Community Service In The Life Of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq

Abu Bakr As-Siddiq remains one of our heroes and superstars till the end of time. This is a fact, Oh Muslims, not a fallacy.

May Allaah be pleased with him, put himself at the forefront of community service to the people before his reign as the khalifah. The recipients of his benevolent services were single mothers whose husbands had died or were martyred while defending Islam. He ran some house errands for them such as preparing dough and milking their goats.

However, when he was elected to be the Muslims’ leader after the death of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe was salam, the single mothers had apprehension and anxiety. Their concern was that this new position would become a stumbling block, thus preventing him from continuing his services for them. One time, he overheard one widow say: “Now, no one will milk our goats for us,” to which he responded, “No, by Allah I will continue milking your goats.”

And so, off he went to the woman’s residence. At the entrance of the door was the woman’s young daughter who exclaimed with joy, “Mum, the goats’ milker is here!!” Abu Bakr becomes the renowned goat milker. For whom? The widows, the weak, and the orphans. Subhanallah!

Truly, this is community service 101. This is a description of a selfless community service for the less privileged and underserved. In our present days and times, when the weak, the poor, the destitute, are looked down upon, and their basic rights are unfulfilled by those in authority; when wealth and riches have become the order of the day for our Muslim leaders, and pride and arrogance have beclouded their judgments to acknowledge the rights of those under them. From this story, we can all learn from the life of Abu Bakr As-siddiq. Despite his reign as the khalifah and his ultimate success as one of the top ten chosen Muslim men promised paradise by Allaah subhana wa Ta’ala, he didn’t get carried away with these positions. In reality, he got carried away by being at full service to his community members, fulfilling their basic needs, one widow and one orphan at a time.

Now children,

what community service have we to offer our community, our school and our Ummah?

Story is by Maryam Funmilayo