History of Khulafah Rashideen by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti - translated by Abdassamad Clarke

Saif and al-Hakim narrated that Ibn cUmar said: The cause of Abu Bakr’s death was the passing away of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He was distressed and his body continued to waste away until he died.

Ibn Sacd and al-Hakim narrated with a sahih isnad that Ibn Shihab related that Abu Bakr and al-Harith ibn Kaladah were eating a broth which Abu Bakr had been given. Al-Harith said to Abu Bakr, ‘Lift your hand (from the dish) Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah. By Allah, in it there is a year’s poison. I and you will die on the same day.’ He took his hand away from it. Both of them became increasingly sick until they died on the same day at the end of the year.

Al-Hakim narrated that ash-Shacbi said: What can we expect from this awful world when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was poisoned and Abu Bakr was poisoned?

Al-Waqidi and al-Hakim narrated that cA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: The beginning of Abu Bakr’s illness was that he performed a ghusl on Monday the seventh of Jumada al- Akhirah which was a cold day. He had a fever for fifteen days and did not go out to the prayer. He died on the night of Tuesday eight days before the end of Jumada al-Akhirah in 13 AH, when he was sixty-three years old.

Ibn Sacd and Ibn Abi’d-Dunya narrated that Abu’s-Safar said:

They entered upon Abu Bakr during his illness and said, ‘Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah, shall we not call a doctor for you who will take a look at you?’ He said, ‘He has already taken a look at me.’ They said, ‘What did he say?’ He said, ‘Truly, I do what I will.’ (ref Qur’an 11: 108; 85: 16)

Al-Waqidi narrated by various routes that when Abu Bakr became seriously ill, he called for cAbd ar-Rahman ibn cAwf and said, ‘Tell me about cUmar ibn al-Khattab.’ He said, ‘You do not ask me about any matter but that you are more knowledgeable of it than me.’ So Abu Bakr said, ‘And even if ...?’ cAbd ar-Rahman ibn cAwf said, ‘He, by Allah, is better than your view of him.’ Then he summoned cUthman ibn cAffan and said, ‘Tell me about cUmar.’ He said, ‘You of all of us know best about him.’ He said, ‘Tell me that,’ so he said, “O Allah, my knowledge of him is that his inward Is better than his exterior and that there is no-one like him among us.’ He included in his counsel, along with the two of them, Sacid Ibn Zaid, Usayd ibn al-Hudayr and others of the Muhajirun and Ansar. Usayd said, ‘O Allah, I know him to be the best after you.

I le is pleased for the good pleasure (of Allah), and displeased for the displeasure (of Allah). What he conceals is better than what he makes public. No-one stronger for this command than him will ever have authority over it.’ Some of the Companions entered upon him and one said to him, ‘What will you say to your Lord when He asks you about your appointing cUmar as khalifah over us when you have seen his toughness?’ Abu Bakr said, ‘By Allah, are you trying to frighten me? I will say, “O Allah, I have appointed as khalifah over them the best of Your people.” Convey from me what I said to those behind you.’ Then he called cUthman and said, ‘Write, “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is the testament of Abu Bakr ibn Abi Quhafah at the end of his time in the world, as he was leaving it, and at the beginning of his time in the Akhirah, as he was entering it, where the disbeliever will believe, the wicked will be certain, and the liar will tell the truth. I have appointed after me as khalifah over you cUmar ibn al-Khattab; so listen to him and obey him. I have not fallen short in my duty to Allah and His Messenger and His deen and to myself and you. If he is just, then that is my opinion of him and my knowledge of him. If he changes things, then every man has that which he earned. I intended good, and I do not know the hidden things, ‘... and the ones who do wrong shall know what place of transformation they will be transferred to! (Qur’an 26: 227) Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.’” He asked for the writing and sealed it. Then he ordered 1 Uthman, and he went out with the letter thus sealed, and people pledged allegiance and were pleased with it. Abu Bakr summoned ‘ Umar in private and advised him whatever he advised him. Then he left him and Abu Bakr raised his hands and said, ‘O Allah, I only meant by that their good and feared dissension for them, and I have done for them what You know best, and I have exerted my intellect for them in arriving at a decision, and have appointed the best of them over them, and the strongest of them, and the most eager of them for that which would guide them. And there has come to me of Your command what has come to me (death), so put another in my place over them, for they are Your slaves, their forelocks are in Your hand. O Allah, put right their rulers, and make him one of Your khalifahs who take the right way, and put right his subjects for him.’ Ibn Sacd and al-Hakim narrated that Ibn Mascud said: The most farsighted of people were three: Abu Bakr when he appointed cUmar as khalifah, the woman companion of Musa when she said, ‘Hire him!' (Qur’an 28: 26), and the chief minister (of Fii^awn) when he said to his wife, ‘Honour his (Yusuf’s) dwelling place! (Qur’an 12: 21).

