Disclaimer: this is not a series of the history of the khulafa arashideen.

The g
oal is to talk about them in an entire biography; of course we will mention some
things about their reign, but it is not a comprehensive history of the khulafa
arashidun. Rather it is a summary of the four great sahabah, and some after that
, and then we will talk about the mother of the believers. So these are the grea
test men and women to walk this Earth after the prophet PBUH. As we said before
there are issues that take place in the lives of the khulafa that are problemati
c. And most problematic amongst them is the civil war between the sahabah, the a
ssassination of Uthman RA etc. Some of the people we look up to i.e. A'isha RA,
Ali RA go to war - so it is safer not to ressurect these past contraversies beca
use there is very little to be gained for the average muslim. Only the specialis
ts will benefit; for the most of us, the methadology of Sunni Islam in contrast
to other strands of Islam is that we don't like to mention these past events bec
ause it makes the heart hard, there is no benefit. What happened happened, talki
ng about it now will not change anything. As Imam Ahmed RA said when he was aske
d about this contraversy: "that was a time Allah saved us from participating wit
h our hands, so why don't we save ourselves from participating with our tongues"
. Meaning we weren't there to physically fight so we didn't have to choose sides
. Imagine the fitnah: A'isha on one side, Ali on the other side, so many of the
sahabah divided. Therefore it is not appropiate to discuss the era of the khulaf
a in detail. Also in modern times there is not a single scholar who has tried to
discuss these issues except he has got into major contraversies, therefore ther
e is no point in discussing this.
We begin of course with the greatest of the sahabah, Abu Bakr as-siddiq RA and w
e will realise how dismilly ignorant we are of the sahaba from these series. To
begin with, what was his actual name? His name is Abdullah ibn Uthmaan ibn Amir
ibn Amr ibn Ka'ab ibn Sa'ad ibn at-Taym ibn Mur'a ibn Ka'ab ibn Luay. And he mee
ts with the prophet PBUH in the 6th grandfather, and that is Ka'ab ibn Luay. So
the prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr go back six generations to this person. Because ob
viously Abu Bakr is Qurayshi like the prophet PBUH; his sub tribe is Banu Taym.
Banu Taym was not of the big names of the Quraysh. The big names were Banu Hashi
m (prophet PBUHs tribe), Banu Makhzoom (Abu Jahal) etc. As for the Banu Taym, an
d tribes such as the Banu Adi (from which Umar RA is from), Banu Ummayah (Uthmaa
n) - these are smaller.
It is said Abu Bakr was born with the name Abdul Ka'ba but when he embraced Isla
m the prophet PBUH changed it to Abdullah ibn Uthmaan. Therefore Abu Bakr is his
lakb (a nickname given to him). It appears it was given to him by his father it is commong for a father to nickname his son. This is not his qunya because he
did not have a son called Bakr. This is simply a title given to him by his fath
er, and he was known even in Jaheleya as Abu Bakr. What does Bakr mean? It is th
e young energetic camel. So Abu Bakr means the 'one who has the camels'. The nam
e Bakr is still common in the Arab lands; therefore Abu Bakr indicates the one w
ho will be wealthy and control camels. So this name stuck in jaheleya and in Isl
am. His father had a title Abu Quhafah; his name was of course Uthmaan. He accep
ted Islam at the conquest of Mecca and while in the Meccan and Madinan phase he
clearly was not a muslim, he dosen't appear to have been of the blatant enemies
of Islam such as Ummayah or Abu Suffyan before he converted.
Recall in the story of the Hijrah Abu Quhafah got irritated at his grandaughter
Asma when he found out Abu Bakr had taken all of the money. So he slapped her ac
ross the face and said some bad things about the prophet PBUH. So he was angry b
ut this is an anger from the fact his son hasn't left money; but his animosity w
as not that open or harsh. He did in fact accept Islam at a very late age so he
was carried on a sheild to the prophet PBUH. And the prophet PBUH said that famo
us phrase "why didn't you leave the sheikh at home we would have come to him". A
bu Bakr said "it's more befitting he come to you" and so the prophet PBUH made d
ua for him, tapped him on his heart and said "Accept Islam and Allah will be mer
ciful to you" after all of those years at the age of 90. And the prophet PBUH co

ngratulated Abu Bakr but as we mentioned before Abu Bakr said "I would willingly
give this up if Abu Talib were here instead" because he knew the love of the pr
ophet PBUH for Abu Talib. And of course at this conversion story he said the fam
ous fiqh hadith, that Abu Quhafas' hair was "pigeon white" so the prophet PBUH t
old the women of the household to dye it some color other than pure black. So we
get the sunnah that the one who has completely white hair should have some type
of dye other than black. The mother of Abu BAkr is Salma bint Sakar and she acc
epted Islam very early on. She was one of the first female converts.
