Shi'a view of Abu Bakr
Encyclopedia
This article is about the Shi'a view of Abu Bakr
, the first Sunni
Caliph
.
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
.
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.
(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
:
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, 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.
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.
, 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.
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.
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
, the first Sunni
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
.
Introduction
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
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
conspired to take over power over the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
nation after the death of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
– a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
.
Coup d'état — 632
Abu Bakr returned to MedinaMedina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
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
Banu Hashim
Banū Hāshim was a clan in the Quraysh tribe. Muhammad, was a member of this clan; his great-grandfather was Hashim, for whom the clan is named. Members of this clan are referred to by the Anglicised version of their name as Hashemites, or Huseini or Hasani...
, Umar informed him of the meeting of Saqifah
Saqifah
The Saqīfah , also known as Saqīfah banī Sāˤidat , was a roofed building used by the tribe called the banū Sāˤidat of the faction of the banū Khazraj tribe of the city of Medina in the Hejaz, northwestern Arabia.- Significance 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
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
(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
Hasan ibn Ali
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib is an important figure in Islam, the son of Fatimah the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and of the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Hasan is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa...
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
Husayn ibn Ali
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...
by Muhammad.
Abu Bakr and Fatimah
Shi'a criticize the Sunnis for refusing taking part in the dispute between Muhammad's then living child, FatimahFatimah
Fatimah was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women. She remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh of Mecca...
(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
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...
, 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
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
. They quote the hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
:
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, 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.
Caliphate — persecution of Shi'a
They believe the armies Abu Bakr sent against the MuslimsRidda wars
The Ridda wars , also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr during 632 and 633 AD, after prophet Muhammad died....
that did not want to give him Zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
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
Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
Sakhr ibn Harb , more commonly known as Abu Sufyan was a leading man of the Quraish of Mecca. He was a staunch opponent of the Islamic prophet Muhammad before accepting Islam later in his life.-Opposition to Islam:...
, Muhammad's former arch enemy, Khalid ibn al-Walid
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Khālid ibn al-Walīd also known as Sayf Allāh al-Maslūl , was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is noted for his military tactics and prowess, commanding the forces of Medina and those of his immediate successors of the Rashidun Caliphate; Abu Bakr and Umar...
. 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
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud was fought on March 19, 625 at the valley located in front of Mount Uhud, in what is now northwestern Arabia. It occurred between a force from the Muslim community of Medina led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a force led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb from Mecca, the town from...
. 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
Malik ibn Nuwayrah
Malik ibn Nuwaira , also spelled as Malik ibn Nuwera, was a chief of the Bani Yarbu', a large section of the powerful tribe of Bani Tamim which inhabited the north-eastern region of Arabia, above Bahrain. Being close to Persia, some elements of the Bani Tamim had embraced Zoroastrianism, but by and...
. Khalid married the wife of Malik bin Nuwayrah, Layla bint al-Minhal
Layla bint al-Minhal
Layla bint al-Minhal was a sahaba of Muhammad and the wife of Malik ibn Nuwayra.Layla was the daughter of Al Minhal and was later also known as Umm Tamim. She was acclaimed as one of the most beautiful girls in Arabia, for her gorgeous eyes. When she came of age, she was pursued by many men, but...
, 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
Iddah
In Islam, iddah or iddat is the period a woman must observe after the death of her spouse or after a divorce, during which she may not marry another man. The period, three months after a divorce and four months and ten days after the death of a spouse, is calculated on the number of menses that a...
.
Thus, Shi'a consider him as a persecutor of Shi'as, employing the former arch-enemies of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
as his highest generals, and protecting him when they committed murder and rape.
Qur'an
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.End of life — 634
Umar helped Abu Bakr to come into power during the succession to MuhammadSuccession to Muhammad
The Succession to Muhammad concerns the various aspects of successorship of Muhammad after his death, comprising who might be considered as his successor to lead the Muslims, how that person should be elected, the conditions of legitimacy, and the role of successor...
, 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.
Legacy
Shi'a believe that the entire history of Abu Bakr's life was whitewashedWhitewash (censorship)
To whitewash is a metaphor meaning to gloss over or cover up vices, crimes or scandals or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data. It is especially used in the context of corporations, governments or other organizations.- Etymology :Its first...
by Umayyad propaganda, fabricating hadith where possible and giving black propaganda
Black propaganda
Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy...
spins
Spin (public relations)
In public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
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:
- Fatimah completely broke her relations with Abu Bakr the same week Muhammad died.
- Rather than being buried with her father at the Al-Masjid al-NabawiAl-Masjid al-NabawiAl-Masjid al-Nabawi , often called the Prophet's Mosque, is a mosque situated in the city of Medina. As the final resting place of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, it is considered the second holiest site in Islam by Muslims and is one of the largest mosques in the world...
, Fatimah was buried in a still secret location. - Ali refused to give allegiance to Abu Bakr.
- Ali did not support Abu Bakr in the attack of Muslim, who were declared apostates on the sole issue of not paying taxes to a man they did not regard as their caliph.
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
Hadith of the pond of Khumm
The Hadith of the pond of Khumm refers to the saying about a historical event crucial to Islamic history. This event took place on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, which is located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia and was a place...
that Ali was every Muslim's mawla
Mawla
The word Mawlā or patron has two meanings. Mawla is an Arabic word "مولی", prominently used in Islamic literature which means protector.“Call them by their fathers: that is juster in the sight of Allah. But if you know not their father'sthey are your Brothers in faith and those entrusted to you...
. 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.