Hazrat AbuBakr

Hazrat ABU BAKR (RA)

SIGNIFICANCE OF ABU BAKR DURING THE PROPHET’S LIFETIME:

Abu Bakr, whose real name was Abdullah, was one of the Prophet’s closest friends. Even before accepting Islam, he led a pious and chaste life. After the Holy Prophet had received his first revelation he thought of approaching those closest to him so he told Abu Bakr the whole story of his experience. Abu Bakr responded to his call and immediately embraced Islam. He was the first free adult male and the first person outside the family of the Prophet to become a Muslim. The Qur’an describes his acceptance as: ‘’and he who comes with the truth and he who confirms it.....such are the people who do right’’ (39:33). He was the first person to testify to the Messenger’s event of Miraj (Prophet’s ascension to the heavens) and was given the title of ‘’Al Siddique’’ due to his immediate belief of the journey.

After accepting Islam he devoted his life and wealth to preaching Islam. Abu Bakr’s acceptance proved to be a milestone in the prophet’s mission. Prominent companions like Usman, Talha and Zubair are said to have been persuaded by him to accept Islam. He bought and freed a lot of slaves, Bilal being one of the prominent ones. When the Holy Prophet started preaching openly he faced fierce opposition. During all such hardships Abu Bakr stood by his side. The first public address of inviting people to offer allegiance to the Prophet’s message was delivered by Abu Bakr. At this the youth of Quraish beat Abu Bakr till he fainted. In 620AD when the Prophet’s wife died, Abu Bakr’s daughter Ayesha was engaged to the Prophet whom he married after his migration to Medina.

In 622AD on the invitation from the Muslims of Medina, the Prophet ordered Muslims to migrate. The migration took place in batches and the Prophet was the last one to leave accompanied by Abu Bakr. Both remained in the cave of Saur for three days to hide from the Makkans who wanted to kill the Prophet and his companion. This event is mentioned in the Qur’an: ‘’he being the second of the two when they were in the cave’’ (9:40).

At Medina Abu Bakr continued his services to Islam. He paid for the piece of land selected by the Holy Prophet for the mosque of the Prophet (Masjid-e-Nabvi). He rendered valuable services in all the battles. In the battle of Badr, he was in charge of the right wing of the troops and fought against his own son Abdur Rahman. In the battle of Uhad, he negated the rumour of the Prophet’s death and acted as a shield to save him. In the battle of Hunaian, he remained firm and reorganised the scattered troops that had started running away. When the Holy Prophet began to raise funds for the Tabuk expedition, Abu Bakr placed all his wealth at the disposal of the Holy Prophet. He was present at the time of the treaty of Hudaibiya and was one of the signatories. He was also one of the ten blessed companions who were given tidings of heaven during their lifetime. He was appointed the first Ameer-e-Hajj (the chief guide of pilgrimage). Abu Bakr led the daily prayers during the last days of the Holy Prophet’s illness.

Finally it was Abu Bakr who normalised the critical situation arising out of the death of the Holy Prophet, as nobody was ready to believe this including Umar. Abu Bakr on this occasion recited these verses: ‘’Mohammad is no more than a messenger: many messengers that were before him passed away, if he died or were slain will you then turn back on your heels?’’ (3:144). Nobody led the funeral prayers of the Holy Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar were the first of worshippers. He was unanimously elected the first Caliph of Islam. Abu Bakr continued to perform meritorious services for Islam even after the death of the Holy Prophet.

SHORT ACCOUNT OF ABU BAKR’S LIFE: (NOV 2004 PAPER 2)

PROBLEMS FACED BY ABU BAKR WITHIN ARABIA:

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.

 COMPILATION OF THE QUR’AN:

In the battle of Yamamah several Huffaz laid down their lives. Hazrat Umar approached Hazrat Abu Bakr about the compilation of the Holy Qur’ran. He was of the opinion that soon the preservation of the Qur’an will become a major problem owing to the deaths of the Huffaz. Abu Bakr did not agree in the beginning but was later convinced by Umar and he ordered the compilation of the Holy Book under the supervision of Zaid bin Sabit.

3)    (a) Trace the major stages in the compilation of the Qur’an in the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.    

        (b) Why did these Caliphs think it was important to make a compilation of the Qur’an?  