Abu Bakr RA has been described from many people as having light complexion: they
called it 'abiyad' which literally means white but what they meant is wheatish
brown or light brown complexion. As for white skin they would call it yellow 'as
fad'. And he is described as being tall and extremely thin. Many narrations abou
t his things being smalled, his belt always kept slipping, not much flesh on his
body. Razor straight always standing tall. So he was very bony and a thin frail
man. We don't know much about his early life, but we do know some things which
make his stand out. Of them, explicility reported in the seerah and some hadith,
is that Abu Bakr was the most knowledgable of the sahaba regarding ilm-ul-ansaa
b. The science of geneology. There is a branch of literature, and even Islamic k
nowledge - which is the least studied of all of the branches, which is geneologi
es. In those days to be an Arab was a bloodline. It wasn't an ethnicity as much
as it was a massive tribe. Every single Arab was therefore related to another Ar
ab; they would all go back to either Adnaan or Kahthaan. And every single Arab w
ould know his lineage back to these people. So each person knew his own lineage,
but who will interconnect? This is ilm-ul-ansaab. Included in ilm-ul-ansaab is
what we would call muarik, or historian. It is not just the geneology, it is the
history of what happened on each level. The battles, the tragedies, the dramas
etc. So Abu Bakr RA was a historian in this way.
It is narrated in ibn Ishaaq multiple times, whenever the prophet PBUH would go
to give dawah to a tribe, he would take Abu Bakr with him and ask him "who are t
hese people? What do I need to know about them?" And Abu Bakr would tell them "t
hese are so and so, the children of so and so. This happened to them, these are
their speciailities, don't mention this topic etc". So Abu Bakr was the person h
istorian of the prophet PBUH. Also the famous story of Hasan ibn Thabit that whe
n the Quraysh wrote a poem against the prophet PBUH, the prophet PBUH said to Ha
san "stand up and respond to this poem and Jibreel will help you". But Hasan sai
d "ya RasulaAllah I don't know anything about the Quraysh!" So the prophet PBUH
said "Abu Bakr go with him and tell him what he needs to know". So Abu Bakr was
the one chosen that "you give the facts, and Hasan will make the poem". Ibn Haja
r also narrates Abu Bakr RA was the most beloved of the nasaboon i.e. the specia
lists in geneology, because he never uttered a vulgarity or bad thing about anyo
ne. This was in his nature - he would overlook even in the days of jaheleya. So
he became beloved because he only spoke good about the tribes. He knew the bad b
ut it was not his nature to smear other tribes in contrast to other geneologists
. In fact there's a hadith in Muslim that the prophet PBUH said "Abu Bakr is the
most knowledgable of the ilm-ul-ansaab of the Quraysh". So the prophet PBUH is
testifying this.
Also of the things we know even of before Islam, is that he was of chaste, digni
fied and decent character. As-suyuti mentions that Abu Bakr even before coming t
o Islam never drank alcohol, engaged in pre marital fahisha or renerevated an id
ol. This was very rare for the pre Islamic arabs, but Abu Bakr was one of those
people. Aisha RA mentions her father and says "Abu Bakr made alcohol haraam on h
imself. Because once he passed by a drunkard on the street, and he had put his h
and on defecation on the street. And Abu Bakr felt such disgust at this, from th
at time on even though he was a young man he said 'I don't want to drink alcohol
'". So Abu Bakr just looked at the reality of alcohol and said "I don't want to
act like this". Once he was giving a talk to the sahabah after the death of the
prophet SAW and he said "I have never prostrated to an idol in my life" and he t

old the story that "when I came of age my father took me to the idol temple and
told me 'these are your Gods you must worship them'. And he left me with them. S
O I went to one of these idols and said 'I am hungrey, feed me'. But the idol di
dn't do anything. I went to another and said 'I want clothes, so give me clothes
'. But the idol didn't do anything". So Abu Bakr RA realised this is ridiculous
, he in fact took a stone and smacked the idol with it, and the idol fell down.
And Abu Bakr RA said "I will never worship an idol in my life". This story of co
urse is reminiscent of Ibrahim AS. And it shows us the purity of the fitrah of A
bu Bakr RA.
