Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Reuven Firestone, Journeys in Holy 

Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends

(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990); 

Gordon Darnell Newby, The Making of the Last Prophet: 

A Reconstruction of the Earliest Biography of Muhammad

(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989).

Abu Bakr

 

(573–634)  first of four Sunni “rightly 

guided” caliphs to rule the early Muslim community 

after Muhammad’s death in 632

Abu Bakr, the close companion and father-in-law 

of m

Uhammad

, was elected the first 

caliph

 of the 

Muslim community when Muhammad died in 

632. Sunni Muslims regard him as one of the 

four “rightly guided” caliphs, along with U

mar

ibn

 

al

-k

hattab

 (r. 634–644), U

thman

 

ibn

  a

FFan

(r. 644–655), and a

li

 

ibn

 a

bi

 t

alib

 (r. 656–661). 

A native of m

ecca

, Abu Bakr was a member of 

a branch of the q

Uraysh

 tribe and made a living 

as a merchant. He is remembered as the first of 

Muhammad’s associates (excluding family mem-

bers) to convert to Islam, and he helped protect 

Muhammad when he departed on the h

iJra

 to 

m

edina

 in 622. His nickname was al-Siddiq (the 

truthful) because he was the first to confirm 

the reality of Muhammad’s n

ight

 J

oUrney

 

and

a

scent

. Abu Bakr was Muhammad’s main adviser, 

and he joined him in all his subsequent battles. 

His daughter a

isha

 married Muhammad and 

became his most important wife. When Muham-

mad died, Abu Bakr was the candidate favored by 

the powerful Quraysh and other e

migrants

 from 

Mecca to become the Prophet’s successor (caliph), 

against Ali, who was favored by the a

nsar

 of 

Medina. Ali and his supporters, however, pledged 

allegiance to Abu Bakr without conflict. In what 

were called the “wars of 

apostasy

,” Abu Bakr was 

soon forced to suppress rebellions by tribes in 

outlying regions of the Arabian Peninsula that had 

refused to pay alms (zakat), or had turned away