Hayatus Sahabah - The Lives of the Sahabah - Part 1 of 3

294 THE LIVES OF THE SAHABAH %%@#%%(Vol-I)
worshipping my Rabb."'
Hadhrat ~a'ish;? narrates further that Ibnud Daghina said, "0 Abu Bakr!
A person like you cannot leave and cannot be made to leave. You give people
what they cannot find, you maintain family ties, you carry the burdens of
others, you entertain guests and you assist in ell good avenues. I shall grant
you protection go and worship your ~abb in your town." Ibnud Daghina then
returned with Hadhrat Abu Bakr &&?+ and he went around to all the leaders of
the Quraysh telling them, "A person like Abu Bakr cannot leave and cannot be
made to leave. How can you exile a person who gives people what they cannot
find, who maintains family ties, who carries the burdens of others, who
entertains guests and who assists in all good avenues." The Quraysh did not
oppose the amnesty that Ibnud Daghina had granted but said to him, "Tell Abu
Bakr that he should worship his Rabb in his house, perform his salaah there and
recite as much of the Qur'aan he wishes. However, he should not annoy us by
doing this in public because we fear that he would then mislead our women and
children." Ibnud Daghina conveyed this message to Hadhrat Abu Bakr ~,G%&j.
Hadhrat Abu Bakr ~~ then stayed like this. He worshipped Allaah in his
house, did not perform salaah in public and did not recite Qur'aan in any house
but his own. It then occurred to him that he should construct a Masjid in the
courtyard of his house and here he used to perform salaah and recite the
Qur'aan. The women and children of the Mushrikeen crowded around to look at
him for they were overwhelmed by him. He was a man who wept easily and could
not control his eyes whenahe recited the Qur'aan. This development alarmed the
leaders of the Quraysh and they send for Ibnud Daghina.
When Ibnud Daghina met them, they said to him, "We sanctioned the amnesty
that you granted to Abu Bakr on condition that he worships his Rabb within the.
confines of his house. He has now overstepped the bounds by building a Masjid
in the courtyard of his house where he openly performs salaah and recites the
Qurlaan. We greatly fear that he shall mislead our women and children. You had
better stop him. If he confines the worship of his Rabb to his house, he may do
so. However, if he is adamant to do so publicly, ask him to absolve you of your
amnesty because we would hate to break our promise to you. We cannot (under
any circumstances) allow Abu Bakr to make things public."
Hadhrat Aa'isha %W&&j narrates further that when Ibnud Daghina came to
Hadhrat Abu Bakr %@iWj, he said, "You know well the conditions of the
agreement I made wrth you. You may either confine yourself to these conditions
or absolve me of the amnesty I have granted because 1 would not like to hear the
Arabs say that I had reneged on an agreement I had made with someone."
Hadhrat Abu Bakr &,w said, "I absolve you of the amnesty you have granted
and am pleased with the protection of Allaah." The details of the Hadith shall be
mentioned in the discussion of Hijrah. ('1
A similar narration of Ibn Is'haaq states that after leaving Makkah with the
(1) Bukhari (vol. 1 Pg.552).