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Hazrat Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr was elected as the first caliph after Muhammad's death. During his caliphate, he faced several challenges that threatened to divide the Muslim community, including claims of prophethood by false prophets like Musaylimah and Tulaiha. Abu Bakr sent armies led by commanders like Khalid ibn Walid to defeat the apostasy movement and consolidate Islamic control over the Arabian Peninsula. He also refused tribes' requests to be exempted from paying zakat and defeated tribes that attacked Medina in response.

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168 views

Hazrat Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr was elected as the first caliph after Muhammad's death. During his caliphate, he faced several challenges that threatened to divide the Muslim community, including claims of prophethood by false prophets like Musaylimah and Tulaiha. Abu Bakr sent armies led by commanders like Khalid ibn Walid to defeat the apostasy movement and consolidate Islamic control over the Arabian Peninsula. He also refused tribes' requests to be exempted from paying zakat and defeated tribes that attacked Medina in response.

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HAZRAT ABU BAKR (R.

A)
EARLY LIFE
Abu Bakr was born in Mecca some time in 573 CE, to a rich family in the Banu Taym[13] clan of the Quraysh tribe.
Abu Bakr's father's name was Uthman Abu Quhafa (nicknamed Abu Quhafa) and his mother was Salma bint
Sakhar (nicknamed Umm-ul-Khair).
He spent his early childhood like other Arab children of the time among the Bedouins who called themselves Ahl-i-
Ba'eer- the people of the camel, and developed a particular fondness for camels. In his early years he played with
the camel calves and goats, and his love for camels earned him the nickname "Abu Bakr", the father of the camel's
calf.[27][28]
When Abu Bakr was 10 years old, he went to Syria along with his father with the merchants' caravan. Muhammad,
who was 12 years old at the time, was also with the caravan. In 591 at the age of 18, Abu Bakr went into trade and
adopted the profession of cloth merchant, which was the family's business. In the coming years Abu Bakr traveled
extensively with caravans. Business trips took him to Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere. These travels brought him
wealth and added to his experience. His business flourished and he rose in the scale of social importance. Though
his father, Uthman Abu Quhafa, was still alive, he came to be recognized as chief of his tribe.
Like other children of the rich Meccan merchant families, Abu Bakr was literate and developed a fondness for poetry.
He used to attend the annual fair at Ukaz, and participate in poetical symposia. He had a very good memory and had
a good knowledge of the genealogy of the Arab tribes, their stories and their politics.[29]
A story is preserved that once when he was a child, his father took him to the Kaaba, and asked him to pray before
the idols. His father went away to attend to some other business, and Abu Bakr was left alone with the idols.
Addressing an idol, Abu Bakr said "O my God, I am in need of beautiful clothes; bestow them on me". The idol
remained indifferent. Then he addressed another idol saying "O God, give me some delicious food. See that I am so
hungry". The idol remained cold. That exhausted the patience of young Abu Bakr. He lifted a stone, and addressing
an idol said "Here I am aiming a stone; if you are a god protect yourself". Abu Bakr hurled the stone at the idol and
left the Kaaba. Thereafter, he never went to the Kaaba to pray to the idols.[30]
Abu Bakr was a thin man with white skin.[31] Tabari relates (Suyuti also relates the same through Ibn Sa'd al-
Baghdadi's report) from Aisha her description of Abu Bakr
He was a man with fair skin, thin, emaciated, with a sparse beard, a slightly hunched frame, sunken eyes and
protruding forehead, and the bases of his fingers were hairless.[32]
He remained a hanif until converting to Islam and never WORSHIPPED IDOLS

Election of Abu Bakr as Caliph


After Muhammad's death, previously dormant tensions between the Meccan immigrants,
the Muhajirun, and the Medinan converts, the Ansar, threatened to break out and split
the Ummah. Other Arabic tribes also wished to revert to local leadership and split from Medina's
control. In some places, people claiming prophethood started to establish leaderships to oppose
Medina, e.g. Al-Aswad Al-Ansi and Musaylimah. All of which are events that led to splitting the
Muslim community.[75] The Ansar, the leaders of the tribes of Medina, met in a hall or house
called saqifah, to discuss whom they would support as their new leader. When Abu Bakr was
informed of the meeting, he, Umar, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and a few others rushed to
prevent the Ansar from making a premature decision. Accounts of this meeting vary greatly. All
agree that during the meeting Umar declared that Abu Bakr should be the new leader, and
declared his allegiance to Abu Bakr, followed by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, and thus Abu Bakr
became the first Muslim caliph, and the first Muslim given the title Khalifa-tul-Rasul (Successor
of messenger of Allah), a title accepted by Sunni Muslims.
Sunnis believe that Abu Bakr is the rightful Caliph. The Twelver Shia and the Ismaili Shia
believe that Ali should have been the first Caliph. Their main argument is based on their
interpretation of Hadith of the pond of Khumm.[citation needed]

