope would have broken wouldn't have lasted you needed a bubakar to just continue the flow once the flow is back to normal rheumar comes in and then he takes the flow and he turns it into a river basically right now had he doesn't see river by the way don't misunderstand me I'm just trying to say the hadid says that the small bucket becomes the massive bucket and everybody and even their camels drink meaning what's the symbolism here And it is amazing in our 14 centuries of Khelafa, 14 centuries of Islamic history, the conquests of Romar remain unparalleled. I mean honestly think about it. When our technology, our money, our weapon was nothing, Rumar was a little time. He managed to do what no other Khalifa has ever done. And it is really mind-boggling if you understand history and what not, and you understand the status, the military, the military, status of the Arabs versus the military status of the Romans and the Persians to completely decimate the assassinated Persian Empire, wipe it off the map of history. The Roman Empire could not harm the Persian Empire for 350 years. In fact the Persian Empire usually was stronger than the Roman Empire and yet here comes a bunch of Arabs uneducated, could not read and write. They don't have weapons. They don't have military training. They don't even have the horses and the regiments that the other troops have. They don't have the armor. They don't have the nothing is there. And for them to come out of nowhere and completely wipe off the Persians from the face of this earth. Kallam tachna bilams, as if they never existed. Well, lie to this day historians are scratching their heads. Like, how could we explain this? And of course they have their theories, but of course we know the real story and that he tore the letter up and the process of the system said, Allah will tear your kingdom up like you tore my letter up and that's exactly what happened. Barely 10 years after the process of Islam said this. Kallas, their kingdom was gone on the hands of Immer al-qhatab. And the Roman Empire, around half of it was carved up, the jewel of the Roman Empire. Damascus, for us, Damascus is associated with of course the Umayaz and the Muslims realized before Umar conquered it, was the jewel of the Roman Empire. It was on the route of the Silk Road. The Silk Road pretty much ended in Damascus, starting in China all the way to Damascus, and then it moved on to the other lands. This was one of the most important cities of the Roman civilization. And of course Bilad Shams, Jerusalem, all of this. And it was of course in the time of Rumramal Khathab that all of this was conquered. And so all of this conquering, this is the well becoming that river. and everybody's drinking. The water is so much the power there is a is just coming everywhere and the uma is still benefiting to this day from the conquest of rumbar ibnal khatab rathio lahu tahala anuu mahu so this dream clearly indicates what does it indicate that when i leave abu pakir will take charge when albakir leaves also in Sahibukari. Also in Sahibukari. A woman came asking for some money, some help, some financial aid, and the process of them said, I don't have anything now, but come back, but come back on such and such time, you'll get it. So basically nothing now, but come back and I promise you you'll have it. So the lady is desperate. She wants the money. She says, Yar R. meaning what if I don't find you? She didn't mean if you're dead. She meant what if you're not here? What should I do then? So the prophet of the prophet sassalam said, if you do not find me, then go to Abu Bakr. Of course the context of the Hadith is one thing, but the wording is much broader. And al-Hafidh bin Hajar comments on this Hadith and he said, this is an evidence. that the Khelafah was to be given to Abu Bakr after the death of the prophet Shasa. If you do not find me, then go to Abu Bakr. Now the context indicates, or the context tells us this is about money, the woman wants money, what if she can't find the process of the process of them? The process says, go find Abu Bakr, he'll give you the money. That's the context. But the wording is saying, in any case you do not find me, there is a person that will do what I want him to do and that is Abbukk and therefore this is another hadith as