| September 1, 2002 | Sunday | Jamadi-us-Saani 22,1423 |
Hazrat Abu Bakr: the caliph who sought guidance from people
THE great responsibility that Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (RA) accepted as the first Caliph after the death of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in II AH (AD 632) was obviously daunting. At the very outset he propounded the principles of government and administration by telling the people: “Help me, if I am right. Set me right, if I am in the wrong.
Karachi’s reputation of receiving rains remains curiously questionable. A veteran columnist had on this subject observed decades ago with accuracy that in Karachi it can literally pour. One is reminded here of rains and floods that struck Karachi on June 30, 1977. It was really a disaster as many of us remained confined to our offices that night.
Image-wise, Karachi is still a city, one believes, gets no rains in the monsoon. Rain here is freak rain, if one can call it that. So the monsoon in July and now, (how poetic that word monsoon sounds and yet see its waste here at times) is a formality. The floating clouds, the grey threatening skies, actually tease citizens here, almost like a theatre, complete; with the principal character missing ... no sight and sound of rain...!!
But here the analogy ends. When the rain comes, comes trouble. Descends real trouble, and dislocation, and if it is the KESC, we are talking about, the power supplies in certain areas can go off even before it rains. In fact, seasonal changes can make KESC’s system trip. But we will talk more of the KESC a little later.
I have in mind Monday’s rain. Not lashing heavy rain, but water enough to disturb the balance of the city in many ways. Light rain really, nothing much to write home about — in terms of statistics. But we all know what happened. By Tuesday morning, there were people praying for sunshine; what a city, and what a system. After all, these years this metropolitan city cannot endure a little rain; and which it so desperately needs. It needs it for the water, but it also needs it for psychological and emotional reasons. Hasn’t it been noticed that after Monday’s rain, the citizens feel less tense, less harassed? At least some of them?
However, the KESC makes it certain that with its chronic inability to have coped with the change in weather, it spoilt the fun that raindrops brought.
A young lady visiting Karachi from London had observed about the rain on Monday that it had upset her schedule, delayed a few things, and cramped her style! Knowing well what she was saying, one asked her “but you are used to rain in London?” She responded “yes, but we are not familiar with rain water accumulating on roads, or power failures ... Life doesn’t stop.” Now here ends the comparison between Karachi and London howsoever farfetched it may be.
Monday’s rain came after days and days of anticipation that finally the clouds would actually sail away as September was drawing near. In fact, warm weather a few days before the clouds burst seemed to confirm that the monsoon season was now departing. Then suddenly that afternoon, came the drizzle, that turned heavier and stayed for the rest of that day. And off went the electricity in homes and offices and industrial areas. And this time the power failures were caused by the wet weather.
Sometimes it is the sheer heat of the day that makes the feeders and sub-stations collapse, exposing the state of readiness of the KESC. Doesn’t it make you wonder what would happen if the city was to get regular rain, every year, every monsoon? If in normal times, the KESC’s complaint centres can’t cope with the pressure of complaints what would happen, if it was to rain as much as is needed? For the city’s environmental needs which have to be met, and the few parks and gardens that we have, water is needed at times.
Have you seen or rather noticed that Monday’s rain brought pleasure and pleasantness to the city’s life and mood, despite the drawbacks that came with the water. Or the uncleanliness that surfaced in so many places, or the mosquitoes! Despite all that stereotyped fall-out, the city looks fresh. What a pretty sight it was to see families (and not many though) come out before sunset and enjoy the cool weather in the Bagh Quaid-i-Azam (Old Polo Ground).
One presumes that this was symbolic of the way in which Karachiites felt at the change in weather and that is the way they went out in other parts of the city, too. Oddly no news reports mentioned the cheer and the merry-making of families and friends. Nothing of what happened at Clifton or the Seaview wall. The happiness the weather brought — was no news!
I am trying hard to focus only on the brighter side of the little rain that finally came. But the darkness and disappointment caused by the KESC, is hard to ignore or understate. The organisation is up for privatisation, and one would have expected it to be in better shape than what it is. Reports have indicated that its transmission and distribution system is not maintained as it needs to be, and that is the reason why “KESC charges four times more than Wapda”? There was a time when KESC was a model organization and Wapda the white elephant. PIA too, same story?
But let us end on a happy note. That Karachi’s trees have a clean green look, their shapes and shades are more visible and highlighted, and many of them evoke such pretty images in a city where aesthetics is often restricted only to the art galleries in town?!! or some shopping malls?
PS: Even the Hub Dam has more water now?
“The weak among you shall be strong in my eyes till I have vindicated his just rights, and the strong among you shall be weak in my eyes till I have made him fulfil the obligations due from him”.
