After twenty three years of spreading the Message of Islam, his job as
the Seal of the Prophets was done. When
Muhammad the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, died, the whole of the
Arabian Peninsula recognized him as the “Master.” But he did not hand over the Islamic State to
his successor in a silver plate.
The Prophet had successfully established the foundation for this “new”
religion, but not the State. He had subdued
all the tribes in the Arabian Peninsula, but as soon as the news of his death
broke out, and before his successor, Abu Bakar, could do anything, the intelligence
had reached Madinah that there have been widespread rebellions throughout Arabia. The fledgling Islamic State under the new
leadership suddenly found itself under serious threat.
Only three cities were free from rebellions: Makkah, Taif, and Madinah
itself. Tribes in all other regions had challenged
the central leadership in Madinah in various degrees, ranging from refusal to
pay the religious tax (zakat) to openly declare war. The city of Madinah, therefore, needed
protection very badly.
But there was one knotty problem.
Just before the Prophet died, he had assembled an army of 30,000 strong,
and commanded them to march to the Roman frontiers. The Romans and their subjects had been
playing truant at the borders. The
Prophet wanted to teach them some lesson.
He also wanted to show to the Romans what the Muslims are capable
of. He wanted to reverse the loss
suffered in the Mu’ta War three years earlier.
The Mu’ta War was led by Zayd bin Haritha, the Prophet’s adopted
son. He fell martyr there. Then the leadership was taken over by Jaa’far
Abu Talib, the older brother of Ali. He
too fell martyr. Then led by Abdullah
bin Rowahah, who also fell martyr. The
three were the designated commanders by the Prophet himself, who said: “If Zayd
falls, then Jaa’far will take over; if Jaa’far falls, then Abdullah
Rowahah. If he also falls, then choose
one among yourselves to be the commander.”
When Abdullah fell, the Muslims asked Khalid al Walid to lead. It was the first war Khalid participated as a
Muslims, having entered into Islam a few months earlier. He saved the Muslims from total annihilation
through tactical retreat. For his
service in that war, the Prophet gave him the title The Drawn Sword of Allah.
Before the Prophet died, he gave the army strict instruction that they
must march to the Roman frontiers—to teach the Romans a lesson and to take
revenge for the loss in the Mu’ta War—regardless of what happened to him. The Prophet was already gravely ill at that
time, and he died very soon after.
Because of his death, the army, which was about to leave Madinah, delayed
the marching. They attended the
Prophet’s funeral and took part in pledging their obedience to the new leader,
Abu Bakar. When all these brief affairs
were completed, but before they could march, the news of the rebellions broke
out. The majority of the Companions,
therefore, felt that it was better to delay the marching to the Roman frontiers
and dealt first with the internal affair.
After all, the survival of the Islamic State itself was at stake.
Abu Bakar was therefore left with a critical decision to make: either to
continue with the Prophet’s command, or to go along with the majority opinion.
But breaking the command of the Prophet was not about to be his first
decision upon assuming the role as the Prophet’s Successor. So, he ordered the army to march.
But just before the army got ready for the march, the Companions wanted
to give another try in persuading their new leader to change his mind. Had the Prophet were still alive when the
widespread rebellion broke out, they reasoned, he would have delayed the
marching to the Roman frontiers and settled the internal affair first. This time, however, they did not approach the
Caliph in group, but elected Umar to be their negotiator, since the Caliph had
a proclivity to listen to Umar.
But even before Umar could complete making his case, Abu Bakar the
Caliph shouted at him: “You too, Umar,
of all people!”
Umar, despite his reputation for being stern, blurted out meekly, “I am
only a messenger, carrying the message of your companions.”
To which Abu Bakar replied authoritatively, “The Prophet, peace and
blessing be upon him, has made his command.
Changing his command is not about to be my first decision as his
successor. Proceed quickly, do the job
quickly, and come back quickly. You
people are wasting precious time.”
The army then marched to the Syrian border, leaving behind a few leading
Companions including Umar, Ali, and Zubayr to take care of the security in
Madinah.
For that line of approach, Abu Bakar is often misunderstood as being
dogmatic. Some Western writers even
suggest that Abu Bakar was a dogmatic blind follower who followed the
instruction of his deceased leader exactly to the letters.
But is that the real case?
