Hadhrat Abu Bakr (Radhiyallaho anho) and a soothsayer's food

Hadhrat Abu Bakr (Radhiyallaho anho) had a slave who used to give him a portion of his daily income as the master's share. Once he brought him some food and Hadhrat Abu Bakr (Radhiyallaho anho) took a morsel out of it. Then the slave remarked:

"You always enquire about the source of what I bring to you, but today you have not done so."

He replied:

"I was feeling so hungry that I failed to do that. Tell me now, how did you come by this food?"

The slave said:

"Before I embraced Islam, I practiced soothsaying. During those days I came across some people for whom I practiced some of my charms. They promised to pay me for that later on. I happened to pass by those people today, while they were engaged in a marriage ceremony, and they gave me this food."

Hadhrat Abu Bakr (Radhiyallaho anho) exclaimed:

`Ah! you would have surely killed me?"

Then he tried to vomit the morsel he had swallowed, but could not do so, as his stomach had been quite empty. Somebody suggested to him to take water to his fill and then try to vomit. He sent for a goblet of water and kept on taking water and forcing it out, till the morsel was vomit-ted out. Somebody remarked:

"May Allah have mercy on you! You put yourself to such trouble for one single morsel."

To this he made reply:

"I would have thrust it out even if I had to lose my life. I have heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) saying. 'The flesh nourished by haraam food, is destined for the fire of Hell.' I, therefore, made haste to vomit this morsel, lest any portion of my body should receive nourishment from it."

Many stories of this nature have been reported about Hadhrat Abu Bakr (Radhiyallaho anho). As he was very scrupulous and would not taste anything but that about which he was perfectly sure, even the slightest doubt about its being 'halal' would make him vomit what he had taken.