Hijri Year Eleven: In the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this year, on the twelfth day, Monday, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, as we have recounted in previous sections. We have also provided sufficient explanation regarding this matter. Success is from Allah.
As previously mentioned, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away on a Monday at mid-morning. The people were occupied with pledging allegiance (bayʿa) to Abu Bakr under the shade of Banū Sāʿida. Afterwards, during the remainder of Monday and on Tuesday morning, a general bayʿa was given to him in the mosque. As detailed at length in earlier sections, after the matter of bayʿa was completed, the remaining part of Tuesday was spent washing, shrouding, and performing the funeral prayer over the body of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He was buried on Wednesday night. We have explained this matter in its proper place, with evidence and proof. Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Yasār narrated from Anas b. Mālik as follows:
"When Abu Bakr was pledged allegiance to in the morning under the shade of Banū Sāʿida, Abu Bakr sat down. ʿUmar stood up and began to speak before him. After praising and extolling Allah as is His due, he said:
'O people! Yesterday I said things to you. I did not derive those words from the Book of Allah or from anything the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had told me. But I saw that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would manage our affairs and take care of our concerns, and truly, Allah the Exalted has left among you the one in whom is the guidance (hudā) of His Messenger. If you hold fast to him, you will attain the path of guidance to which Allah has led him. Allah the Exalted has entrusted your leadership to the best among you, the companion of the Messenger of God and the second of the two in the cave. Rise and pledge allegiance to him.'
After this speech by ʿUmar, the people gave a general bayʿa to Abu Bakr following the bayʿa under the shade of Banū Sāʿida. Then Abu Bakr began to speak. After praising and extolling Allah as is His due, he said:
'Now then, O people! Though I am not the best among you, I have been placed in charge of your affairs. If I govern well, help me. If I act wrongly, correct me. Truthfulness is a trust; lying is treachery.
The weakest among you is, in my sight, the strongest until I restore his right to him, in shāʾ Allāh. The strongest among you is, in my sight, the weakest until I take the right from him and give it to its owner, in shāʾ Allāh. If a people abandon striving (jihād) in the way of Allah, Allah will surely leave them without support and bring them to humiliation. If indecency spreads among a people, Allah will send upon them a general affliction. Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Messenger. If I disobey Allah and His Messenger, you owe me no obedience. Stand up and pray, may Allah have mercy on you.'
The chain of this narration is sound. The Companions (ṣaḥāba) were unanimous at that time in pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr. Even ʿAlī, son of Abū Ṭālib, and Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām pledged allegiance. May Allah be pleased with them. The evidence for this is the following narration from al-Bayhaqī:
Al-Bayhaqī narrated from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī as follows:
'The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away. The people gathered in the house of Saʿd b. ʿUbāda. Among them were Abu Bakr and ʿUmar. The spokesman of the Anṣār stood up and said:
"Do you know, we are the helpers (Anṣār) of the Messenger of God, and just as we were his helpers, we will also be the helpers of his successor."
Then ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb stood up and said:
"Your spokesman has spoken the truth. If you had said anything else, we would not have pledged allegiance to you."
After saying this, ʿUmar took the hand of Abu Bakr and said:
"Here is your man! Pledge allegiance to him." He himself was the first to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr. Then the Emigrants (Muhājirūn) and the Helpers (Anṣār) pledged allegiance to him.
Abu Bakr ascended the pulpit, looked at the congregation, and did not see Zubayr among them. He sent for Zubayr, who came. Abu Bakr said to him:
"O Zubayr, cousin of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), did you intend to break the unity of the Muslims?"
Zubayr replied:
"O successor of the Messenger of God, do not blame anyone today." He then stood up and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. Then Abu Bakr looked at the congregation and did not see ʿAlī. He sent for him as well. When ʿAlī arrived, Abu Bakr said to him:
"O cousin and son-in-law of the Messenger of God, did you intend to break the unity of the Muslims?"
ʿAlī replied:
"O successor of the Messenger of God, do not blame anyone today." After saying this, ʿAlī stood up and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr.'
Mūsā b. ʿUqba, in his work "Maghāzī," narrated from Saʿd b. Ibrāhīm as follows:
'According to what my father told me, my grandfather ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf was with ʿUmar. Muḥammad b. Maslama broke Zubayr's sword. Then Abu Bakr delivered a sermon and apologized to the people, saying:
"By Allah, I never coveted leadership for a single day or night. I never asked Allah, either secretly or openly, to grant me this position."