And he concluded with these memorable words: “Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Prophet. In case I disobey Allah and His Prophet, I have no right to obedience from you”.
Each word of this thought-provoking address is replete with wisdom and may serve as a beacon light for Muslim leaders and heads of state.
Hazrat Abu Bakr introduced the democratic system of taking counsel and arriving at decisions, preferably by consensus. The procedure followed was that, first of all, reference was made to the glorious Quran for guidance. In case, no explicit ruling bearing on that issue was found, reference was next made to Sunnat.
Failing that too, recourse was finally made to counsel (Ijma) to which all the prominent companions were invited. The matter was thoroughly discussed and the line of action favoured by the majority of those present was ultimately adopted.
Hazrat Abu Bakr also introduced some very useful reforms for the guidance of the army in its behaviour towards the enemy.
1) No old man, no child, no woman shall be slain.
2) No hermit shall be molested nor his place of worship damaged.
3) Corpses of the fallen shall not be mutilated or disfigured.
4) No fruit-bearing tree shall be cut down, no crops burned, no habitation devastated.
5) Treaty obligations with other faiths shall under all circumstances be honoured and fulfilled.
6) Those who surrender shall be entitled to all rights and privileges of a Muslim subject.
Hazrat Abu Bakr rendered invaluable service by collecting all the scattered pieces of the sacred Quran in book form.
The arrangement was really done during the Prophet’s life-time. All the manuscripts which the Prophet dictated to the scribes from time to time as the verses were revealed were inserted at proper places.
Whenever a verse or a chapter was revealed, a double process was employed to preserve it. There were scribes always at hand who committed it to writing, there were also those who committed it to memory.
These verses and Surahs were written down on various available materials such as on vellum or parchments, wide thin bones, leafless palm trees, thin wide and wider stones and woods of the saddle.
When in the battle of Yamama, a number of Muslims who had learned the sacred Quran by heart lost their lives, it became imperative to arrange it in book form. He entrusted this work to Zaid Ibn Thabit to collect all the material and put it in one volume on paper after verifying each verse with two witnesses.
This finalised copy of the sacred Quran was given to Hazrat Hafsa (RA) to preserve it as she was Hafiz and well-versed in the Quranic literature and fully conversant with reading and writing.
The death of the prophet foreboded a highly dangerous and delicate phase for Islam. There was conflagration (secession and apostasy movement) in some parts of Arabia. Some powerful sections challenged the authority of the caliphs and the basic noting of Islam.
There were a good number of people who were neither apostates nor confederates though owing to pressure of the rebels, they could not openly side with the central government.
Islam, however, stood for welding these numerous disjointed and discordant fragments into one harmonious whole. Islam wanted to build up the edifice or a nation (Ummat), strong and solid. This the new converts could not understand. They could not appreciate the value of central public treasury for purposes of nation-building. Hazrat Abu Bakr was unbending and resolute on this point. National unity and national solidarity was his foremost concern.
Hemmed in by difficulties and hurdles he stood firm and surmounted all obstacles and suppressed the revolt and exterminated the insurrection, root and branch.
In personal conduct Hazrat Abu Bakr was an embodiment of simplicity. He retained the same style of life, the same dress, the same house, the same food as caliph. To him no work, however humble, was beneath his dignity.
Immersed in divine love, worldly power and pelf had not the least charm for him. His piety and devotion, his sublimity of morals, his iron determination, his unflagging perseverance and, above all, his unshakable faith were the many qualities that have won him a place in Islam only second to that of the Prophet (Peace be upon him).
He was a profound scholar and an eloquent speaker. He was bold and patient, wise and far-sighted. In critical situations he was cool-headed and faced the problems with firm resolution.
He was pious and devout. He was famous for charity and munificence. For the sake of Islam and for his devotion to the Prophet, he gave away all his wealth on the eve of the expedition to Tabuk.
His generosity knew no bounds. He helped the poor and needy. Whatever came, he distributed among those who deserved — man and woman, the slave and the freeman, the young and the old, all got equitable shares in the distribution. He was brave and indomitable.
At the most critical junctures, he stood by the side of the Prophet, such as on the occasion of Hijrat and the battles of Badr, Uhud and Hunain.
For a great part of night he prayed to Allah, while in the day time he would fast. His selfless dedication and devotion to the cause of Islam and the welfare of human beings was exemplary.
After a brief but remarkable rule of two years, three months and 10 days Hazrat Abu Bakr joined the band of immortals on 22 Jamadius Saani, 13 AH, and was buried in Madinah near the Prophet’s mausoleum.