Rabi al Awwal Post Day 7
On this day 1,428 years ago: the seventh of Rabi al-Awwal, five days before he would pass away, the Prophet ﷺ came out of his room and led the prayer,;he had been sick for some time now. He led the prayer and spoke to the Muslims, gave them a khutbah, in that khutbah he said:
“If i were to take a khaleel, i would take Abu Bakr as a khaleel, but he is my brother and companion; and indeed, Allah has taken your Companion (meaning himself) as a khaleel.”
Khaleel is a true friend; who you share your secrets with, with whom there is sincerity and love. If we look at this closely, Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, according to language he was the Prophet’s khalil, he was all of these things to the Prophet ﷺ . But here, the Prophet ﷺ was speaking of a special type of khullah/friendship; one that our language is too limited to describe; and therefore he had to negate the khullah of Abu Bakr in order to show the intensity of it’s meaning with the One he was affirming it for: Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
This hadith is more than just telling us about the special rank of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, it gives us a hint, a peek into the khullah of the Prophet ﷺ with Allah; this relationship of closeness and friendship of unfathomable extents, which our language is just too limited to describe.
May Allah grant us a deeper understanding of that relationship and give us a share of it in his footsteps, salla Allahu alaihi wasallam.