And of course he was known throughout his life of being very soft spoken and gen
tle, and he was the most beloved amongst the people of Quraysh. Always people of
a gentle nature become beloved. Always the modest and humble people are the mos
t beloved and Abu Bakr RA was like this. In the famous narration when the Banu T
aym, his sub tribe, withdrew his protection when the persecution and boycott beg
an (in the Mekkan era) and Abu Bakr RA was about to migrate to Abyssinia aswell.
Because his own tribe and father removed their protection, and as we said many
times without protection there is no safety, you have to leave. So he was about
to go, but one of the other cheiftons of the people of Mecca, ibn-al Dagina, sai
d "Abu Bakr you cannot leave us. You are the one who is good to his relatives, a
nd takes care of the orphan, and feeds the poor, and helps the one in distress".
Now Khadija said very similar phrases about the prophet SAW. And ibn Hajar comm
ents on this and he says "it is amazing that two different people said the same
thing about two different people without having agreed or met - which demonstrat
es that the both of their similarities (i.e. the prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr) over
laps". The exact same descriptions Khadija gave, those phrases are found to be g
iven to Abu Bakr RA. This shows us the overlaping natures of the two people, the
prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr. Of course the prophet SAW is much more in this regar
d but there is some overlap.
As a young man, Abu Bakr RA was engaged in trade and took mutliple trips to Bosr
a, outside of Damascus, and he amassed a good amount of wealth. Ibn Sa'ad says "
when Abu Bakr embraced Islam he owned 40,000 dirhams". So this would make him mi
ddle class in his society. And Abu Bakr RA is known for two titles:
1) Al Ateeq: there are a number of opinions about who gave him this title. One i
s his mother. Why; because she had two children before Abu Bakr and they both di
ed. So when Abu Bakr RA survived, Ateeq means the ones who is freed - so when he
survived he was "freed" from death. Or Ateeq also means the "old or the first"
- so another opinion is he was given this name because he was always the first t
o do some good. So these opinions suggest he was given this title in jaheleya. T
he other opinion is that the prophet SAW gave him this title in Islam. This has
basis is some ahadith. In one hadith in the musradak of Al-Hakim, it is said tha
t Aisha RA was sitting in the house of the prophet SAW and Abu Bakr RA came to v
isit. And the prophet SAW said "whoever wants to see al-Ateeq minun naar (the on
e who is saved from Jahannam)". This hadith is slightly weak but there's an auth
entic hadith in Tirmidhi where the prophet SAW said to Abu Bakr "be happy and re
joice, because you are 'Ateeqallah minan naar' (the one whom Allah saved from th
e fire)". The most correct position it appears is that both opinions are correct
. He was called al Ateeq by his mother because he was saved from death. The prop
het SAW said "no you actually are Ateeq from the fire of Hell". So the prophet S
AW upgraded the term Ateeq to mean being free from Hell, not just death.
2) As-siddiq: this is his most famous title. So much so when we say 'as-siddique
' the one person we think about is Abu Bakr RA. So this is his primary title. An
d there are many narrations in the sunnah of the prophet SAW that mention this t
itle. The most authentic one is in Bhukari and a version in Muslim, is that the
prophet SAW, Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman were climbing the mountain of Uhud. And U
hud began to rumble and shake so the prophet SAW patted the mountain with his fo
ot, and he said "Calm down Uhud, for the only people on you are a nabi, a siddiq

and two shaheeds". This is mutafaq alay hadith where the prophet SAW a siddiq.
Of course this is of the most authentic but the story most well known in the boo
ks of seerah is that of the Isra wal Mi'raj. That when the prophet SAW was told
by Jibreel to announce the night journey he did so in front of the ka'bah and pe
ople began to quiz him. And they ridiculed him, and a man came running and said
to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq to cause him to doubt. He said "do you know what your comp
anion has just said?!" Abu Bakr said "what?" The man said "He's claiming to have
gone to Jerusalem and come back on the same night". At this Abu Bakr said "If h
e said this, then he has spoken the truth". So this man said "will you believe h
im and he claims to have gone to Jerusalem and come back in one night?!" Abu Bak
r said "I believe him in something even more incredulous than this. I believe hi
m when he says wahi comes to him from Heavans morning and evening". After this i
ncident it is said who was called as-Siddiq and of course this is also a valid n
arration to use.