Ibn cAsakir narrated that Yasar ibn Hamzah said: When Abu Bakr’s illness grew serious he stood and looked over the people from a small window and said, ‘I have made a covenant, so will you be contented with it?’ So the people said, ‘We will be content with it, Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah.’ Then cAli stood and said, ‘We will not be content unless it is cUmar.’ He said, ‘It is cUmar.’ Ahmad narrated that CA’ ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: When death came to Abu Bakr, he said, ‘What day is this?’ They said, ‘Monday.’ He said, ‘If I die tonight do not wait until tomorrow (to bury me), because the most beloved of days and nights to me is the closest to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.’ Malik narrated that CA’ ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said that Abu Bakr made a present to her of the fruit-cuttings of palm trees, twenty camel loads, from al-Ghabah. When death came to him he said, ‘My little daughter, by Allah, there is no human being that I would more love to see wealthy than you, and there is no-one whose poverty after me is more grievous to me than you. I had given you as a gift twenty camel loads of fruit-cuttings of palm trees; if you had cut them and taken them they would have been yours, however loti ay they are only the property of the ones who inherit, who are your two brothers and your two sisters, so divide them up by the hook of Allah.’ She said, ‘Father, even if it had been so much and so much I would have given it up. There is only Asma’ (her sister), who is the other (sister)?’ He said, ‘The child who is in the womb of Kharijah’s daughter; I think it is a girl.’ Ibn Sacd narrated it. In a version he said, ‘The child who is in the womb of Kharijah’s daughter; it occurs to me that it is a girl, so make her your concern.’ Then she gave birth to Umm Kulthum.

Ibn Sacd narrated that cUrwah said that Abu Bakr bequeathed one fifth of his property (the rest being divided according to the shariah), and said, ‘I take from my wealth what Allah takes from the booty of the Muslims.’ He also narrated that he (Abu Bakr)

said, ‘That I should bequeath a fifth is preferable to me than that I should bequeath a quarter, and that I should bequeath a quarter would be preferable to me than bequeathing a third. Whoever bequeathed a third leaves nothing.’ Sacid ibn Mansur narrated that ad-Dahhak said that Abu Bakr and cAli both bequeathed a fifth of their properties to those who were not entitled to inherit from them of their close relatives.

cAbdullah ibn Ahmad narrated in Zawa’idaz-Zuhd that CA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: By Allah, Abu Bakr left neither a dinar nor a dirham of which Allah had struck the die.

Ibn Sacd and others narrated that cA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: When Abu Bakr became grievously ill I quoted this verse:

‘By your life! Wealth does not avail the man, When one day it (the spirit) rattles in the throat and the breast becomes constricted by it,’ and he uncovered his face and said, ‘It is not like that. Rather say, “And the agony of death comes in truth. That is what you used to turn away from.” (Qur’an 50: 19)

‘Look out my two cloths and wash them, then bury me in them.

