This article is about the Shi'a view of Abu Bakr, the first Sunni Caliph.
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Abu Bakr is reported to have been a friend of the Prophet Muhammad before the Prophet announced his Prophethood. However, beyond this not much is known about Abu Bakr's early life except that he was by profession a merchant like many of the Quraish. His tribe Bani Taim nor Abu Bakr were of any particular influence in Mecca. Like his fellow tribesmen and most of the Quraish, Abu Bakr was also an idol worshipper. The Prophet's uncles Abu Talib, Hamza, Abbas and even Abu Lahab were amongst the chiefs of Mecca whereas Abu Bakr had no such respect or distinction. Sunni traditions report that Abu Bakr was the first adult male or amongst the first males to accept Islam and recognise Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.
In the early years of his mission the Prophet Muhammad was mainly reliant on the support of his wealthy wife Khadija and the protection of his uncle Abu Talib [the father of Ali]. The Prophet used Khadija's wealth to help his poor followers espically those who were slaves. Abu Talib protected the Prophet from the chiefs of the Quraishiate tribes who threatened to harm or even kill him. Abu Talib had raised the Prophet like a son and his house was the platform from which the Prophet began his mission to propagate Islam. Khadija and Abu Talib died in the same year and following their deaths, Muhammad decided to migrate from Mecca to Medina.
The Prophet had spent 13 years in Mecca trying to spread Islam and during these 13 years he suffered extreme persecution and hostility and life threatening situations. However, Abu Bakr even though an early convert did not play a significant role in the propagation of Islam. May be this was due to his placid nature. It is known that Nuafal Ibn Khuwalid beat him and his cousin Talha and tied them up with a single rope and dragged them through the streets of Mecca.
Abu Bakr accommpanied the Prophet to Medina when the Prophet migrated to Medina. However, it is reported that whilst the Prophet and Abu Bakr were hiding in a cave, Abu Bakr got frightened when a party of the Quraish searching for the Prophet came near the cave.
Abu Bakr showed no valour or distinction in any of the battles fought with the Quraish. In the Battle of Uhad, he and his close friends Umar and Usman fled from the battlefield when the Quraish spread the rumour that the Prophet had been killed. Similarly, he and his two friends fled from the Battles of Khyber and Hunain. In the Battle of the Ditch [Khandaq] Abu Bakr showed no courage or valour and like his two close friends, he also declined to accept the challenge of Amr Ibn Abduwad. In fact there is no historical evidence that Abu Bakr had ever killed a single non-believer during any of the battles.
The fact is that Abu Bakr showed no qualities of leadership or distinction that the Prophet would have been inclined to nominate him as his successor. However Abu Bakr succeeded in getting his daughter Aisha married to the Prophet. Aisha was clever and ambitious. The Prophet's love for his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali and their sons Hassan and Hussain made Aisha very jealous and all her life she carried this jealousy and hate for Fatima, Ali and their children.
Aisha was instrumental in securing her father's caliphate.The Prophet during his last Hajj had indicated that his time in this world was short and he made it clear that Ali was to succeed him. This did not go down well with Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman, Khalid bin Walid, Saad Ibn Abi Waqas and many others who for one reason or another held a grudge against Ali.
It appears that there was political polarization within the Prophet's companions. The rich and powerful clustered around Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman whereas the likes of Ammar Yasir, Miqdad, Salman, Bilal, Abu Zar Ghaffari who had great names but no wealth or social status clustered around Ali.
Ali alone had killed the most brave and famous warriors and chiefs of the Meccan tribes especially the Bani Ummaya. The Quraish in particular the Bani Ummaya never forgot the humilation of defeat which Ali had inflicted on them.
Ali was also famous for his strong views on welfare, social justice and equality. Ali was the friend and champion of the poor and deprived. He was therefore, unacceptable as the Caliph to the elite of the then Muslim society. On the other hand Abu Bakr was a perfect candidate. He was a wealthy man and as later events proved he advanced and protected the interests of elite rather than the poor.
There are firm and sound traditions that the Prophet had suspected Abu Bakr and Umar and their comrades' intentions to usurp power. In the first instance the Prophet tried to remove them from Medina. He assembled an army under the leadership of Usama bin Zaid to avenge the defeat of the Battle of Mutah and ordered Abu Bakr and Umar and their supporters to join this army and leave Medina. However, Abu Bakr,Umar and their comrades realized that the Prophet intended to remove them from Medina disobeyed his orders and stayed in Medina. Just before his death, the Prophet asked for a pen and paper to have his will written but Umar prevented this.
As soon as the Prophet passed away, Umar pretended to be overcome by grief and threatened to kill any person who said that the Prophet had died. Apparently, Abu Bakr calmed him down. Then word reached them that the Ansars had gathered in Saqifa to elect a caliph. All of sudden Umar regained his senses and along with Abu Bakr and Usman left the Prophet's funeral arrangements and hastened to Saqifa. Most notable is that they did not bother to tell Ali or Abbas or any other person about the gathgering of the Ansar and their own departure.
