History of Khulafah Rashideen by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti - translated by Abdassamad Clarke

Those weighty matters which happened in his days were the despatch of Usamah’s army; fighting against the people who reneged (on Islam) and against those who refused the zakat-, Musaylimah the I ,iar; and the collection of the Qur’an.

Al-Ismacili narrated that cUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died there reneged whoever reneged of the Arabs and they said, ‘We will pray but we will not produce the zakat! I went to Abu Bakr and said, ‘Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah, be conciliatory with the people and be gentle and mild with them, for they are only on the level of wild animals.’ He said, ‘I hoped lor your help and you have come to me holding back your help.

Tyrannical in Jahiliyyah and granting licence in Islam! With what did you think I should conciliate them? With composed verses and forged magic? Away, away! The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has gone and revelation is cut off. By Allah, I will fight them as long as the sword remains in my hand, even if they refuse me a hobbling rope (of a camel).’ cUmar said: I found him more penetrating on the matter than me, more resolute, and he collected the people together on matters which appeared little and unimportant to many because of their inconvenience to them when I was appointed in command over them.

Abu’l-Qasim al-Baghawi, Abu Bakr ash-Shafici, in his Fawa’id, and Ibn cAsakir narrated that cA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died then hypocrisy raised its head, the Arabs reneged and the Ansar secluded themselves. If that which descended on my father had come down on the immovable mountains it would have broken them. They did not disagreeon a point but that my father was prompt with its utility and its judgement. They said, ‘Where should the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, be buried?’ We could not find anyone with knowledge of that. Then Abu Bakr said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, “No Prophet dies but that he is buried beneath the bed upon which he died.’” She said:

They disagreed about his inheritance and could find no-one with knowledge on that point, then Abu Bakr said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, “We, the company of the Prophets, we are not inherited from. What we leave is sadaqah”’ Some of the men of knowledge said: This was the first disagreement which happened among the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. Some said, ‘We will bury him in Makkah, his city in which he was born’, and others said, ‘No, in his mosque,’ and others said, ‘No, in al-Baqic’, and others said, ‘In al-Bait al-Maqdis, the burial ground of the Prophets’, until Abu Bakr told them of the knowledge that he had. Ibn Zunjawayh said: This Sunnah was one which was uniquely as-Siddiq’s among all of the Muhajirun and Ansar and they had recourse to him for it.

Al-Bayhaqi and Ibn cAsakir narrated that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘By the One Whom there is no god but Him, if Abu Bakr had not been appointed khalifah then Allah would not have been worshipped.’ Then he said it a second time and then he said it a third time. Someone said to him, ‘How so, Abu Hurayrah?’ So he said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, directed Usamah ibn Zaid, along with seven hundred men, to Syria. When they arrived at Dhu Khushub the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, the Arabs around Madinah reneged on their Islam and the companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gathered around him and said, “Bring these back. Do you direct these against the Byzantines while the Arabs around Madinah have reneged?” He said, “By the One Whom there is no god but Him, even if dogs were dragging the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, by their feet I would not return an army which the Messenger of Allah had sent out, nor undo a standard wliich he had tied!” He sent Usamah, and every tribe he would pass by which was wishing to renege would say (to themselves), “If these (the people of Madinah) did not have power, the like of these (the army) would not have come out from among them, so let us leave them alone until they meet the Byzantines.” They met them, defeated them, killed them and returned safely, so that they (the tribes) remained firm in Islam.’ And he narrated that cUrwah said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began to say in his illness, 'Despatch the army of Usamah,’ so that it travelled until it reached al-Jurf (three miles from Madinah on the road to Syria). His (Usamah’s) wife, Fatimah bint Qais, sent a message to him saying, 'Do not hasten, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is heavily afflicted.’ He did not proceed until the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died. When he died, he returned to Abu Bakr and said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent me while we were not in this state of yours. I fear that the Arabs will reject (their Islam), and if they reject, they are the first to be fought. If they do not reject, I will carry on, because with me are the chiefs of the people and the best of them.’ Abu Bakr addressed the people and said, ‘By Allah, that birds (of prey) were to snatch me away is more beloved to me than that I should give anything precedence over the command of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.’ Then he sent him.