The living has more need of the new than the dead.’ Abu Yacla narrated that cA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: I entered upon Abu Bakr when he was on the point of death and I said:

‘Whoever’s tears are ceaseless in sufficiency, in bitterness they will be poured out.’ So he said, ‘Do not say this; rather say, “And the agony of death comes in truth. That is what you used to turn away from!” Then he said, ‘On what day did the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, die?’ I said, ‘Monday.’ He said, ‘I hope that it is between now and the night,’ and he died on the night before Tuesday, and was buried before the morning.

cAbdullah ibn Ahmad narrated in Zawa’idaz-Zuhd that Bakr ibn cAbdullah al-Mazani said: When death came to Abu Bakr, cA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, sat at his head and said:

‘Every owner of camels must one day take them to drink, and every possessor of plunder must be despoiled.’ Abu Bakr understood it and said, ‘It is not like that, my daughter, rather it is as Allah said:

“And the agony of death comes in truth. That is what you used to turn away from!" Ahmad narrated that CA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, also said that she quoted this verse while Abu Bakr was dying:

‘And a pure one, free from faults, from whose face the clouds draw drinking water, Orphans love (him), a protection for the widows.’ Abu Bakr said, ‘That was the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.’ ' Abdullah ibn Ahmad narrated in Zawdidaz-Zuhd that cUbadah Ibn Qais said: When death came to Abu Bakr he said to cA’ishah, 'Wash these two cloths of mine and wrap me in them, for your father is one of two men: either dressed in the best way or stripped in the worst way.’ Ibn Abi’d-Dunya narrated that Ibn Abi Mulaykah said that Abu Bakr left as his last wish that his wife, Asma’ bint cUmays, should wash his body and that cAbd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr should help her.

[bn Sacd narrated that Sacid ibn al-Musayyab said that cUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, prayed over Abu Bakr between the grave (of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace)

and the minbar, and said four takbirs over him.

He narrated that cUrwah and al-Qasim ibn Muhammad said that Abu Bakr left as his last wish to cA’ishah that he should be huried by the side of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him ;md grant him peace. When he died, they dug a grave for him and put his head at the shoulder of the Messenger, may Allah bless him iind grant him peace, and the niche (wherein the body was laid)

touched the grave of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

He narrated that Ibn cUmar said: cUmar, Talhah, cUthman and Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr got down into Abu Bakr’s grave (to place the body in the niche). He narrated by many different routes that he was buried at night.

He narrated that Ibn al-Musayyab said that when Abu Bakr died, Makkah was shaken by an earthquake, and so Abu Quhafah said, ‘What is this?’ They said, ‘Your son has died.’ He said, ‘A great misfortune! Who has undertaken the command after him?’ They said, ‘cUmar.’ He said, ‘His companion.’ He narrated that Mujahid said that Abu Quhafah returned the inheritance he received from Abu Bakr to the son of Abu Bakr and that Abu Quhafah only lived six months and some days after Abu Bakr. He died in Muharram of 14 AH when he was ninety-seven years of age.

The men of knowledge said: No-one took the khilafah during the life of his father except for Abu Bakr, and no father inherited from a khalifah except for Abu Bakr’s.

Al-Hakim narrated that Ibn cUmar said: Abu Bakr ruled for two years and seven months.

There is in the Tarikh of Ibn cAsakir with its isnad that Asmaci said: Khufaf ibn Nudbah as-Salami said, mourning Abu Bakr:

‘No living thing, tell it! has permanence, and all of the world, its business is annihilation.

And property with the people is a deposit loaned and the condition on it is repayment.

Man works and there is one lying in wait for him; the eye mourns him, and the fire (excessive grief) of the brain.

He becomes decrepit or he is slain or there overcomes him a sickness which afflicts him and for which there is no cure.

Truly, Abu Bakr he is the succour (the rain) if Orion did not make vegetables to grow with water.

By Allah, the young wearer of a lower garment (common people)

nor the wearer of an upper garment (the elite) does not reach his days.

Whoever works to reach his days, exerting himself, will isolate liimself in an empty land.