Is the meaning of Abū Bakr's faith outweighing others reported?
2026-10-14
T165 · Ibn Taymiyyah
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah
شيخ الإسلام أحمد بن تيمية
Original Q&A · Complete individual question and response within a collected question
One complete individual question and response from a collected question about reports circulated by storytellers and others. The quoted report in the question is presented for assessment, not endorsed. The answer gives Ibn Taymiyyah's own assessment.
النص العربي
السؤال الأصلي
ومما يروون عنه، أنه قال: "لو وزن إيمان أبي بكر بإيمان الناس لرجح إيمان أبي بكر على ذلك".
الجواب
الحمد لله، هذا جاء معناه في حديث معروف في السنن أن أبا بكر رضي الله عنه وزن هذه الأمة فرجح.
English translation
English translation prepared for SalafAlSalih.com from the cited Arabic source. It is not an official translation.
Original question
Among the reports they attribute to him is that he said: “If Abū Bakr's faith were weighed against the people's faith, Abū Bakr's faith would outweigh it.”
Answer
Praise be to Allah. Its meaning occurs in a well-known hadith in the Sunan collections: Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was weighed against this community and outweighed it.
Source and editorial notes
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 18/378
مجموع الفتاوى
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
Arabic collated with the cited edition and a second transcription: https://quranislam.github.io/fatwa/ibn-taymiyyah/fatwa291.html. Each individual report and its full reply is preserved within the larger collected question. Diacritics omitted and honorific glyphs expanded. Titles and scope notes are editorial.