Documents of the Right Word

ecome Muslims. We had the honour of serving Islam with our
property and lives. Yet we did all these because we love Allah and
His Messenger ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’. We do not expect
any worldly recompense for this service of ours.” Hubâb
questioned, “O Beshîr! Are you jealous of your paternal first
cousin?”
Beshîr ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ anh’ replied, “I swear by the name
of Allah that I am not. I only do not want anyone to infringe on the
rights of the Qoureish.”
At that moment hadrat Abû Bekr ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ said, “I
nominate these two people for you. Choose one of them,”
pointing to ’Umar and Ubayda. Both of them drew back and said,
“Who could stand before a person whom hadrat Prophet placed
before others?” Voices were raised. Everyone began to talk his
way.
Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ began to talk. Turning
towards hadrat Abû Bekr, he said, “Rasûl-i-ekrem made you his
Khalîfa in namâz, which is Islam’s archstone. He placed you before
all of us. Hold out your hand! I have chosen you Khalîfa.” Ubayda
was about to hold out his hand to choose Abû Bekr, too, when
Beshîr sprang forward, held Abû Bekr’s hand, and paid homage to
him before the others did. “You are our new Khalîfa,” he said.
’Umar and Abû Ubayda paid homage, too. All the members of the
Aws tribe, headed by their chief Usayyad bin Hudayr, came and
paid homage. Upon seeing them, the Hazraj tribe paid homage,
too.
If Abû Bekr, ’Umar and Abû Ubayda ‘radiy-Allâhu anhum’
had not arrived on time, Sa’d bin Ubâda would have been paid
homage, which in turn would have given way to hostilities between
the two tribes Aws and Hazraj. The Qoureish tribe, on the other
hand, would have been thoroughly against this and the Muslims
would have been broken to factions. Abû Bekr as-Siddîq
prevented this great danger. Owing to his being elected Khalîfa,
Islam weathered a crisis which would have led to its fracturing.
Hadrat Beshîr bin Sa’d, who had a major role in this service,
joined the Holy Wars of Aqaba II, Bedr, Uhud and all the others
and fought heroically. He attained martyrdom in the Yemâma
Holy War in the twelfth year of the Hijrat.
After being elected Khalîfa on Monday, hadrat Abû Bekr
‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ went to the Mesjîd-i-sherîf on Tuesday and
convened the Sahâba there. He mounted the minber, made hamd-
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