The Bizarre
Death of Sa’d bin UbadaRA
An eminent companion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, namely, sayyidina Sa’d b. UbadaRA, chief of the
Khazraj clan from among the noble Ansar, considered himself worthier to be the
Prophet’s ﷺ first Khalifa or
successor. As fate would have it, he was unwell during the incident at the
Saqifa of Bani Sa’da, where he was wrapped in blankets reclining on the portico
unable to stand. His being ill on that fateful day when sayyidina Abu BakrRA
was elected the Khalifa instead
of him was obviously no coincidence. As Muslims of Ahlus Sunnati wal-Jama’a
we believe that this was part of Allah Most High’s plan to have sayyidina Abu
BakrRA elected without much fuss, since virtually all of the
companions present there pledged their allegiance to him with the exception of
Sa’d b. UbadaRA. In the rush to pay fealty to Abu BakrRA,
Sa’d b. UbadaRA, who was lying on the ground, was trampled over and
rumored to have been killed during the commotion. But throughout the remainder
of his life, Sa’d b. UbadaRA refused to give the Bay’a to the
Prophet’s ﷺ Caliph, Abu BakrRA, and
then subsequently to the next Caliph, sayyidina Umar b. al-KhattabRA.
Incidentally, Sa’dRA was left alone by the Caliphate and allowed to
spend the rest of his days in peace. What this shows is that salvation isn’t
contingent to pledging allegiance to or recognizing the legitimate Caliph,
since Sa’dRA, a believing Companion of the Prophet ﷺ, was granted salvation without having ever pledged allegiance
to any of the Prophet’s true successors. We do acknowledge that Sa’d bin UbadaRA
was mistaken in his position of refusing to pledge allegiance to the Caliph of
his time, but since he did not initiate any rebellion, rather lived peacefully
and quietly, having emigrated to the Levant, he was left alone. Hence, if there
is an established Caliphate which is legitimate in the Eyes of Allah, but a
person remains aloof from it and refuses to pledge allegiance to the Caliph, he
is not necessarily condemned so long as he does not rebel or cause trouble.
Coercion and totalitarianism are ultimately against the spirit of Islam, which
theoretically and at times practically gave individuals a wide berth to remain
aloof from the State and distance themselves from the ‘social contract’,
something that is virtually impossible in today’s modern nation-states, which
ironically claim to be freer and more liberal. The historic ‘Wars of Apostasy’
which the Companions faught under the Caliphate of Abu BakrRA
against the rebellious, apostate Bedouin tribes were because the latter were
not only in open rebellion against and challenging the writ of the State, but
because of their doctrinal apostasy too. Nevertheless, on an individual level,
someone who feels he should not pledge the Bay’a to the Caliph or Ruler of his time should be
spared, and cannot be coerced, so long as he does not rebel or conspire against
the State. The latter, of course, bears no responsibility to such an individual
as it does to those who have pledged allegiance to it and are therefore
citizens. Yet the basic liberties and rights of an individual Muslim who does
not recognize the Caliphate, while residing within its domain, cannot in any
way be hindered, as the example of Sa’d b. UbadaRA illustrates. It
should also be noted that while Sa’dRA did not recognize the Caliphs
of his time, he himself did not initiate a counter-Caliphate by gathering
individuals around him and having them pay allegiance to him, as that would certainly
constitute rebellion and challenging of the Caliphate’s writ.
Regarding Sa’d b. Ubada’sRA
death, Ibn Sirin says:
بَيْنَا
سَعْدٌ يَبُولُ قَائِمًا ، إِذِ اتَّكَأَ فَمَاتَ ، قَتَلَتْهُ الْجِنُّ ،
فَقَالُوا : نَحْنُ قَتَلْنَا سَيِّدَ الْخَزْرَجِ سَعْدَ بْنَ عُبَادَهْ
رَمَيْنَاهُ بِسَهْمَيْنِ فَلَمْ نُخْطِئْ فُؤَادَهْ
Sa’d was urinating while
standing when suddenly he fell over and died. The Jinn killed him and said: “We
have killed the chief of the Khazraj, Sa’d bin Ubada. We shot him with an arrow
that did not miss his heart.” [Mu’jam al-Kabir of Imam al-Tabarani]
A well-know preacher and
student of knowledge, Yasir Qadhi, has mentioned this in one of his talks:
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