Abū Bakr and the Race of Aspirations Toward Paradise

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 25 April 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ was sitting among his Companions, and one day he told them that whoever spends a pair in the way of Allah will enter from whichever of the gates of Paradise he wishes; whoever is of the people of prayer will enter from the gate of prayer, whoever is of the people of charity will enter from the gate of charity, and whoever is of the people of fasting will enter from the gate of al-Rayyān.^[1] Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet ﷺ: Will anyone enter from whichever of the eight gates of Paradise he wishes, O Messenger of Allah? He ﷺ said: «نعم، وأرجو أن تكون منهم» ("Yes, and I hope that you will be among them").

So what are we speaking about now? Are we speaking about the gates of Paradise, or about the kinds of deeds that lead to entering it, or about the aspiration of Abū Bakr, who was not content to choose a single gate for himself, but that became his because of his precedence in his deeds, the truthfulness of his faith and his sincerity to his Lord? For this reason we never saw him as number two except in the companionship of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ; he is the foremost of the foremost in all the works of life and the works of faith and the kinds of obedience and acts of worship. And by this we understand why, when the Prophet ﷺ asked: who has done such and such? Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would raise his hand first. And we imagine the Prophet ﷺ sitting among his Companions after the Fajr prayer asking them: who among you visited a sick person today? Who gave charity today? And the answer to everything he asked was: I did, from Abū Bakr alone, the good pleasure of Allah be upon him. And perhaps others shared with him in some parts, but he was the only one who combined all the qualities of goodness.

What mentality is that which races to good deeds? Our Lord, glory be to Him, tells us about those who race to good deeds, and that they have hearts with which they hope for the mercy of the Lord of Might. And when the heart is attached to something, all the limbs in the body are stirred, working to obtain that thing, eager to do it, reach it and please it. And when the heart turns away from something, all the limbs of the body turn away from it, not desiring it, and if they do it they do it with displeasure; and we ask Allah for safety.

Hence it was narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that if the faith of the community were weighed against the faith of Abū Bakr, the pan of Abū Bakr would outweigh.^[2] How do we understand this? Some people say: this is the Messenger of Allah, and he is not to be emulated in such and such. So our Lord shows us Abū Bakr as a model from among those who were not people of the Message; he was not a receiver of revelation, so that it could be said that it is a station not to be imitated. So let no one claim that that is the station of prophethood and none reaches it but the prophets; the station of prophethood is the station of prophethood, but entering Paradise with the Prophet ﷺ is something available, of which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ speaks. As for those beneath the Prophet ﷺ, they are people of precedence. In this regard, one of the Tābiʿūn said, and it is a very important sentence: Do the Companions of Muḥammad think they will beat us to the Pond? By Allah, we will crowd them at the gates of Paradise. So where did this boldness come to him from? It came to him from his having seen that model; and all you have to do is to imitate and follow, and to look at the sources of aspiration deposited in yourself and give them the utmost you can.

As for those who sleep a lot and rest a lot, what are they doing? They are postponing the delight of obedience, the delight of giving, the delight of striving, and the delight of work; for in that is a happiness felt only by people of aspiration. Do you think that Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), or the likes of this model of human beings, is happy if sleep overcomes him so that he is forced to withdraw from life for a few hours? Or does he want achievement to be always in his life? And we see that in those who want money, so how much more so with good deeds! The likes of Abū Bakr are not eager for sleep as much as they are eager for work, and so the matter of vacation, rest and outings, if the expression is correct, is not in the dictionaries of these people in any form.

So what aspiration do we have? And what will we accomplish today, God willing? And what will we reach of the means of obedience? And what will we arrive at of the kinds of aspirations? And what will be achieved at our hands of benefit for this religion? Those are questions that revolve in the minds of people of work, real businessmen who want to reach Paradise, even if their feet, hands, eyes and minds grow tired in that cause; they pay no heed to any of that in reaching toward the goals.

And imagine that before you is a very long road that you want to reach by your car, and you know that the asphalt eats at the tires, and that the air eats at the car's outer metal, and that dust gets into its components, but you set off; you do not say: I fear for this body getting dirty, so I adorn it and preserve it. Giving is giving, and work has no word equal to it, and striving toward Allah is the loftiest of the goals of all creation, and reaching Paradise on the Day of Resurrection is the goal.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited the ḥadīth by meaning and did not attribute it in the khatira; its origin is in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, in «من أنفق زوجين في سبيل الله نودي من أبواب الجنة…» ("whoever spends a pair in the way of Allah will be called from the gates of Paradise…"), and in it is Abū Bakr's question and the Prophet's ﷺ answer. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited this saying from the Prophet ﷺ by meaning and did not attribute it. It is not established as raised to the Prophet ﷺ as far as we know; something like it was narrated only as stopping at ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him: «لو وُزن إيمان أبي بكر بإيمان أهل الأرض لرجح بهم» ("If the faith of Abū Bakr were weighed against the faith of the people of the earth, it would outweigh them") (in al-Bayhaqī's Shuʿab al-Īmān); to be reviewed before publication.