that the Prophet ﷺ sent him with Soorat Bara'ah (at-Taubah) to the people of Makkah, to say that no mushrik should perform Hajj after this year and no one should circumambulate the Ka'bah naked, and no one would enter Paradise except a Muslim, whoever had a covenant with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a specific time, it would last until the stated time, and Allah is free from (all) obligations to the Mushrikoon and so is His Messenger (cf. 9:3). He went around doing that for three days, then [the Prophet ﷺ said to ‘Ali; “Go and catch up with him; send Abu Bakr back to me and you convey it.” So he did that. And when Abu Bakr carme to the Prophet ﷺ , he wept and said: O Messenger of Allah, is there something the matter with me? He said: ʿThere is nothing but good, but I was instructed that no one should convey it except me or a man from my family.”

أنَّ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ بَعَثَهُ بِبَراءَةٌ لِأهْلِ مَكَّةَ: لا يَحُجُّ بَعْدَ العامِ مُشْرِكٌ، ولا يَطُوفُ بِالبَيْتِ عُرْيانٌ، ولا يَدْخُلُ الجَنَّةَ إلّا نَفْسٌ مُسْلِمَةٌ، مَن كانَ بَيْنَهُ وبَيْنَ رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ مُدَّةٌ فَأجَلُهُ إلى مُدَّتِهِ، واللهُ بَرِيءٌ مِنَ المُشْرِكِينَ ورَسُولُهُ. قالَ: فَسارَ بِها ثَلاثًا، ثُمَّ قالَ لِعَلِيٍّ، رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعالى عَنْهُ: «الحَقْهُ فَرُدَّ عَلَيَّ أبا بَكْرٍ، وبَلِّغْها أنْتَ» قالَ: فَفَعَلَ، قالَ: فَلَمّا قَدِمَ عَلى النَّبِيِّ ﷺ أبُو بَكْرٍ بَكى، قالَ: يا رَسُولَ اللهِ، حَدَثَ فِيَّ شَيْءٌ؟ قالَ: «ما حَدَثَ فِيكَ إلّا خَيْرٌ، ولَكِنْ أُمِرْتُ أنْ لا يُبَلِّغَهُ إلّا أنا أوْ رَجُلٌ مِنِّي»