Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was always a very close Companion of the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) , he knew him better than any other man. He (may Allah be pleased with him) knew how honest and upright the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) was. Such knowledge of the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) made Abu Bakr be the first man to follow the Message of Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He (may Allah be pleased with him) was indeed the first adult male to accept Islam.
The Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) told Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) what had happened at Mount Hira’, he told him that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has revealed to him and made him His Messenger. When Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) heard this from the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, he did not stop to think, he at once became a Muslim. He submitted to Islam with such determination that once the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) himself remarked: “I called people to Islam, everybody thought over it, at least for a while, but this was not the case with Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), the moment I put Islam before him, he accepted it without any hesitation”. He was titled As-Siddiq by the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) because his faith was too strong to be shaken by anything.
In fact, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was more than a great believer, as soon as he became a Muslim, he immediately began to preach Islam to others. Among those who accepted Abu Bakr’s invitation to Islam were; Uthman, Zubair, Talha, Abdul Rahman bin Auf, Saadi bin Waqqas and others who later became the pillars of Islam.
Abu Bakr’s love of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was so great that he was willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of protecting and comforting the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) saw. Such love and sacrifice were demonstrated when one day the Holy Prophet(sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) was saying his prayers in the Ka’ba, while some of the chiefs of Mecca were sitting in the court yard of the Ka’ba. Seeing the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) praying, ‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’eet took a long piece of cloths and put it around the Prophet’s neck and twisted it hard in an attempt to strangle the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to death. At that moment Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) happened to pass by from a distance, he saw ‘Uqbah trying to strangle the Prophet(sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) to death. Immediately Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) ran to the help of the Prophet(sallal laahu alaihi wasallam), he pushed ‘Uqbah aside and took the cloth from around the Prophet’s neck. Thereupon the enemies of Islâm came down upon Abu Bakr and beat him unnerafully, although Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) with faith like a rock did not care for his own suffering, he was glad that he was able to save the Prophet of Allah (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam), even at the risk of his own life.
Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) with the wealth he had, also had a major role in freeing some of the Muslim slaves, who were barbarically tortured by their heartless Mushrik masters to give up the Faith and return to their masters’ beliefs. The heartless monsters tried all kinds of torture: they made them lie all naked on the burning desert sand, putting big stones on their chest, as well as other kinds of torture. Here Abu Bakr’s wealth came to the rescue, as he bought the poor helpless slaves from their inhuman masters and set them free, Bilal Al-Habashi, the slave of Umayya bin Khalaf, was among those who were set free by Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Bilal became afterwards the Mu’azzin at the Prophet’s mosque.