ANS 3(a): At the time of the Prophet’s death no official copy of the Qur’an existed in a complete written form. During the caliphate of Abu Bakr some people declared themselves to be prophets. Among them was Musalima. Abu Bakr waged a war against him and around 360 companions laid down their lives in that battle, known as the battle of Yamamah. 70 of them had committed the Holy Qur’an to memory. Hazrat Umar realized that these ‘’oral copies’’ of the Qur’an would gradually diminish because of natural death or martyrdom in future battles. He suggested to Abu Bakr that the Qur’an should be compiled for the future generations or else it would meet the same fate as the previous scriptures. Hazrat Abu Bakr, however, hesitated and said that how could he do something that the Holy Prophet did not do. Hazrat Umar argued that under the circumstances this was an absolute necessity. According to Hazrat Abu Bakr, ‘’Umar went on persuading me to accept his suggestion till I was convinced that he was right so I accepted his suggestion.’’

Abu Bakr directed Zaid bin Sabit, one of the scribes of the Qur’an, to collect the Quranic verses from every part of the Islamic empire and compile them in a book form. A commission was appointed and headed by Zaid bin Sabit and its members were a number of companions. Zaid collected the chapters of the Qur’an from every person who had it in their possession. He collected it from palm leaves, stones, and pieces of wood and people who had memorized it. He not only collected it, but also verified it from people who had heard it from the Holy Prophet. Though he himself was a Hafiz of the Qur’an, he always tried to find a verse in writing before including it in his manuscript. Zaid is reported to have said that he felt it would be far easier to carry a mountain on his head than to shoulder such a great responsibility.

The script prepared by Zaid remained with the first Caliph and after his death was transferred to Hazrat Umar, the second Caliph. After Hazrat Umar’s death it was transferred to Hazrat Hafsa, a widow of the Holy Prophet and Umar’s daughter. This copy of the Qur’an came to be known as Musaf al-Hafsa i.e. Hafsa’s copy of the Holy Book.

By the time of Usman’s Caliphate the Islamic state had expanded well beyond Arabia. The new converts of these areas recited the Qur’an in their own dialects. Disputes rose among these people and some of them insisted that their style of recitation was correct and the others were not. One of the companions of the Prophet approached the Caliph and told him about the possible danger of the division of the Ummah. Usman took immediate action and he declared that the Muslims should unite on a uniform way of recitation. He got the copy of the Qur’an from Hazrat Hafsa and gave it to a team of four companions which was headed by Zaid bin Sabit. It was decided that one standard version of the Qur’an would be written in the dialect of the tribe of the Quraish. The Holy prophet was from the Quraish, the Quran had been revealed in that dialect, and it was felt that this was the right dialect for the recitation of the Qur’an. This team made several copies from the original text and made sure the surahs, too, were arranged in order. The Qur’an was read out loudly from the beginning to the end in the Prophet’s mosque from these copies, so that not a shadow of doubt remained in anyone’s mind that changes had been introduced in the text. These copies were sent to the capital city of every province of the Muslim states with a teacher to teach how to recite the Qur’an properly and correctly. Instructions were also given that in the future, copies should be made only from the official text and that if anyone had a copy with a different text, it should be burnt.

 Hazrat Usman is known as the Jami-al-Quran which means that he brought the Muslims around to a uniform reading of the Quran. The Quran that is being read today is the same as in the time of Abu Bakr. Nothing has been added or deleted from it and the arrangement of the chapters and verses are in the same order as proclaimed by the Holy Prophet, in accordance with Divine instructions.

ANS 3(b): The two Caliphs performed remarkable services to Islam by compiling the Holy Quran. Both were driven by different circumstances. Abu Bakr, being a staunch follower of the Prophet, was reluctant to compile the Quran but on Umar’s insistence, was convinced of doing so. He realized if the memorizers of the Quran were either killed or died naturally with the passage of time, a situation of confusion might arise throughout the Muslim world regarding the exact number of verses and surahs of the Quran. If the future generations of the Muslims had no single copy of the Quran, they might be misled as the Quran is the basis of all thought and action for the Muslims.

