Khalifa Abu Bakr - Sufic Thought of Abu Bakr

Tasawwuf. Tasawwuf stands for purification. According to the Holy Quran, the purpose of Islam is that: "Allah wishes to remove from you all uncleanliness, and He will purify you a complete purifying. " Abu Bakr was a pure soul, and he had all the attributes, which are the sine qua non of Tasawwuf.

Junaid. Abu Bakr was the first person to give instructions about the reciting of the sacred Kalimah as a means for purification of the heart. According to Junaid, a prominent Sufi of Baghdad, the noblest saying about 'unification' is that of Abu Bakr who said: "Glory to God who has not vouchsafed to His creatures any means of attaining knowledge of Him except through impotence to attaining such knowledge". The implication is that Ijz or helplessness is the only way of attaining the knowledge of God. The test of learning is that one should have the feeling that he has yet much to learn."

Imam of the Sufis. Ali Hajveri has stated in his classic work Kashful Mah jub, that Abu Bakr is the Imam of the Sufis. Most of the Sufi orders originate with Ali, but the Naqshbandi order originates with Abu Bakr who is regarded as the first person to perceive the truth about Sufism. The Sufis maintain that Abu Bakr rose to the highest stage of Tasawwuf, and that he had some of the qualities that characterized the Prophet Abraham. The Holy Quran confers on Abraham the title of Awwah, one who sighs much, and this was the name by which Abu Bakr was known among his companions. Abu Bakr would often sigh and say, "I wish I were a bird", or "I wish I were a tree'', or again "I wish I were a hair on the body of a Momin". On seeing a bird perched on the branch of a tree, Abu Bakr would heave a sigh and say, "O bird you are happy. You eat of the fruits of the tree, and live under its shadow. You have no fear of rendering accounts. How I wish I had been in a position similar to yours".

Sufic thought of Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr said: "Our abode in this world is transitory. Our life therein is but a loan. Our breaths are numbered, and our indolence is manifest. "

According to Abu Bakr's way of thinking, the world is too worthless to engage our thoughts for whenever you occupy yourself with what is perishable, you are made blind to what is eternal. This is obviously the thought of a Master Sufi.

Philosophy of the life of Abu Bakr. According to Ali Hajveri the approach of a Sufi is as follows: "O God give me plenty of the world, and make me desirous of renouncing it. First bestow on me goods that I may give thanks for them, and then help me to abstain from them for Your sake so that I may have the treble merit of thanksgiving, liberality and abstinence, and that my poverty may be voluntary, not compulsory."