ABU BAKR AS-SIDDIQ

He is the first free man to declare his faith after Muhammad (pbuh) began preaching the message of Islam; he is the first of the rightly-guided caliphs and the first of the Ashara Mubashara. His original name was Abdul-Kaaba. After the advent of Islam, the Prophet gave him the name of Abdullah. His patronymic is Abu Bakr. He is known with the sobriquets of Jamiul Quran, as-Siddiq, and al-Atiq. The most famous of these is as-Siddiq.

His birth

Abu Bakr was born two years and several months after the Event of the Elephant in Mecca in 571. He was known for his admirable traits and chastity. It is related that Abu Bakr was one or three years younger than the Prophet.

His features

He was light-skinned with a lean body, a thin face, a sparse beard, deep-set eyes and a prominent forehead.

His family

From the Banu Taym tribe which held an important position in Mecca, was involved in trade, had social connections and broad culture, Abu Bakr's genealogy meets with Muhammad (pbuh) in Murra b. Kab. His mother's name is Ummul-Hayr Selma and his father's name is Abu Quhafah.  From the Meccan notables, his father saw Abu Bakr's caliphate and death.

He had several marriages. During the Age of Ignorance he first married a woman named Qutayla bint Abduluzza, and they had a son named Abdullah and a daughter named Asma. Aisha and Abdurrahman were born from his wife Umm Ruman; Umm Kulthum was born from Habiba, the daughter of Harija ibn Zayd who he married in Medina; and a son named Muhammad was born from his wife, Asma.

His pre-Islamic life

Abu Bakr was a person well-liked and known for his admirable virtues during the Age of Ignorance. He had the duty of overseeing the payment of blood money (asnaq) and compensation in Mecca. As a prominent Meccan, he was famous for his knowledge of genealogy and narration. He was involved in the textile and clothing trades; his capital was forty thousand dirham, and he spent most of it for Islam.

Entrance to Islam

Abu Bakr was the first to declare his faith to the Prophet after Khadija. He worked to gain converts to Islam from powerful tribes during the Meccan period. On the other hand, he protected the helpless and slaves who were subject to torture by the idolaters, and he used his wealth to buy and free persecuted slaves.

According to Aisha's narration, Abu Bakr, who had remained at the Prophet's side for thirteen years in Mecca, began to cry from joy when he received the command from the Prophet to emigrate and learned that they would migrate together.

He was present at the battles of Badr, Uhud and the Ditch. He participated in military expeditions to Muraysi, Qurayza, Haybar, Mecca, Hunayn, and Taif.

His caliphate

Becoming ill in the eleventh year of the Hijra, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) died on Monday, the 13^th of Rabi'al-awwal (June 8, 632). Abu Bakr was elected at the wish of the Companions, particularly Umar. In his speech in the masjid after he was elected to be "Caliph of the Prophet," Abu Bakr said, "I am not the best among you, but I have become your leader. If I do my duty fairly, help me; if I am mistaken, correct me. As long as I obey Allah and his Messenger, obey me; if I rebel, your obedience is not required."

He opened war on false prophets and those who said, "We pray, but we won't give the poor tax." He suppressed rebellions in Bahrain, Umman, Yemen, and Muhra. He added Hira, Ajnadin and Anbar to the Islamic world by means of war during his reign, Iraq was conquered and important cities in Syria were taken. Abu Bakr died while the Yarmuk War continued.

Abu Bakr enabled all the verses of the Quran to be gathered together by a delegation under the chairmanship of Zayd b. Sabit.

When Abu Bakr became ill with a disease he got in Medina after the migration in the month of Jumada al-thani, 13 H., he wanted Umar to lead the prayer. Consulting the Companions, he said he thought Umar was suitable for the caliphate. He died at sixty-three like the Prophet whom he loved so much. According to his will, he was buried next to the Prophet at shoulder level.