Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abi Quhafa al-Taymi (; –July/August 658) was an Arab Muslim commander in the service of the fourth

Rashidun caliph The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the Muslim community and po ...

Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until Assassination of Ali, his assassination in 661, as well as the first imamate in Shia doctrine, Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muha ...

. Muhammad was the youngest son of the first Rashidun caliph

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 Asma bint Umays. He had his son,

Al-Qasim The Qassim Province ( ' , Najdi Arabic: ), also known as the Qassim Region, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. Located at the heart of the country near the geographic center of the Arabian Peninsula, it has a population of 1,336,179 and ...

taught by his aunt, Aisha, and by

Ibn Abbas ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, prophet Muhammad. He is considered to be the greatest Tafsir#Conditions, mufassir of the Quran, Qur'an. ...

. Which is why many Hadiths are quoted through Muhammad and his son and thus were the source of much of the information of

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 ...

and narrations available today.

Biography

He was a son of Abū Bakr from his marriage with Asma bint Umays. When Abu Bakr died,

Asma bint Umais Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays () was a female disciple (known in Arabic as Sahaba or Companions of the Prophet) of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. She is known for having married three famous companions of Muhammad, namely, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, Abu ...

married

. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr had a son named

Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr () (born 36 or 38 AH and died 106 AH or 108 AH; corresponding to 660/662 and 728/730) The Four Imams by Muhammad Abu Zahrahchapter on Imam Malik was a jurist in early Islam. In the Naqshbandi Sufi or ...

. Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr's wife was called Asma and she was the daughter of

Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr 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 I ...

who was Abu Bakr's other son. The daughter of Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and Asma was called Fatima (Umm Farwah). After the

Battle of Siffin The Battle of Siffin () was fought in 657 CE (37 Islamic calendar, AH) between the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib and the rebellious governor of Syria (region), Syria Muawiyah I, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The battle is named after its ...

appointed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as the Governor of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, then a newly conquered province of the Islamic empire. In 658 CE (38 AH),

Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

, the then Governor of Syria, sent his general

Amr ibn al-As Amr ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (664) was an Arab commander and companion of Muhammad who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was ...

and six thousand soldiers against Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. He hadn't proved himself to be a good governor,

Lesley Hazleton Lesley Adele Hazleton (September 20, 1945 – April 29, 2024) was a British-American author and journalist. Born in Reading, Berkshire, she began her career as a correspondent in Israel before moving to the United States in 1979. She wrote about ...

writes "Muhammad AbuBakr – Aisha's half brother – had proved a weak governor. Ali himself ruefully acknowledged that he was "an inexperienced young man". Muhammad asked Ali for help. Ali is said to have instructed his foster son to hand the governorship over to his best general and childhood friend,

Malik al-Ashtar Malik al-Ashtar (), also known as Mālik bin al-Ḥārith al-Nakhaʿīy al-Maḏḥijīy () was, according to Sunni view, one of the people involved behind Uthman's assassination. While, according to Shias, he was one of the loyal companions of A ...

, whom he judged better capable of resisting Amr ibn al-As. However, Malik died on his way to Egypt. The Shi'a and Institute for Shia Ismaili Studies and London's Shi'aism researcher

Wilferd Madelung Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung FBA (26 December 1930 – 9 May 2023) was a German author and scholar of Islamic history widely recognised for his contributions to the fields of Islamic and Iranian studies. He was appreciated in Iran for his "know ...

believe that Malik was poisoned by Muawiyah I in order to take revenge for Uthman's murder, in which many Companions witnessed he had taken part. Ibn Abi Bakr was eventually defeated by 'Amr ibn al-'As. 'Amr's soldiers were ordered to capture him, bring him alive to Muawiyah I or kill him. A soldier named

Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj Abu Nu'aym Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj ibn Jafna ibn Qatira al-Sakuni al-Tujibi Usd al-Ghabah 4 / 383 al-Kindi , was a general of the Kindah tribe under Muawiyah I in Ifriqiya. Mu'awiyah ibn Hudayj participated in the Early Muslim conquests against Byza ...

is said to have quarreled with the prisoner and killed him out of hand. Ibn Hudayj was so incensed at Ibn Abi Bakr that he put his body into the skin of a dead donkey and burned both corpses together, so that nothing should survive of his enemy. However, Shi'a accounts say that the Muawiyah I who later became the first

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

Caliph was the actual killer of Ibn Abu Bakr. His grave is located in a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt. He had spent considerable time in

and was part of the delegation that complained about the activities of the governor of Egypt to the third Caliph

Uthman ibn Affan Uthman ibn Affan (17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 644 until Assassination of Uthman, his assassination in 656. Uthman, a second cousin, son-in-law, and notable Companions of the Prophet, companion of ...

. The Caliph promised to immediately dismiss the Egyptian governor and replace him with Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr. However, after sensing betrayal from Uthman ibn Affan (but actually perpetrated by

Marwan ibn al-Hakam Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya (; 623 or 626April/May 685), commonly known as MarwanI, was the fourth Umayyad caliph, ruling for less than a year in 684–685. He founded the Marwanid ruling house of the Umayyad dynasty, which re ...

) against the Muslim petitioners from Egypt, Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr rushed back with the petitioners to

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

where he initially took part in the uprising against Uthman ibn Affan. After realizing his error in getting involved in the

Assassination of Uthman Uthman ibn Affan, the third Rashidun caliph, who ruled from 644 to 656, was assassinated at the end of a siege upon his house in 656. This was initially a protest but escalated into a siege following the death of a protester. The protesters-turne ...

, he repented and withdrew from the uprising, although he had already led the group of rebels inside Uthman ibn Affan's residence. The history is related as follows: A group of seven hundred Egyptians came to complain to Caliph Uthman ibn Affan about their governor Ibn Abi Sarh's tyranny, so Uthman ibn Affan said: "Choose someone to govern you." They chose Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, so Uthman ibn Affan wrote credentials for him and they returned. On their way back, at three days' distance from Madinah, a messenger caught up with them with the news that he carried orders from Uthman ibn Affan to the governor of Egypt. They searched him and found a message from Uthman ibn Affan to ibn Abi Sarh ordering the death of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and some of his friends. They returned to Madinah and besieged Uthman ibn Affan. Uthman ibn Affan acknowledged that the camel, the servant, and the seal on the letter belonged to him, but he swore that he had never written nor ordered the letter to be written. It was discovered that the letter had been hand-written by Marwan ibn al-Hakam. Both of Abu Bakr’s sons

and Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr openly opposed Mu'awiya. The appointment of Yazid was unpopular in Medina. Sahih Al Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 352, Narrated by Yusuf bin Mahak: Marwan had been appointed as the governor of Hijaz by Mu'awiya. He delivered a sermon and mentioned Yazid bin Mu'awiya so that the people might take the oath of allegiance to him as the successor of his father (Mu'awiya). Then ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr told him something whereupon Marwan ordered that he be arrested. But ‘Abd al-Rahman entered 'Aisha's house and they could not arrest him. Marwan said, "It is he (‘Abd al-Rahman) about whom Allah revealed this Verse: 'And the one who says to his parents: 'Fie on you! Do you hold out the promise to me..?'" On that, 'Aisha said from behind a screen, "Allah did not reveal anything from the Qur'an about us except what was connected with the declaration of my innocence (of the slander)." Ibn Kathir wrote in his book the ''Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah'' that "in the year 56 AH Mu'awiya called on the people including those within the outlying territories to pledge allegiance to his son, Yazid, to be his heir to the Caliphate after him. Almost all the subjects offered their allegiance, with the exception of Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr (the son of Abu Bakr), Abd Allah ibn Umar (the son of Umar), al-Husayn bin Ali (the son of Ali),

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (; May 624October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death. The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and grandson of ...

(The grandson of Abu Bakr) and

Abd Allah ibn Abbas ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the prophet Muhammad. He is considered to be the greatest mufassir of the Qur'an. He was the son of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of ...

(Ali's cousin). Because of this Mu'awiya passed through Medina on his way back from Mecca upon completion of his Umrah Pilgrimage where he summoned each one of the five aforementioned individuals and threatened them. The speaker who addressed Mu'awiya sharply with the greatest firmness amongst them was Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, while Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab was the most soft-spoken amongst them. Their sister

Asma bint Abi Bakr Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr (; 594/595 – 694-695CE) nicknamed Dhat an-Nitaqayn (meaning she with the two belts) was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and half-sister of his third wife Aisha. Her nickname Dhat an-Nitaqayn was giv ...

was just as outspoken. Asma's son, Abd Allah, and his cousin,

, were both grandsons of Abu Bakr and nephews of Aisha. When

Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...

was killed in Karbala, Abd Allah, who had been Husayn's friend, collected the people of Mecca and made the following speech:

O people! No other people are worse than Iraqis and among the Iraqis, the people of
Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...
are the worst. They repeatedly wrote letters and called Imam Husayn to them and took ''bay'at'' (allegiance) for his caliphate. But when
Ibn Ziyad Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad () was the Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad governor of Basra, Kufa and Greater Khorasan, Khurasan during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I () and Yazid I (), and the leading general of the Umayyad army under caliphs Marwan I () an ...
arrived in Kufa, they rallied around him and killed Imam Husayn who was pious, observed the fast, read the Quran and deserved the caliphate in all respects.Najeebabadi, Akbar Shah (2001). ''The History of Islam'' vol. 2, p. 110. Riyadh: Darussalam. .

After his speech, the people of Mecca also joined Abd Allah to take on

Yazid Yazīd (, "increasing", "adding more") is an Arabic name and may refer to: Given name * Yazid I (647–683), second Umayyad Caliph upon succeeding his father Muawiyah * Yazid II (687–724), Umayyad caliph * Yazid III (701–744), Umayyad caliph ...

. When he heard about this, Yazid had a silver chain made and sent to Mecca with the intention of having

Walid ibn Utba Al-Walīd ibn ʿUtba ibn Abī Sufyān () (died 684) was an Umayyad ruling family member and statesman during the reigns of the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiya I () and Yazid I (). He served two stints as the governor of Medina in 677/78–680 and 681–68 ...

arrest Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr with it. In Mecca and Medina Husayn's family had a strong support base, and the people were willing to stand up for them. Husayn's remaining family moved back to Madina. Eventually Abd Allah consolidated his power by sending a governor to Kufa. Soon Abd Allah established his power in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, southern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

, the greater part of

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 ...

and parts of

. Yazid tried to end Abd Allah's rebellion by invading the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

, and he took Medina after the bloody

Battle of al-Harra The Battle of al-Harra () was fought between the Umayyad army of the caliph Yazid I () led by Muslim ibn Uqba and the defenders of Medina from the Ansar and Muhajirun factions, who had rebelled against the caliph. The battle took place at the ...

followed by the siege of Mecca. But his sudden death ended the campaign and threw the Umayyads into disarray, with civil war eventually breaking out. This essentially split the Islamic empire into two spheres. After the Umayyad civil war ended, Abd Allah lost Egypt and whatever he had of Syria to Marwan I. This, coupled with the

Kharijite The Kharijites (, singular ) were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the conflict with his challeng ...

rebellions in Iraq, reduced his domain to only the Hejaz.

was finally defeated by

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (; July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death in October 705. A member of the first generation of born Muslims, his early life in ...

, who sent

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi (; ), known simply as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (), was the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate. He began his service under Caliph Abd al-Malik (), who successiv ...

. Hajjaj was from Ta'if, as were those who had killed Husayn. In his last hour, Abd Allah asked his mother Asma what he should do. Asma replied to her son:

You know better in your own self that if you are upon the truth and you are calling towards the truth go forth, for people more honourable than you were killed and have been killed, and if you are not upon the truth, then what an evil son you are, you have destroyed yourself and those who are with you. If you say what you say, that you are upon the truth and you will be killed at the hands of others then you will not truly be free, for this is not the statement of someone who is free... How long will you live in this world, death is more beloved to me than this state you are on, this state of weakness.

Then Abd Allah said to his mother after she had told him to go forth and fight: "I am afraid I will be mutilated by the people of Sham. I am afraid that they will cut up my body after they have killed me." She said: "After someone has died, it won't make any difference what they do to you if you have been killed." Abd Allah said to his mother:

I did not come to you except to increase myself in knowledge. Look and pay attention to this day, for verily, I am a dead man. Your son never drank wine, nor was he fornicator, nor did he wrong any Muslim or non-Muslim, nor was he unjust. I am not saying this to you to show off or show how pure I am but rather as an honour to you.

Abd Allah then left by himself on his horse to take on Hajjaj. Hajjaj's army defeated Abd Allah on the battlefield in 692. He beheaded him and crucified his body. He said, "No one must take down his body except Asma. She must come to me and ask my permission, and only then will his body be taken down." Asma refused to go and ask permission to take down her son's body. It was said to her, "If you don't go, his body will remain like that." She said, "Then let it be." Eventually Hajjaj came to her and asked, "What do you say about this matter?" She replied, "Verily, you have destroyed him and you have ruined his life, and with that you have ruined your hereafter." The defeat of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr re-established

control over the Empire.

Legacy

The Shi'a highly praise Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr for his devotion to ‘Ali and his resistance to the other rulers who were usurpers. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was a pious Muslim who supported the

Imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

of his time,

, even though his sister Aisha opposed ‘Ali in the battle of Jamal, Ibn Abu Bakr was faithful to his stepfather. And he was in Ali's army in the Battle of Jamal and later it was Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr who escorted Aisha back to Madina. His grand daughter Fatima ''(Umm Farwah)'' was wife of Imam

Muhammad al-Baqir Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (; ) was a descendant of the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad and the fifth of the Twelve Imams, twelve Shia imams, succeeding his father, Ali al-Sajjad, and succeeded by his son, Ja'far al-Sad ...

. Thus Shi'a Imam after Imam

were his descendants from the mother side, starting with the great legal doctor of the Shi'a,

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

and

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

Sunnis, Imam

Ja'far al-Sadiq Ja'far al-Sadiq (; –765) was a Muslim hadith transmitter and the last agreed-upon Shia Imam between the Twelvers and Isma'ilis. Known by the title al-Sadiq ("The Truthful"), Ja'far was the eponymous founder of the Ja'fari school of Isla ...

. According to a Shi'a Muslim author:

‘Ali loved Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr as his own son and his death was felt as another terrible shock. ‘Ali prayed for him, and invoked God's blessings and mercy upon his soul.''A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims''
Death of Malik
/ref>

References

, ''

The Succession to Muhammad ''The Succession to Muhammad'' is a book by Wilferd Madelung published by the Cambridge University Press in 1997. Madelung investigates the events after the death of Muhammad, where there was a battle to see who would control the Muslim community ...

'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1997.

External links

Biography
*http://www.livingislam.org/n/shb_e.html – "Nevertheless, he brought in those who killed thman" *https://sabazius.oto-usa.org/mohammed/ – Uthman became quite unpopular, and he was murdered by insurgents led by the son of Abu Bakr, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, in 656 e.v {{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr Abdallah 630s births 658 deaths 7th-century Arab people Family of Abu Bakr Children of Rashidun caliphs Rashidun governors of Egypt Egyptian people who died in prison custody Sons of caliphs Banu Abu Bakr

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links