History

Abu Bakr was born in Mecca some time in 573 CE, to a rich family in the Banu Taym 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 foals and goats, and his love for camels earned him the nickname "Abu Bakr", the father of the foal of the camel.

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.

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. Abu Bakr was the first free man to embrace Islam.
His conversion brought many people to Islam. He persuaded his intimate friends to convert to Islam and presented Islam to others in such a way that many of his friends accepted Islam. His wife Qutaylah bint Abd-al-Uzza did not accept Islam and he divorced her. His other wife, Um Ruman, became a Muslim. All his children except Abdu'l-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr accepted Islam, and Abu Bakr separated from his son Abdu'l-Rahman. He accompanied Sayyiduna Rasulullah (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) during the Hijrah to Madinatul Munawwarah. He participated in all the battles in which Sayyiduna Rasulullah (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) had to fight the Kuffar.

In 624 Abu Bakr was involved in the first battle between the Muslims and the Quraysh of Mecca, known as the Battle of Badr, but did not fight, instead acting as one of the guards of Muhammad's tent.
Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) loved his faith more than anything else. At the Battle of Badr, his son, Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (radi Allahu anhu), was fighting on the side of the Kuffar. After accepting Islam, Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (radi Allahu anhu) said to his father, "O Father, at Badr, you were twice under my sword, but my love for you held my hand back." To this, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) replied, "Son, if I had you only once under my sword, you would have been no more." He was so uncompromising in his faith.

In 625 he participated in the Battle of Uhud. At the time of the Battle of Tabuk, he donated all his wealth to the war effort, and when Sayyiduna Rasulullah (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) asked him, "What have you left for your family,?" he replied, "Allah and His Rasool (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam)." Later in the year Abu Bakr was a part of campaign against the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir.

In 627 he participated in the Battle of the Trench and also in the Invasion of Banu Qurayza. n 628 he participated in Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and was made one of the witnesses over the pact. In 628 he was a part of the Muslim campaign to Khaybar. In 630 when Muslim armies rushed for the Conquest of Mecca, Abu Bakr was a part of the army. Before the conquest of Mecca his father
Uthman Abu Quhafaconverted to Islam.

In 631 AD, Muhammad sent from Medina a delegation of three hundred Muslims to perform the Hajj according to the new Islamic way. Abu Bakr was appointed as the leader of the delegates. Abu Bakr had thus the honour of being the First Amir-ul-Hajj in the history of
Islam.

When Muhammad passed away Muslims gathered in Al-Masjid al-Nabawi and there were suppressed sobs and sighs. Abu Bakr came from his house at As-Sunh (a village) on a horse where he had been with his new wife. He dismounted and entered the Prophet's Mosque, but did not speak to anyone until he entered upon 'Aa'isha. He went straight to Muhammad who was covered with Hibra cloth (a kind of Yemenite cloth). He then uncovered Muhammad's face and bowed over him and kissed him and wept, saying, "Let my father and mother be sacrificed for you. As for the death which was written for you, has come upon you."

Abu Bakr said to people "To proceed, if anyone amongst you used to worship Muhammad, then Muhammad has passed away, but if (anyone of) you used to worship Allah, then Allah is Alive and shall never die. Allah said, "And Muhammad is but a messenger; the messengers have come before him; if then he dies or is killed will you
turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least and Allah will reward the grateful."

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. 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.

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.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).

Abu Bakr's Caliphate lasted for 27 months, during which he crushed the rebellion of the Arab tribes throughout the Arabian Peninsula in the successful Ridda Wars. In the last months of his rule, he sent general Khalid ibn al-Walid on conquests against the Sassanid Empire in Mesopotamia and against the Byzantine Empire inSyria. This would set in motion a historical trajectory (continued later on by Umar and Uthman ibn Affan) that in just a few short decades would lead to one of the argest empires in history. He had little time to pay attention to the administration of state, though state affairs remained stable during his Caliphate. On the advice of Umar and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah he agreed to have a salary from state treasury and abolish his cloth trade.

Abu Bakr was instrumental in preserving the Qur'an in written form.
It is said that after the hard-won victory over Musaylimah in the Battle of Yamama fought in 632, Umar (the later Caliph Umar), saw that many of the Muslims who had memorized the Qur'an ( about 300 to 700) had died in battle. Fearing that the Qur'an may be lost or corrupted, Umar requested the Caliph Abu Bakr to authorize the compilation and preservation of the scriptures in written format. After initial hesitation, Abu Bakr made a committee headed by Zayd ibn Thabit which included the memorizers of theQur'an and Umar and to collect all verses of the book. After collecting all Qur'anic verses from texts in the possession of various sahaba, Zayd ibn Thabit and members of his committee verified the reading by comparing with those who had memorized the Qur'an. After they were satisfied that they had not missed out any verse or made any mistakes in reading or writing it down, the text was written down as one single manuscript and presented in codex form to the Caliph Abu Bakr. It is believed that this process happened within one year of the death of Muhammad when most of his sahaba (Companions) were still alive.

Abu Bakr fell sick and did not recover due to his old age. bu Bakr developed high fever and was confined to bed. His illness was prolonged, and when his condition worsened, he felt that his end was near. Realizing his death was near, he sent for Ali and requested him to perform his ghusl since Ali had also done it for Muhammad. Abu Bakr felt that he should nominate his successor so that the issue should not be a cause of dissension among the Muslims after his death He appointed Umar as his successor after discussing with some companions.On Monday 23 August 634, Abu Bakr passed away. The funeral prayer was led by Umar. He was buried the same night by the side of Muhammad's grave in Aisha's house near Al-Masjid al-Nabawi.

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