Usman, likewise, faced another challenging situation. Several newly converted Muslims in non-Arab territories began to argue about the ways of recitation of the Quran. There was a danger of the growth of sects amongst Muslims regarding the way of recitation because every group insisted that their dialect was the correct one and the others were wrong. This meant that various groups might oppose each other and disunity amongst Muslims might threaten their fraternity. So Usman took a wise, timely action by compiling and standardising the Holy Book and burning all the copies which did not match the official and approved text.

SAVIOUR OF ISLAM:

Abu Bakr is rightly called the saviour of Islam because of the vital services rendered by him. Soon after the Prophet’s death, he was the one to calm down the shocked Muslim community. Most of the companions including Umar were not ready to believe in the Prophet’s death. Abu Bakr on this occasion, delivered a convincing speech told all about the mortality of Mohammad by reciting: ‘’Mohammad is no more than a messenger: many messengers that were before him passed away, if he died or were slain will you then turn back on your heels?’’ (3:144).

Later as a Caliph he suppressed the apostasy movement and thus preserved the fundamentals of Islam. False prophets challenged the second component of Shahada—‘’Mohammad is the final Messenger of God.’’ He defeated the false prophets and thus kept the unity of Islam. He fought and won against the tribes refusing to pay Zakat. By eradicating both, Abu Bakr defended the basic principles of Islam.

Finally by compiling the Qur’an, Abu Bakr ensured the unity of the Muslim community that depended on the Qur’an.

ELECTION:

·               Prophet did not nominate a successor.

·               After his death there was an argument between the ansar and mahajireen.

·               Both wanted that the caliph should be from their group.

·               A suggestion was given that there should be two caliphs, one from each group.

·               Abu Bakr reminded them that the prophet instructed that the leader should be from the Quraish tribe.

·               He suggested the names of Ubu Ubaidah bin Jarrah and Umar bin Khataab.

·               But Umar took Abu Bakr’s hand and pledged his loyalty to him.

·               On seeing this everyone did the same.

·               He was unanimously elected the first Caliph.

WHY HE WAS CALLED AL-SIDDIQUE:

·               First free male to accept Islam.

·               Believed in the ‘’miraj’’ (Prophets ascension to the heavens)

ADMINISTRATION:

·               Laid the foundation of a truly democratic state.

·               Always took advice from the great companions of the Prophet in all important matters.

·               Divided the state into provinces, each had a governor.

·               The governor was responsible for military and administrative affairs.

·               Governer had an ‘’amil’’ to collect taxes and ‘’qazi’’ to administer justice.

·               All commanders and governors were selected on merit.

·               He offered himself and his officers for strict accountability.

·               He built a ‘’bait-ul-maal’’ (treasury) to collect revenue.

·               Established military cantonments and maintained a reserve force.

·               Expanded the Muslim Empire to Iran Syria and Rome.

·               Ensured the safety of non-Muslim subjects and allowed them to perform their religious duties.

·               His annual income was 6000 Dirhams which he returned to the state by issuing instructions to sell a piece of land he owned when he was on his death bed.

LIST OF QUESTIONS

4 (a) Write an account of the major contributions made to Islam by Abu Bakr:

(i) During the Prophet’s lifetime; [4]

• He was the Prophet’s friend from childhood.

• He was one of the first to accept Islam.

• He brought others to accept Islam.

• He remained loyal to the Prophet at all times, good and bad.

• He expressed belief in the Prophet’s Night Journey.

• He bought slaves who were Muslim and freed them.

• He accompanied the Prophet on the hijra.

• He gave his daughter `A’isha to be the Prophet’s wife.

• He made a financial contribution to the expedition to Tabuk.

(ii) During his caliphate. [8]

• He steadied the mourning community after the Prophet’s death.

• He continued the Prophet’s intention to send expeditions to the north. [1 mark for the basic point, and 1 extra mark for details]

• He fought against the tribes who withheld zakat.

• He fought against the false prophets.

• These were Musaylima, Tulayha, Aswad al-Ansi and Sajjah. [1 mark, but 2 marks if all four names are given]

• He arranged to have the first collection of the Qur’an made. [1 mark, but 2 marks for details of how this happened]

(a) Describe four incidents that show how, between 622 and 661, the Prophet and the Rightly Guided Caliphs conducted relations with other states. [4 x 3]

(b) Suggest ways in which any two of these examples can provide models for relations between states today.