Other narrations mention this title; of them is a beautiful hadith in sahih Musl
im. Once the prophet SAW was sitting in his masjid and Abu Bakr came running in
with his bizaar raised up with a look on his face. The prophet SAW looked at Abu
Bakr and said "your friend seems to have had an argument". When Abu Bakr came t
o the gathering, he greeted the prophet SAW and said "ya RasulaAllah something h
appened between me and Umar, and my soul got the better of me, then I regretted
it, so I asked him to forgive me but he refused to forgive me, so I came immedia
tely to you". So the prophet SAW said three times "Allah has forgiven you". This
is amazing because without even listening to the side of Umar RA, Abu Bakr - wh
atever he has done, Allah has forgiven him. So Abu Bakr sat down. In the meantim
e Umar calmed down and he began to regret he didn't forgive him. So Umar RA went
to the house of Abu Bakr, but he isn't there. Then he goes to the masjid and lo
and behold there is Abu Bakr with the prophet SAW. And so Umar RA says 'salaam'
but the prophet SAWs face is clearly irritated with Umar. So Umar sits down ter
rified, and the prophet SAWs face still remains angry with Umar. Abu Bakr, sensi
ng the tension, gets up on his knees and says, feeling pity for Umar, "I was the
one who was the more in the error".
How amazing is this hadith - how many benefits can we extract? Of the simplest b
enefits is, the sahaba are human beings. And even Umar and Abu Bakr had words be
tween them. Even though they were the best of friends, Umar RA said "how can I p
ossibly be the leader of a people in which Abu Bakr is?!" And he was the one pic
ked up the hand of Abu Bakr and said "there can be no leader but him". But still
you get some back-and-forth. But what is the role model? The both of them calme
d down immediately and want to resolve the conflict. Abu Bakr goes to the prophe
t SAW; Umar goes to Abu Bakr. This is how they are role models. Not that they ne
ver fought - but when they fought they calmed down. We also notice Abu Bakrs ten
derness. That he feels sorry and tells the prophet SAW "I did more wrong" even t
hough walahi we don't know the details and for sure he didn't do any dholm or cr
oss a red line. Nonetheless Umar refused to forgive Abu Bakr at that time. So no
w Abu Bakr is trying to calm the prophet SAW down. At this the prophet SAW said
"Allah sent me to you as a prophet and all of you said 'he is lying'. Only Abu B
akr said 'he is speaking the truth'. And it is Abu Bakr who has made me his part
ner with himself and his wealth (i.e. his daughter and money)." So he is praisin
g Abu Bakr so much and then he said "so why don't you leave my sahib (companion)
alone?" And here he is speaking in direct reference to Umar RA who is the secon
d sahib! But there is no comparison even between Abu Bakr and Umar. After this,
nobody ever crossed path with Abu Bakr in a negative manner. No one ever irritia
ted him after he died. In a similar version the prophet SAW said "there isn't a
single one of you who didn't hesitate when I invited you to Islam except for Abu
Bakr for when I invited him he embraced without any hesitation".
Some other titles are Al-Awaa meaning turning to Allah always. Also, according t
o one report when Allah revealed 'wa sayujanabahal atqa' this is a reference to
Abu Bakr so his name is 'Al Atqa' meaning the one with the most taqwah after the

prophet SAW.
The family of Abu Bakr, we mentioned his mother and father. He was married to fo
ur women over the course of his lifetime. From these four women he had a sum tot
al of 6 children. Three sons, three daughters. And the first of his wives whom h
e divorced in jaheleya, was Qutayla bint Abdul Uzza. Most likely she did not emb
race Islam as there is no reference to her doing so. From Qutayla he had one son
and daughter. The first born was Abdullah ibn Abu Bakr. We mentioned him in the
Hijrah; he was the one who would report from the people of Mecca and come back.
When the Hijrah takes place Abdullah is maybe 12/13 - he's old enough to know t
o keep a secret, go to the cave, cover his tracks, come back etc. He's not a boy
but not a man either. The elders are speaking and think "this kid dosen't know
anything" - if it's a 10 year old kid you just ignore him. So Abdullah was of th
at age, around 10 to 12. Definately not more than 16 because he wasn't a full fl
edged man yet. That Abdullah by the way, not much is mentioned about him in the
books of seerah. It appears he didn't play that active of a role in early Islam
other than the Hijrah. There is no mention of him in Badr and Uhud, and to be ho
nest the scholar is perplexed at this. There is no explanation for this - he cle
arly embraced Islam. He was the one who brought Umme Roman, his step mother, the
mother of A'isha, along with his full sister Asma, to Madinah. So clearly he's
a muslim but for some reason there is not alot mention of him, Allahu A'lam. It
is mentioned he participated in the battle of Ta'if, and he was severely injured
then which led to his prolonged sickness and death. He died in the khilafa of A
bu Bakr, after a few weeks of the death of the prophet SAW. Not much else is men
tioned about him.