The Emigrants (Muhājirūn) accepted Abu Bakr's words. ʿAlī and Zubayr also said:
"We were late in pledging allegiance because we were left out of the consultation. Yet we know that Abu Bakr is the most deserving among the people for the caliphate. He was the companion of the Messenger of God in the cave. We acknowledge his honor and virtue. While the Messenger of God was alive, he appointed him as imam to lead the congregation."'
Such a statement from ʿAlī is to be expected. According to the accounts, ʿAlī would come to the prayers and pray behind Abu Bakr. After the death of the Messenger of God, he also went with him to Dhū al-Qaṣṣa, as we will mention later. Moreover, ʿAlī would come to Abu Bakr, advise him, participate in his council of consultation, and express his opinions. As for ʿAlī's pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr after Fāṭima's death, what we can say is this: Fāṭima passed away six months after her father. This should be understood as ʿAlī pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr a second time. The reason for this second pledge was to resolve the estrangement that arose because of their claim to the inheritance of the Messenger of God, and Abu Bakr's refusal to give it to them based on the hadith: "We, the prophets, are not inherited from. What we leave behind is charity." The chains and wordings of this hadith have been given in previous sections. Praise be to Allah.
Sayf b. ʿUmar al-Tamīmī narrated from ʿĀṣim b. ʿAdiyy as follows:
'On the day after the death of the Messenger of God, Abu Bakr's crier made the following announcement to send Usāma's army on campaign:
"Attention! Every person registered in Usāma's army must go to the garrison at Jurf. No one among them should remain in Medina!"
Abu Bakr then turned to the congregation. After praising and extolling Allah, he said:
"O people! I am just like you. I suspect you will expect me to do what the Messenger of God was able to do. Truly, Allah the Exalted chose Muhammad above all the worlds and protected him from calamities. I am merely a follower of his. I am not someone who can act independently. If I continue on the right path, pledge allegiance to me. If I deviate, correct and set me right. Truly, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) has passed away, and there is not a single person in this community who is owed even a lash's worth of retribution from him. I have a devil who is set upon me. When he comes to me, keep away from me so that I do not harm your hair or your skin. You are departing in the morning and returning in the evening within the bounds of your appointed terms, and you do not know when your appointed time will come. If you are able to persist in righteous deeds, then do so and act righteously. You can only do this with Allah's help. Surrender to your appointed terms, and before your deeds come to an end, while there is still time, hasten to good works. For there was a people who forgot their appointed terms and postponed righteous deeds. Do not be like them. Strive, strive! Seek salvation, seek salvation! Hasten, hasten! For behind you is a term that seeks to overtake you and is eager to catch you, and it is coming swiftly. Beware of death and be prepared for it. Take heed from your fathers, your sons, and your brothers. Obey the living as you would obey the dead.'
Again, Abu Bakr stood up and, after praising and extolling Allah, said:
'Allah accepts only those deeds that are done solely for His pleasure. Seek Allah's pleasure with your deeds. You are only sincere at a time when you are in need and poverty. O servants of Allah, take heed from those among you who have died. Reflect on those before you. Where were they yesterday, and where are they today? Where are those tyrants and strong ones whose exploits in battlefields and victories are recounted? Time has weakened them. They have become decayed bones. Poverty and deprivation have passed over them in succession. The vile belong with the vile, and the impure with the impure. Where are the kings who tilled and built up the earth? They have gone, their memories forgotten, as if they never existed. Only the Mighty and Majestic Allah has left their responsibilities and sins upon them as lasting burdens. He has cut off their desires and cravings.
They have passed on, but their deeds remain recorded in their books. Today's world is different from the world they left behind. After them, we have been sent into this world. If we take heed from them, we will attain salvation. If we fall into ruin, we will be like them. Where are the beautiful ones with radiant faces, where are those who boasted of their youth? They have become dust. Their passing has become a source of regret and longing for them. Where are those who built cities and fortified them with walls, and accomplished wondrous things in those cities? They left all they built to those who came after them. These are the dwellings, the empty houses they left behind. But they are in the darkness of their graves: "Do you hear any of them or perceive from them a sound?" (Maryam 19:98). Where are your fathers and brothers whom you knew and recognized?
Their appointed terms came and took them to their original abodes. They have returned to their first dwelling places. After death, they are either wretched (shaqī) or blessed (saʿīd), either happy or miserable. Know that Allah has no partner. There is no intermediary between Him and His creation who can bring good to them or avert evil from them through that intermediary. No, a person attains good and benefit only through obedience and following the command of his Lord, or is saved from evil thereby. Know that you are servants indebted to Allah. What is with Him can only be attained through obedience to Him. Has the time not come for you to distance yourselves from the Fire of Hell and to draw near to Paradise?'