Before we discuss his character in light of this event, whether he is dogmatic or practical in
his approach, let’s take a look at some other events
during his time as a caliph.
First, as the Prophet did not take any “salary” in his capacity as the
Prophet and the leader of the State, Abu Bakar too followed his successor’s
footstep. He did not take any salary. He was a merchant and earned his living that
way before he became a caliph. As he
assumed the leadership role, the demand for his time had increased. Soon he ran out of provision.
One day, people were waiting for him at the mosque, but he did not turn
up. Umar asked what had happened to the
Caliph, whether he was sick or being detained by some other matters. Somebody told him that he saw Abu Bakar at
the market. Umar quickly went to the
market, and upon seeing the Caliph, he asked: “What on earth are you doing
here?”
“Can’t you see what I am doing?”
The Caliph replied.
“I know what you are doing, but why?”
“My family has to live. We have
run out of food.” The Caliph answered
matter of factly.
Umar quickly perceived the heart of the matter. In the case of the Prophet, he received one
fifth of the booty. He therefore had
enough provision to sustain his large family (bearing in mind the Prophet had
many wives), although he spent most of it for the poor or for the State. Abu Bakar, however, did not receive such
provision.
When the Prophet was alive, Abu Bakar would receive war booty only when he
participated in the expedition. Since he
became the Caliph not long ago, he did not participate in any war, and had not
been doing much trading due to busyness in running the State affairs.
“Your time is too precious to earn a living like this, we must allocate
some salary for you.” Umar said.
Although the Prophet never received any salary, Abu Bakar quickly agreed
with Umar. He was not being dogmatic at
all. The only thing is that, due to his
asceticism, he only agreed to take the barest minimum of wage so that he can
sustain his family.
Second, after the Battle of al Yamamah, many reciters of Quran (read,
those who had memorized the whole Quran by heart), fell martyr. Umar was concerned that if more and more
reciters fell martyr, the Quran would be lost if not compiled in the book
form. So, he went to Abu Bakar with his
proposal, namely, to compile the Quran in a book form.
Abu Bakar saw the logic of Umar’s proposal, but was concerned that the
Prophet never asked them to do it. Umar
pointed out that though the Prophet never asked them to compile the Quran in a
book form, but the latter always asked the Revelation to be written when it
came to him. As Abu Bakar was still not
comfortable, he told Umar he would think about it. They talked about the matter again the next
day. By the third day, he told Umar to
find the man for the job.
In this case, while at first he had some reservation, it did not take
long for him to see the value of his right hand’s man proposal and quickly
agreed to that. He was not being
dogmatic.
Third, during the war against the rebels (having won the war at the
Roman frontiers), Khalid al Walid proved himself to be the most worthy
general. He was the leader of one of the
eleven battalions formed by Abu Bakar to fight against the insurgents. Unlike some other generals, Khalid finished
his job quickly and effectively. As soon
as his given task was done, the Caliph instructed him to help other
battalions. Without fail, this means taking
over the leadership of those battalions.
But the news had reached Umar that Khalid had been distributing the war
booty without reporting to, or asking permission from, the central command in
Madinah. Incensed with that behavior, Umar
quickly demanded Abu Bakar to take stern action Khalid.
Abu Bakar the Caliph simply wrote a letter to Khalid, asking the latter
to play with the rule like other generals did.
In his characteristic way, Khalid simply replied: “If you want me to do
the job, let me do it my way. If you
don’t like it, come here and do it yourself.”
Umar was doubly incensed with that terse reply, and again demanded stern
action against Khalid. Abu Bakar simply
cooled Umar down, saying that he needed a general like Khalid, because he got
the job done. Abu Bakar understood that
to get extraordinary result, one cannot be ordinary. And Khalid was no ordinary general. He knew how to get his job done, and he knew
how to motivate his soldiers. So long as
Khalid did not go overboard, he was free to do his job the way he saw fit. After all, Khalid had succeeded where others
failed.
In this case, Abu Bakar was even more pragmatic than Umar.
These three cases illustrate that, far from being dogmatic, Abu Bakar is
actually driven by the spirit of practicality.
If such is the case, why was he so adamant about following the Prophet’s
command when the majority thought that it was a bad decision, as was the case
of sending the army to the Roman frontiers?
We shall answer that question in our concluding part, God willing.
Stay tuned.
End of Part 1
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