Abdullah's younger sister is Asma bint Abu Bakr. Of course she has a very promin
ent role, her title was 'the one of two belts' because she is the one who tore h
er belt - one half she gave for the Hijrah provisions, the other half she used t
o tie up her awrah. We know her mother did not embrace Islam for a very long per
iod because in Sahih Muslim its reported Asma bint Abu Bakr was in Madinah when
she came to visit Qutayla. Initially she refused for her mother to enter her own
house. But then Allah revealed in the Qur'an the famous verse of Mumtahina "All
ah is not stopping you from meeting you and being good with those who are not fi
ghting you". So then she accepted her mothers' gifts and allowed her to come int
o her house. This means up until late Madinah Qutalya is not muslim but after th
is there's no mention of her. Allah knows best maybe she did later on. In any ca
se Abu Bakr divorced her in the days of jaheleya.
The wife he had when Islam came was Umme Roman bint Amr was another lady from th
e Quraysh. She was the mother also of a boy and a girl. This boy and girl are A'
isha and Abdur Rehman. Umme Roman passed away in the 6th year of the Hijrah in M
adinah in the time of the prophet SAW, and the prophet SAW prayed janazah salah
over her. Of course at that time Umme Roman was the prophet SAWs mother in law a
s he was already married to A'isha. And it was Umme Roman who is mentioned in th
e incident of the slander which we discussed in detail. Abdur Rehman is A'ishas
full brother, and he was the one in the incident of the farewell Hajj who accomp
anied Aisha to Tan'im (masjid A'isha) and took her back to Mecca to do another u
mrah.
The third wife of Abu Bakr RA was the wife of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib RA, Asma bint
Umais. She was one of the most amazing women in the history of Islam. She was m
arried to Ja'far ibn Abu Talib. Ja'far dies at the battle of Mu'tah. So she beco
mes a widow, and Abu Bakr proposes for her. So she marries him. She has children
from Ja'far who are the cousins of the prophet SAW (once removed). From Abu Bak
r she has a son, and this son was born in Hajjatul Wad'a. And his incident is th
e study of much fiqh. Because, Asma gave birth to her son while she is in ihraam
, on her way to Mecca. From this we get the fiqh of pregnant ladies in ihraam. T
his is why she's mentioned in Bhukari, Muslim and others that Asma gave birth to
: Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, in Hajjatul Wad'a. That was the only child born to Asma

. When Abu Bakr dies, Asma is still relatively young, so who does she marry? Ali
ibn Ali Talib RA. Therefore she was the only lady to be married to two khalifas
, and from both of them she had children. And from Ja'far she had children. So h
e has children from Ja'far, Abu Bakr and Ali RA. The interesting thing is when A
li RA marries her, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr is 4/5 years old. So Muhammad grows up
in the household of Ali RA as a step-son. And they had a very strong bond togeth
er.
IMPORTANT POINT: there are tensions that 'some' groups have (the shia) between A
li and Abu Bakr. Do we believe there were tensions? No. There are a million and
one evidences. But of the simplest evidences is that, Ali marries the widow of A
bu Bakr, and the child of Abu Bakr is raised like his own son. How could he have
anything against Abu Bakr?! When he marries his widowed wife, and raises Muhamm
ad ibn Abi Bakr in his own house like a son. And when Muhammad becomes a full ad
ult, Ali appoints him the governer of Egypt. This is just one evidence out of a
million - it's impossible to construct that Ali RA had problems with Umar and Ab
u Bakr. It's completely ridiculous. Umar RA marries Ali's daughter, Umme Kulthoo
m! And Ali gives her in marriage. How can there be any animosity? Do you give yo
ur daughter to someone who you believe is in war with Allah and His Messenger? N
o of course not. This was of course a later developed understanding, in early Is
lam it's impossible to hold this view.
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, there is some contraversy surrounding him. It is said (an
d inshaAllah it is not true) he participated in the mobs against Uthmaan RA. But
other books such as as-Suyuti, when Uthmaan saw Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr in his ho
use he said "If you're father were here right now, he would very angry with you"
. So when he said this Muhammad felt so bad he left. This is one of the reasons
we don't like to talk too much in detail. This is just a tidbit - an example, an
d it's a minor issue. There are much more difficult issues with much more respec
ted sahaba that occured. At the end of the day, the sahaba are humans. And their
ijtihad is not like the ijtihad of the prophet SAW. Yes he was human, but his i
jtihad was sanctioned by Allah. It was divinely stipulated. Therefore we defend
the ijtihad of the prophet SAW at all costs - 100% everything he said and did. I
f anybody was to find faults with the prophet SAW, he is NOT a muslim. But the s
ahabah, it's a different story. We are not allowed to criticise their sincerity
and love for Islam, but we don't have to agree with each and every interpretatio
n, statement or political decision. This of course is a very fine line, because
when you start questioning decisions, it's very easy to start questioning their
intentions and their Islam. For us, we say the sahabah of the prophet SAW had th
e right intentions, but maybe they made some mistakes out of temper. But we don'
t ever question their commitment to Allah and His Messenger.
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr - is he a sahabi? There's a category of sahabah who are ba
sically baby sahabah. He himself was 1/2 when the prophet SAW passes away. So he
's not quite a sahabi but he is. There's a special category given to such sahaba
h - and that is, the mukadram, the children (meaning ages 1 to 2), who aren't qu
ite full sahabah since they have no recollection of seeing the prophet SAW, but
they are the highest level of the tabioon. The mukadramoon are the highest level
of the tabioon. The prophet SAW saw them, but they did not recall seeing the pr
ophet SAW.
So, Abu Bakr after the death of Umme Roman married Asma, and he also married ano
ther lady. Abu Bakr never had four lady at once, he had one, then one, and then
had two at the same time near the end of his life. The fourth and final of his w
ife, who was non-Qurayshi from Madinah, was Habiba bint Kharija. He married her
in Madinah, and this was the wife that he was with when the prophet SAW passed a
way. Remember on the morning of the Monday the prophet SAW appeared to be better
, so everyone thought he is much better. Abu Bakr had been camping in the masjid
for a week, so after seeing the prophet SAW looks better, he asked permission t
o go visit his wife and the prophet SAW gave permission. But of course that same

day the prophet SAW passed away, and the news of his death came when Abu Bakr w
as in the house of Habiba.
Abu Bakr on his death bed said to A'isha "oh A'isha I command you to take care o
f your two younger brothers, and two younger sisters". A'isha said "I only have
one sister, who is the other?" And Abu Bakr said "Habiba is pregnant and I have
a preminition she will give birth to a girl" and this is exactly what happened.
After the death of Abu Bakr, Habiba bint Kharija gave birth to a girl, who was n
amed Umme Kulthoom. So she is the 6th and final child of the Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.
We recap:
1) First wife was Qutayla whom he had Abdullah and Asma.
2) Second wife: Umme Roman whom he had A'ish and Abdur Rehman.
3) Third wife: Asma bint Umais whom he had Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.
4) Habiba bint Kharija: he had Umme Kulthoom, the 6th and last child.
Of the interesting points is that Abu Bakrs family is the only family we know in
its entirety that embraced Islam without a single non muslim. His mother and fa
ther, all his wives, and all his children. No other sahabi can claim this. So hi
s family is a family of imaan. Everybody embraced Islam in the immediate family
without any exception. And this is only in the case of Abu Bakr. Also, in his fa
mily is the only person who is sahabi for four generations. Meaning, sahabi, the
son of the sahabi, the son of the sahabi, the son of the sahabi. And this is Ab
dullah ibn Zubair, the son of Asma bint Abi Bakr, the daughter of Abu Bakr RA, t
he son of Abu Qahafa. Now Abdullah ibn Zubair was born as soon as Asma arrived i
n Madinah - he was the first baby every born. And the muslims rejoiced at his bi
rth and took it as a good omen - which is permissable. The Quraysh had predicted
"If you leave us, Allah will not give you any children". But the day they arriv
ed in Madinah, Allah blesses them with a child. And that child is the grandson o
f Abu Bakr.
We all know Abu Bakr was the first convert outside of the immediate family. Khad
ija RA converted, perhaps Ali RA converted. Zaid converted, Abu Bakr then conver
ted. There's a big contraversy in the order of converts, but at the end of the d
ay within a few days all of these people converted and the first to convert as a
male adult of his own free will was Abu Bakr. After all Ali RA is a child, Zaid
was the adopted son and Khadija was the prophet SAWs wife. So the first person
to whom Islam is presented and he has the full luxury to say 'yes or no' is Abu
Bakr as Siddiq but he says 'YES' immediately.