Adh-Dhahabi said: When the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, became well known in the districts, many groups of the Arabs reneged on their Islam and refused the zakat so Abu Bakr as-Siddiq prepared to fight them. cUmar and others counselled him to avoid fighting them, so he said, ‘By Allah, if they refused me a hobbling cord or a young she-goat which they used to pay to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, I would fight them over its refusal.’ TJmar said, ‘How can you fight people when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I have been ordered to fight people until they say: There is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and whoever said it, his property and his blood are safe from me except for its due (punishment for crimes)

and his reckoning is up to Allah.”?’ Abu Bakr said, ‘By Allah, I will fight whoever makes a distinction between the prayer and the zakat, for the zakat is what is due on property, and he said, “Except for its due.’” cUmar said, ‘By Allah, it was only that I saw that Allah had expanded the breast of Abu Bakr to fighting and I knew that it was right.’ The two Shaykhs and others narrated it.

cUrwah said: Abu Bakr went out with the Muhajirun and the Ansar until he reached a swamp opposite Najd and the nomadic Arabs fled with their families. The people spoke to Abu Bakr and said, ‘Go back to Madinah, to the children and women, and put a man in command of the army,’ and they persisted until he returned, putting Khalid ibn al-Walid in command. He said to him, ‘If they submit in Islam and pay the sadaqah (the zakai) then whoever of you wishes to return may return,’ and Abu Bakr went back to Madinah.

Ad-Daraqutni narrated that Ibn TJmar said: When Abu Bakr set out and was mounted on his camel, cAli ibn Abi Talib took hold of its reins and said, ‘Where are you going, Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah? I say to you that which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to you on the Day of Uhud, “Sheath your sword, and do not cause us grief and concern for your person,” and return to Madinah, for, by Allah, if we are caused to grieve because of you there will not be any order in Islam ever.’ Handhalah ibn cAli al-Laythi said that Abu Bakr sent Khalid and ordered him to fight people over five matters, and that whoever abandoned one of them, he was to fight him just as he was to fight whoever abandoned all five: the shahadah that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and messenger, the establishment of the prayer, the production of the zakat, the fast of Ramadan and the pilgrimage of the House. Khalid unci those with him went out in Jumada al-Akhirah and fought Banu Asad and Ghatafan. They killed whomever they killed and captured whomever they captured, and the rest returned to Islam.

In this event cUkkashah ibn Mihsan and Thabit ibn Aqram were martyred.

In Ramadan of this year, Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, the Mistress (.Sayyidah) of the world’s women, and her age was twenty-four years old. Adh-Dhahabi said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had no descendants but through her, because the issue of his daughter Zaynab became extinct, az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar said.

Umm Ayman died a month before her. In Shawwal cAbdullah ibn Abi Bakr died. Then Khalid went with his army to al-Yamamah to light Musaylimah the Liar, towards the end of the year. The two hosts met, the siege lasted some days, and then the Liar was killed, may Allah curse him. Wahshi, the one who killed Hamzah, killed him. A great number of the Companions were martyred there: Abu Hudhayfah ibn cUtbah, Salim the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah, Shujac ibn Wahb, Zaid ibn al-Khattab, cAbdullah ibn Sahl, Malik ibn cAmr, at-Tufayl ibn cAmr ad-Dawsi, Yazid ibn Qais, cAmir ibn al-Bukayr, cAbdullah ibn Makhramah, as-Sa’ib ibn cUthman ibn Madhcun, cAbbad ibn Bishr, Macan ibn cAdi, Thabit\ibn Qais ibn Shamas, Abu Dujanah Simak ibn Harb and a large number totalling seventy (of the Companions). Musaylimah, on the day of his death, was one hundred and fifty years old, his birth having been before the birth of cAbdullah, the father of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

In the twelfth year, as-Siddiq sent al-cAla’ ibn al-Hadrami to Bahrain who had reneged. So they met at Jawatha and the Muslims were victorious. He sent cIkrimah ibn Abi Jahl to Oman who had reneged, and he sent al-Muhajir ibn Abi Umayyah to the people of Nujayr. He sent Ziyad ibn Labid al-Ansari to a group of those who had reneged. In that year Abu’l-cAs ibn ar-Rabic died, the husband of Zaynab, the daughter of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, also as-Sacb ibn Juthamah al-Laythi, and Abu Marthad al-Ghanawi. In that year, after finishing fighting the people who had reneged, as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to the land of Basra and he raided Ubullah, captured it and took Mada’in Kisra, the one which is in Iraq, partly by treaty and partly by force. In that year Abu Bakr as-Siddiq undertook the Hajj, then returned and sent cAmr ibn al-cAs and the army to Syria; the battle of Ajnadayn happened in Jumada al-Ula of the thirteenth year, and the Muslims were victorious. Abu Bakr was given the good tidings when he was close to death. cIkrimah ibn Abi Jahl was martyred in it and Hisham ibn al-cAs among a group of others. In that year there was the battle of Marju’s-Suffar, the idolaters were defeated and al-Fadl ibn al-cAbbas, among others, was martyred.