The slave answered, “During the days of Jaahiliyyah (the days of ignorance, before the advent of Islam), I was a soothsayer. I once passed by a certain tribe and practised some of my charms for them. On account of my service, they had promised me that they would later compensate me. It so happened that I passed by this tribe today while they were engaged in wedding festivities. As they still owed me for my service, they gave me some food from the wedding as payment.”

When Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) heard this, he exclaimed, “You almost destroyed me by feeding me haraam!” He then began to stick his hand into his throat in an effort to spew out the haraam morsel. However, although he retched and gagged, the morsel could not be expelled as his stomach was empty. Seeing this, somebody remarked, “The morsel will not be expelled from your stomach unless you drink water.” Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) thus asked for a large bowl of water to be brought and thereafter began to drink. After he had filled his stomach with water, he again began to stick his hand into his throat, forcing himself to vomit, until the haraam morsel was finally expelled.

A person who had witnessed the scene said to Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), “May Allah have mercy on you! You underwent all this difficulty for just one morsel?” Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) responded, “Even if I had to lose my life to remove the morsel, I would have done so! I heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) mention, ‘Every body which is nourished by haraam, the fire of Jahannum is more worthy of it.’ I was thus afraid that some part of my body would be nourished by this haraam morsel.” (Hilyatul Awliyaa vol. 1, pg. 64)

Hazrat Sheikh-ul-Hadith, Moulana Muhammed Zakariyya (rahimahullah), has mentioned that many stories of this nature have been reported regarding Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu).