ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abu Bakr (; –675),Siddiq-e-Akbar Hazrat Abu Bakr by prof. Masud ul Hassan Printed and published by A. Salam, Ferozsons Ltd 60, Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Lahore was an Arab Muslim military commander in the service of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the

Rashidun caliphs The Rashidun () are the first four caliphs () who led the Muslim community following the death of Muhammad: Abu Bakr (), Umar (), Uthman (), and Ali (). The reign of these caliphs, called the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), is considered in ...

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

(), and

Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

(). His mother was

Umm Ruman Zaynab bint ʿĀmir ibn ʿUwaymir ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn ʿAttāb al-Farāsīyya al-Kinānīyya, known by her '' kunya'' "Umm Rūmān" () was among the followers or companions of Muhammad. She was a wife of Abu Bakr and the mother of Aisha, which m ...

and he was the full brother of

Aisha Aisha bint Abi Bakr () was a seventh century Arab commander, politician, Muhaddith, muhadditha and the third and youngest wife of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. Aisha had an important role in early Islamic h ...

. Unlike the rest of his family, including his father Abu Bakr and sister Aisha, he did not convert to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

until the

Treaty of Hudaybiyah The Treaty of al-Hudaybiya () was an event that took place during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was a pivotal treaty between Muhammad, representing the state of Medina, and the tribe of the Quraysh in Mecca in March 628 (corres ...

in 628. Four generations of Abd al-Rahman's family had the distinction of being the companions (

sahaba The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

) of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, namely Abd al-Rahman, his father Abu Bakr ''As-Siddiq'', his grandfather

Uthman Abu Quhafa Uthman ibn Amir ibn Amr (, 540635 CE), commonly known by the Abu Quhafa (), was the father of the first Rashidun caliph Abu Bakr (). Family Abu Quhafa was the son of 'Amir ibn 'Amr ibn Ka'b ibn Sa'd ibn Taym ibn Murra ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy ibn G ...

and his son Abu Atiq Muhammad. It was believed that no other family held this distinction.

Biography

While still a non-Muslim, Abd al-Rahman fought on the side of Quraish in the Battles of Badr and Uhud. In the

Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr or sometimes called The Raid of Badr ( ; ''Ghazwahu Badr''), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ; ''Yawm al-Furqan'') in the Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan, 2 AH), near the pre ...

, he had an opportunity to kill his father, Abu Bakr, but he turned in another direction. Years later, after becoming a Muslim, he told his father about it. Thereupon Abu Bakr replied: "If I had had such an opportunity, I would not have spared ''you''." In the

Battle of Uhud The Battle of Uhud () was fought between the early Muslims and the Quraysh during the Muslim–Quraysh wars in a valley north of Mount Uhud near Medina on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD (7 Shawwal, 3 AH). After the expulsion of Hijrah, Muslims from ...

before the fighting began, he came forward and threw down a challenge for a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

. Abu Bakr accepted the challenge, but Muhammad stopped him, saying, "Sheathe your sword, and let us continue to profit by your wise counsels." After becoming a Muslim, Abd al-Rahman participated in all the battles fought by the Muslims and gained fame as a fierce warrior, especially in the

Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant (; ), or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the Rashidun Caliphate. A part of the wider Arab–Byzantine wars, the Levant was brought under Arab Muslim rule and developed ...

. He was one of the

Mubarizun The Mubarizun (, "duelists", or "champions") formed a special unit of the Rashidun army during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Mubarizun were a recognized part of the Muslim army with the purpose of engaging enemy champions in single ...

champions and fought duels in the battles for the Muslim army. The mubarizun unit of the

Rashidun army The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, grantin ...

was composed of elite warriors who were champion

swordsmen Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...

lancers A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...

and

archers Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

. In the battlefield his role was to undermine the morale of the enemy before the beginning of the battle by slaying their champions in duels. In the

Battle of Yamama The Battle of Yamama was fought in December 632 as part of the Ridda Wars against a rebellion within the Rashidun Caliphate in the region of al-Yamama (in present-day Saudi Arabia, South of Riyadh City) between the forces of Abu Bakr and Musay ...

he killed Muhakkam al-Yamama, the general commanding the forces of

Musaylima Musaylima (), d.632, was a claimant of prophethood from the Banu Hanifa tribe. Based from Diriyah in present day Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he claimed to be a prophet and was an enemy of Islam in 7th-century Arabia. He was a leader of the enemies of I ...

. In the

Battle of Yarmouk The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk; ) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in Aug ...

, the commander in chief of the Byzantine force chose five selected warriors from the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

side, and they challenged the Muslims to duels. It was Abd al-Rahman who accepted the challenge. Scores of duels were fought on the plains of Yarmouk. Abd al-Rahman killed all of them one after the other. When Umar was stabbed to death, Abdurrahman saw the perpetrator, Abu Lu'lu'ah, preparing the day before, "Last night I passed Abu Lu'lu'ah, while he was meeting secretly with Jufaynah and Hurmuzan. When I came to them, they jumped and a dagger with two blades and a handle fell in the middle of them." At the Battle of

Busra Bosra (), formerly Bostra () and officially called Busra al-Sham (), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa District of the Daraa Governorate and geographically part of the Hauran region. Bosra is an ancient cit ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, he entered the city of Busra through a subterranean passage and then dashing towards the city gates opened them for the main Muslim army to enter.Siddiq-e-Akbar Hazrat Abu Bakr by prof. Masud ul Hassan Later, Abd al-Rahman was mentioned again as being involved in the Muslim campaign to Bahnasa. The Byzantine Sudanese forces fled to Bahnasa town and locked the gates. They were followed by the Muslims who besieged the town, while the enemy were reinforced by the arrival of 50,000 troops according to the report of

al-Maqqari Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Maqqarī al-Tilmisānī (or al-Maḳḳarī) (), (1577-1632) was an Algerian scholar, biographer and historian who is best known for his , a compendium of the history of Al-Andalus which provided a basis for the schola ...

. The siege dragged on for months, until

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arabs, Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career ...

commanded Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Dhiraar ibn al-Azwar and other commanders to intensify the siege. He assigned the commanders to lead around 10,000

Companions of the Prophet The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

, with 70 among them being veterans of the Battle of Badr. Abd al-Rahman was mentioned as one of the Rashidun commanders. The Byzantines and their Copt allies showered the Rashidun army with arrows and stones, until the Rashidun overcame the defenders, as Dhiraar, the first emerge, came out from the battle with his entire body stained in blood, while confessing to personally slaying about 160 Byzantine soldiers during the battle. The Muslim army managed to breach the gate and storming the city forced the surrender of the inhabitants. According to the chronicles, the siege of Bahnasa were so fierce that in this battle alone, 5,000 Companions of the prophet (Sahabah) perished, as the thousands of their tombs could still to be seen there in the modern day. Later, the Muslim forces besieged Barqa (

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

) for about three years to no avail. Then Khalid ibn al-Walid, who had previously participated in the conquest of

Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus ( ; , ; ; ), also known by its modern name Al-Bahnasa (), is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an important archaeological site. Since the late 19th century, t ...

, offered a radical plan to erect a catapult that would be filled with sacks of cotton. Then as the night came and the city guard slept, Khalid ordered his best warriors including Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr,

Zubayr ibn al-Awwam Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ibn Khuwaylid al-Asadi (; ) was an Arab Muslim commander in the service of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the caliphs Abu Bakr () and Umar () who played a leading role in the Ridda Wars, Ridda wars against rebel tribes in ...

, his son Abd Allah, Fadl ibn Abbas, Abu Mas'ud al-Badri, and Abd al-Razzaq to step into the catapult platform which was then filled with cotton sacks. The catapult launched them one by one to the top of the wall and allowed these warriors to climb the top of the city walls, open the gates and kill the guards, thus allowing the Muslim forces to enter and capture the city. After his death, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr was buried in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

.Siddiq-e-Akbar Hazrat Abu Bakr by prof. Masud ul Hassan Printed and Published by A. Salam, Ferozsons Ltd 60, Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Lahore, Pakistan .

Appendix

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul-Rahman Ibn Abu Bakr 675 deaths Family of Abu Bakr Year of birth unknown Companions of the Prophet Children of Rashidun caliphs Sons of caliphs

Biography

See also

Appendix

Notes

References

Sources