EXPEDITION TO SYRIA

Immediately before death, the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H)


had ordered that an expedition should be sent to Syria under command of
Hazrat Usamah (R.A), the son of the Muslim commander Hazrat Zaid (R.A)
who had been martyred in the battle of Mautah in 629 C.E. Hazrat Abu
Bakr (R.A) was advised that as Madina was by hostile tribes, the expedition
should be abandoned. He repudiated the suggestion and said that he could
withhold the expedition that the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H)
had ordered to proceed. Hazrat Abu Bakr (R.A) was next asked that if the
expedition was to be necessarily undertaken, the command should be
entrusted to some veteran General instead of Hazrat Usamah (R.A) who
was a mere boy. But Hazrat Abu Bakr (R.A) said that the Hazrat
Muhammad (P.B.U.H) had appointed Usamah to the command, he could
not as a representative of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H)
countermand such orders. Hazrat Abu Bakr (R.A) accordingly sent the
force under Hazrat Usamah to the Syrian front.
REFUSAL TO PAY ZAKAT
The issue of the refusal to pay Zakat was a great test of the moral courage
of Abu Bakr as the first Caliph of the Holy Prophet. After the demise of
the Holy Prophet many surrounding tribes of Medina which had offered
allegiance to Islam, sent a deputation to Abu Bakr with the proposal that
their agreement with the Muslims had ended.
A fresh agreement was necessary in which they should be relieved from
the obligation to pay Zakat. Abu Bakr argued that Zakat was a
fundamental injunction of Islam and had to be paid. Seeing their
proposal being rejected these tribes decided to forego Islam. Their
decision was to attack Medina when the main Muslim army was in
Syria. They attacked at night but found Abu Bakr with his army ready to
fight. The apostates were defeated; many tribesmen died while others fled
in confusion. After this battle many tribes sent their delegates to Medina,
offered allegiance and paid Zakat

APOSTASY MOVEMENT:

After the Prophet’s death, some of the people rose in revolt


against the authorities in Medina and renounced Islam. Abu
Bakr, without any delay, launched an expedition against this
movement. After collecting the troops at Medina, he divided
them into eleven battalions each with an experienced
commander, and sent them in eleven different directions to
crush these revolts.
He instructed each commander to first invite these tribes to
Islam. If any refused to comply they were to be attacked. Some of
the tribes accepted Islam but the others were stubborn and were
dealt with harshly. All campaigns were successful and Abu Bakr
was able to re-establish control of Islam throughout the Peninsula.

FALSE PROPHETS
In the last days of the Prophet’s life some misguided people arose
to claim prophet hood. When Abu Bakr was elected as the
Caliph they started their preaching openly. Among these false
prophets were Tulaiha, Aswad Ansi, Musailamah and Sajjah.
Tulaiha belonged to the Banu Asad tribe in the northern
Arabia. An army under Khalid bin Walid was sent which met
them at Buzaka. After a fierce battle Tulaiha’s army surrendered
and he himself fled to Syria. He embraced Islam during the time
of the second Caliph.Aswad Ansi belonged to the Ansi tribe in
Yemen. He was an ugly man who kept his face veiled all the
time. He was nicknamed ‘’the veiled prophet’’. Being leader of
his tribe he revolted with the cooperation of the neighbouring
chiefs. He was the first false prophet who collected a large army
in open revolt against Islam. He was defeated and killed by the
Muslims.
The most dangerous of the false prophets was Musalima. He
belonged to a tribe of central Arabia. His tribe accepted him as a
prophet. Abu Bakr sent Shurbhil and Ikramah to crush the
rebellion; later Khalid bin Walid joined them. Musalima,s army
was defeated after a fierce battle at Yamamah in
633AD.Musalimah was killed. In this battle about 800 Muslims
were martyred. Amongst them were 360 Huffaz (memorizers of
the Holy Qur’an). Sajjah was a woman who belonged to the Bani
Tamim tribe. She claimed to be a prophetess and succeeded in
mustering a large following. When Musalimah heard about her
claim he invited her to Yamamah. They decided to join forces
and later Musailma married her which ended her adventure of
prophet hood and she lived in obscurity for the rest of her
life. When the Muslims conquered Iraq she entered the circle of
Islam along with her tribe.

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