The Explanation of the Ḥadīth of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq: On his words, “O Allāh, I have wronged myself greatly”

Description

‘O Allāh, I have wronged myself greatly, and none forgives sins but You. So forgive me with a forgiveness from Yourself, and have mercy upon me. You are the Oft-Forgiving, the Bestower of Mercy.’

Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq asked the Prophet ﷺ to teach him a supplication for his prayer, and these were the words he was directed to say. They raise a question. What type of wrongdoing did the best of this Ummah after its Prophet attribute to himself?

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) was asked exactly that, and he answered at length. Wrongdoing, he shows, is not confined to the major sins. A servant falls short in his thanks, in what he knows of his Lord, and in how he worships Him. Repentance and seeking forgiveness take nothing away from the rank of the truthful. They raise it.

In the course of his answer he also discusses the meeting of al-Khiḍr and Mūsā, the standing of the one who repents, a mercy that is vast and reaches every creature, and the false claim that the friends of Allāh (awliyāʾ) are infallible.

The treatise was not printed until 2002, from a manuscript copied in Baʿlabakk in 742 AH. This is its first English translation.

In this edition

• The full treatise, with the editor’s paragraph numbers set in the margin for ease of reference.
• The editor’s footnotes, tracing and grading every ḥadīth and report, and the variant readings between the two manuscripts.
• Longer notes on the people, sects and passages the text names without explanation.
• The editor’s forty-page appendix: the chains of narration of the ḥadīth, a short biography of Abū Bakr, and a chapter of benefits drawn from the supplication.
• An index of the verses, an alphabetical index of the aḥādīth and reports, and a glossary of the persons, sects and terms mentioned in the text.

Published by Isnad Press.