Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq

Timeline of key figures in early Islamic history: birth and death years of the Prophet ﷺ and the four Rāshidūn caliphs (Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī)

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUthmān b. ʿĀmir b. ʿAmr b. Kaʿb b. Saʿd b. Taym¹, better known as Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, was the first khalīfah after the Prophet ﷺ. Born after the year of the elephant,² he was a friend of the Prophet ﷺ before prophethood, the first man to accept Islam,³ and beloved to the Prophet ﷺ.⁴ He accompanied the Prophet ﷺ on the hijrah, and is referred to in the Qurʾān.⁵ He was at the Prophet's ﷺ side in every battle,⁶ and at the final pilgrimage.⁷ He was the father of ʿĀʾishah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, of noble lineage, a trader, known for the soundness of his character. Many accepted Islam at his hands,⁸ and he spent his wealth in the path of Allāh,⁹ freeing many slaves.¹⁰ He died in 13 AH, having served as khalīfah for two years and three months.

Footnotes

1. Taym b. Murrah b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr b. Mālik b. al-Naḍr b. Kinānah ↩

2. 2 years and 6 months after the year of the elephant, making him younger than the Prophet ↩

3. see al-Baghawī ↩

4. Ḥadīth where the Prophet ﷺ was asked who he loved the most; he replied ʿĀʾishah, then when asked from the men he replied Abū Bakr ↩

5. Referred to as the second of the two, Sūrat al-Tawbah: 40 ↩

6. Including Badr, Uḥud, and Tabūk ↩

7. in 9 AH ↩

8. ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, Ṭalḥah b. ʿUbaydullāh, al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām, Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf ↩

9. Had 40,000 dirhams before Islam, 5,000 when he came to Madīnah. ʿĀʾishah narrates he neither left a dirham nor a dinar when he passed away ↩

10. Bilāl and six others ↩