(a) Describe Abu Bakr's activities against the false prophets and apostate tribes. [10]

Answers could have basic references to the false prophets, the tribes withholding zakat and the apostate tribes. Some could go on to give fuller accounts of these challenges, faced by Abu Bakr. In the answers it could be described that at the time of Abu Bakr's caliphate there were a number of people in Arabia who claimed to be prophets like Muhammad. The main ones were Musaylima among the Hanifa tribes in Yamama, Tulayha among the tribes of Asad and Ghatafan, al-Aswad in the Yemen and Sajjah among the Tamim tribe. Answers could give accounts of how Abu Bakr sent forces against all of them and write about the fighting against Musaylima in the battle of Yamama, which was the most fierce, and one in which many memorizers of the Qur'an were killed. The revolt against Islam by tribes that had pledged loyalty to the Prophet and the refusal of some tribes to send taxes to Medina could also be described. Excellent answers will give a full account.

(b) Why is Abu Bakr called the Saviour of Islam? [4]

To gain top marks in this question candidates need to show a good understanding of the reason why he was called the Saviour of Islam. A satisfactory answer would simply explain that he fought to prevent the break-up of Islam. However, more complete answers will explain that the false prophets and apostates threatened the uniqueness and unity of Islam and could not be allowed to continue their activities. Hence when he became caliph he not only gave new heart to the Muslims after the Prophet passed away but helped the community of Muslims against its many enemies. In his short term as caliph he defeated the tribes who withdrew from Islam and made them stay Muslim and he fought and won against tribes who refused to pay zakat. He also defeated the false prophets and thus kept the unity of Islam when there was much danger. Candidates could mention his contribution in the compilation of the Qur’an as well.

(b) Explain why he was known as the Honest One (al-Siddiq), and the Saviour of Islam. [4]

• He was given the title of al-Siddiq after he declared without hesitation that he believed the Prophet had been taken to Jerusalem on the Night Journey.

• It also suits his conduct of showing complete loyalty towards Muhammad.

• He was acknowledged as the Saviour of Islam because of his efforts to keep the community united, to resist the threat from tribes withdrawing from Islam, and to destroy the false prophets. [1 mark, but 2 marks for all of these points]

4 (a) Write about:

(i) Abu Bakr’s conquest of the false prophets

(ii) `Uthman’s arrangements to make a collection of the Qur’an. [2x5]

(b) Explain why these two caliphs thought it was important to take these actions. [2x3]

(a) (i)

• One of the problems facing Abu Bakr was a number of people in Arabia who claimed to be prophets like Muhammad

• The main ones were Musaylima among the Hanifa tribes in Yamama, Tulayha among the tribes of Asad and Ghatafan, al-Aswad al-Ansi in the Yemen and Sajdah among the Tamim tribe [1 mark for all four names; 1 extra mark for details about

each]

• He sent forces against all of them

• The fighting against Musaylima was most fierce: in the battle of Yamama many memorizers of the Qur’an were killed

(ii)

• `Uthman discovered that in parts of the empire people were following different versions of the Qur’an

• He ordered all copies of the Qur’an to be destroyed

• He invited Zayd Ibn Thabit and a group of Muslims to compile an authentic copy of the text

• They took great care, consulting widely and checking the text against memories

• They referred to the collection in the keeping of Hafsa

• `Uthman had copies made and distributed these to the major centres

(b) [In each case allow 1 mark for a basic explanatory comment (not description); 1 extra mark for a further comment that shows fuller understanding; and the third mark for complete explanations]

The false prophets threatened the uniqueness of the Prophet Muhammad

Their claims suggested that Muhammad was not the last prophet sent from God

Unless they were overthrown Islam could not uphold its claims.

If variant readings were allowed the message of the Qur’an might be obscured

These readings threatened the purity of God’s instructions

If they were allowed to continue the community might be split over different teachings

Conversion of Abu Bakr (Nov ’09 paper 1):

Abu Bakr: close friend of the prophet from childhood and amongst the first to convert (first free adult male); he became Muslim without hesitation; was open about calling others to the new faith and persuaded many to accept Islam; he purchased slaves and set them free; he was the first person to openly invite people to the new faith and was beaten severely.