[Section: The Rāfidī’s claim that Abū Bakr was not appointed to lead the prayer and that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, removed him, and the response to this claim]
Section
The Rāfidī (1) said:
“As for his appointment to lead the prayer, this is incorrect. For when Bilāl gave the call to prayer (2), ‘Ā’ishah ordered that Abū Bakr be put forward (3). When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, regained consciousness, he heard the declaration ‘Allah is greatest’ and asked, ‘Who is leading (4) the people in prayer?’ They replied, ‘Abū Bakr.’ He said, ‘Take me out.’ He went out between ‘Alī and al-‘Abbās, moved him aside (5) from the qiblah (direction of prayer), dismissed him from leading the prayer, and led it himself.” (6)
The response is that all scholars of hadith recognize this as a lie. He should be asked:
First: Who has related what you have quoted with a chain of transmission that one can rely [upon]? (7) And is this found
(1) In K, p. 201 (M). This passage has already been quoted in this volume.
(2) K: “for prayer.”
(3) K: “that her father be put forward.” These phrases are followed by the following passage, which does not appear in all the copies: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was severely ill, and the Companions were in the mosque. They heard about the condition of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family and grant him peace, so they were all grieving and weeping—ghraw bukāʾ (wonder at weeping)—and he missed the prayer.”
(4) K: “He heard the Companions’ takbīr (declaration ‘Allah is greatest’), what ‘Ā’isha said, and what Hafsa said to her father, ‘Umar. Amid the confusion and the dispersal of the people, he asked who was leading the prayer…”
(5) K: “between ‘Alī, peace be upon him, and al-‘Abbās. He went to the mosque, saw Abū Bakr in the mihrāb (prayer niche), and moved him aside.”
(6) K: “He dismissed him and led the prayer himself.”
(7) Bihi (“upon it”): only in M.