No incident is narrated about the Caliph, before embracing Islam, which
may prove his valor.
Similarly, in battles of Prophet, in spite of their numerosity and the fact that
he was present in them, we don’t find anything, which may conveys his valor or
leave a mark in history or should be a small step in that severe battle that unveils
this important issue, other than what happened in the Battle of Khyber and that
was his and his friend, Umar bin Khattab’s flight from confronting the Jew,
Marhab.
Ali and Ibne Abbas have narrated that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) sent
Abu Bakr to conquer the fort. He and all who were with him returned defeated.
The next day, he sent Umar and he also returned defeated. He was accusing his
companions and they were accusing him.1
And the statement of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) exposes the flight of
those two. His Eminence (s.a.w.a.) said after their flight:
“Tomorrow I will hand over the standard to someone, who loves God and
His Messenger and God and His Messenger love him; Almighty Allah will make
him victorious. He does not flee from the battle.”
In the report, the words used are: “He is a severe attacker and he does not
flee from the battlefield.”
And it is also narrated in these words: “By the one, who honored the face of
Muhammad, I will give the standard to someone, who will not flee.”
It is mentioned in other words that: “I will give the standard to one, who will
not return till Allah makes him victorious.”
It is also narrated in these words: “He does not turn his back to the enemy.”2
Yes, Ibne Hazm in Mufazila Bainas Sahaba3 and persons like him regard
Abu Bakr to be the most valiant person and have falsely attributed statements to
Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) that he said:
“Tell me, who is the bravest of the people? ‘You’, they replied. He said:
“Indeed, I did not confront anyone, except that I took revenge from him or took
my rights from him, but tell me who is the bravest of all?” “We don’t know,”
they replied, “You tell us who that is?”
He said: “He is Abu Bakr, indeed in the Battle of Badr, I prepared a tent
[with date palms and things like that] for Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) and said:
Who will remain with Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) so that no one from the
infidels attack him?”
Then, by God no one was near me, except Abu Bakr, who wielded the sword
at the head of the Prophet and no one attacked him, except that he was chased
away by Abu Bakr; thus he is the most bravest of people.”
Alas, if Ahle Sunnat had not omitted the chain of narrators of this false story
and had narrated it with chains of narrators, so that we may have told the society
who fabricated it.
It is sufficient for us that Hafiz Haithami in Majmauz Zawaid,4 has
mentioned it without chains of narrators and regarded it weak, saying:
“There are unrecognized persons in the chain of narrators and the tradition
of Ibne Ishaq falsifies this report. In these Sihah books, it is mentioned that
Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) on the day of Battle of Badr was in the tent and
Saad bin Maaz stood at the entrance of the tent with a wielded sword and he
defended the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) along with some Ansars lest the
infidels attack His Eminence.”5
Moreover, guarding Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) was not restricted to the Battle
of Badr and Abu Bakr; on the contrary, in every incident, one of the companions
was entrusted with guarding the Prophet; for example guarding during night of
Badr was entrusted to Saad bin Maaz and on the day of Badr, it was the
responsibility of Abu Bakr as Halabi has mentioned in his Seerah.6
And on the day of Uhad, Muhammad bin Muslima was in charge of that…7
and this practice continued till in the Farewell Hajj, the following verse was revealed: