Question:
Salam!
Is there any hadith or athar that Prophet sallallahu alaihe wasallam put the secret in Abu Bakr RA’s heart? Plz give me its references.
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
Athar of Bakr b. `Abd Allah al-Muzani: “Abu Bakr is not better than you because of praying or fasting more, but because of something that has firmly settled in his heart.” Narrated by al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi in Nawadir al-Usul.
Ibn Taymiyya in his Majmu` al-Fatawa (2:385) considered this “something” to consist in yaqin and iman while Mulla `Ali al-Qari said “It is something immutable, deep-rooted, continuous, and permanent, consisting in the remembrance of the Lord.”
Regardless of the above, it is mass-transmitted (mutawatir) that the best of creation after Prophets is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (radiya Allahu `anh) and this is enough proof.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