At Saqifa, instead of pursuading the Ansar to abandon the election of the caliph and to wait until after the burial of the Prophet, Umar nominated Abu Bakr as the caliph on the grounds that he was a close relative of the Prophet. After a lot of bickering, swearing and political manoeuvring Abu Bakr was elected caliph.
Ali upon that Abu Bakr had been elected caliph said: "If his claim for the caliphate was based on him being a close relative of the Prophet then nobody was closer to the Prophet than I and if his claim was based on shura [assembly]then what kind of a shura was this in which I and Bani Hashim were not invited"
It is a historical fact that Ali never accepted public office under Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman. Ali who was always in forefront of jihad during the life of the Prophet never participated in any of the wars with the Byzantines or Persians. Throughout the reigns of the first three caliphs, Ali remained in relative obscurity.
Shi'a believe he and Umar conspired to take over power over the Muslim nation after the death of Muhammad – a coup d'état against Ali.
Abu Bakr returned to Medina after the news of Muhammad's death reached him. At that point, Umar stopped threatening people with death if they spread the news of Muhammad's death. While Abu Bakr was in the house where Muhammad's body was kept, accompanied with the rest of Banu Hashim, Umar informed him of the meeting of Saqifah.
Shi'a believe that Abu Bakr leaving the house without informing anyone of the meeting, proves that he went there in bad faith.
If Muhammad had predicted the four caliphs as Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliphs), then there was no need for the meeting at Saqifah to decide the first caliph and the later three caliphs. Even though Hasan ibn Ali ruled the Muslims, he has not been included in the Rightly Guided Caliphs, especially being declared as the Chief of the Youth of Paradise along with Husayn ibn Ali by Muhammad.
Shi'a criticize the Sunnis for refusing taking part in the dispute between Muhammad's then living child, Fatimah (the wife of Ali) and Abu Bakr, a dispute that ended with Fatimah becoming angry with Abu Bakr and refusing to talk with him for the rest of her life, six months, according to the most reliable Sunni sources including Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and her being buried in a secret location, still unknown, instead of with her father.
Shia believe that Fatima being angry at Abu Bakr was enough to stop him from taking the caliphate. They quote the hadith:
Narrated Miswar bin Makhrama: Allah's Apostle said, "Fatima is a part of me, and he who makes her angry, makes me angry."—Collected by Muhammad al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari[1]
So, the Shi'a reason that if Abu Bakr angered Fatima, he also angered Muhammad, therefore that did not give him any rights to the caliphate.
It is noteworthy that Fatimah openly refused to recognize the first caliph as Ulul-Amr, the one with authority and to be obeyed as per the Qur'an,[2] thus proving that the Muslims chose Abu Bakr after a bitter dispute and turmoil at Saqifah and many refused to obey the hastily installed caliph.
They believe the armies Abu Bakr sent against the Muslims that did not want to give him Zakat was in line with his coup d'état. There were many Muslims that refused to give allegiance to Abu Bakr, let alone give him taxes, but they did not deny the need to pay Zakat, nor any other Muslim principle.
As soon as Abu Bakr came into power, he sent against them the former champion general of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Muhammad's former arch enemy, Khalid ibn al-Walid. It is important to note that Khalid ibn al-Walid's tactical decision making had been the reason for the Muslim's loss in the second Battle of Uhud. However, he soon became a Muslim at the hand of Muhammad, and was sent by him as a commander on various military missions prior to his death.
Shi'a refer to several hadith that mention three conditions where a Muslims blood may be shed, and not paying Zakat is not one of them.
Khalid ibn al-Walid killed several people, including Malik ibn Nuwayrah. Khalid married the wife of Malik bin Nuwayrah, Layla bint al-Minhal, in the same night he ordered the death of her husband. Shi'a believe that Khalid raped her as he had not waited for the full period of waiting.
Thus, Shi'a consider him as a persecutor of Shi'as, employing the former arch-enemies of Islam as his highest generals, and protecting him when they committed murder and rape.
Shi'as strongly refute the idea that Abu Bakr or Umar were instrumental in the collection or preservation of the Qur'an, rather that they refused to accept Ali's compiled Qur'an.[3]
Umar helped Abu Bakr to come into power during the succession to Muhammad, and Abu Bakr appointed Umar as his own successor.
Shi'a also quote Sunni sources where Abu Bakr wished he was not a human, rather a bird, at the end of his life.[4]
Shi'a believe that the entire history of Abu Bakr's life was whitewashed by Umayyad propaganda, fabricating hadith where possible and giving black propaganda spins to the parts that were regarded as established history. Even through the Umayyad's endeavours to obscure the truth, it remains evident in the main events that are recognized as authentic by both Shi'a and Sunnis:
Shi'a conclude that they had no motivation to give taxes to Abu Bakr, since 100,000 heard Muhammad say in the hadith of the pond of Khumm that Ali was every Muslim's mawla. Further, Shi'a conclude that it is evidence that anyone going against the wishes of every Muslim's mawla and Muhammad's daughter can not be on the right path.