The glory of morals and the softness of his behavior make this Prophet’s companion highly respected by any friend. In fact, one of the greatest Islamic leaders in the world that ever existed, Umar bin Khattab, recognized him as the second person after the Prophet who deserved to lead Islam.
During his time as a companion of the Prophet, he was always the first person to believe what was conveyed by the Prophet. One of them is when the Messenger of Allah delivered about the events of Isra ’Mi’raj. Until finally, he earned the nickname Ash Shiddiq (the righteous one).
That nickname has the meaning that he was always acknowledging what is conveyed by the Prophet. There are many other things that might be a lesson for us Muslims from one of the Prophet’s great friends until he became a caliph.
This article will discuss it a little for you. Let’s get down below to know and learn his sincereity in life.
Pedigree of Life Abu Bakr Ash Shiddiq
Abu Bakr came from the Bani Taim tribe. He has the real name Abdullah ibn Abi Quhafah. In another narration, Abu Bakr is said to have the original name Abdul Ka’bah which means servant of the Kaaba. However, the name was changed by Rasulullah when he converted to Islam.
Abu Bakr was born 2 years and 6 months after the Year of the Elephant. He was the son of Ustman bin Amir bin Amr, who was known by the nickname Abu Quhafah with Salma bint Shakhr bin Amr bin Ka’ab bin Sa’ad bin Taim, famous for the title Ummu al-Khair.
He is the father of Aisha ra. who is the wife of Rasulullah SAW. He became the first caliph after the death of the Prophet Muhammad after the incident at Saqifah bani Sa’idah.
Became the Rashidun Caliph
Abu Bakr was taken as a caliph a few days after the Prophet’s death. This was motivated by a dispute between the Ansor and the Muhajirin. Speaking of caliph, do you know the diffrence between caliph and caliphate in Islam?
At the time of the Prophet’s death, the Ansor had already thought about who would lead the Muslims to replace the Prophet. In that case, the Ansor nominated Said bin Ubaidillah as Muslim leader. Speaking of leader, as a Muslim we have to know how to choose a leader in Islam.
However, Abu Bakr, Umar and Abu Ubaidah who were there at that time expressed their opinions. Al-Hubab bin Munzir of the Ansor opposed what was said by the three friends.
Abu Bakr also offered to pledge allegiance to Umar and Abu Ubaidah. However, Umar and Abu Ubaidah refused to take allegiance.
With a loud voice, Umar took in agreement of Bakr to become the leader after the Prophet SAW. This was followed by Abu Ubaidah, Bashir bin Saad and his followers who were present at the meeting, and other people who attend.
Umar considered Abu Bakr to be the most appropriate because he was the second person to pray after the Prophet. From that meeting, Abu Bakr officially became a caliph.
Reign of Abu Bakr’s Achievement
In a short time, 2 years and 3 months, Abu Bakr had scored brilliant achievements during the caliphate. Here are some of his achievements.
1. Quell the dissident group
One of the greatest achievements is to stabilize the internal condition of Muslims by eliminating groups of dissidents who want to break away from Islam.
To carry out this task, Abu Bakr sent his best generals and troops, including Khalid ibn Walid sent to fight Thulaihah bin Khuwalid,who claim to be prophet and Malik bin Marwan who is a rebel.
Ikrimah bin abi Jahl assigned to fight Musailamah al-Kahzab who claim to be prophet in Yamamah, Muhajir bin abi Umaiyyah fought al-Aswad al-Ansiy, Amr ibn Ash was assigned to the Qudaah area, Said bin Ash was assigned to the Syrian area. Satisfactory results were obtained and the internal condition of Islam became stable again.
2. Bookkeeping Al-Quran
Abu Bakr and Umar had the idea to record the Koran because of the increasing number of memorizers of the Qur’an who were still alive. To know the benefit of memorizing Qur’an, check it on another article.
By tracing the testimonies of the friends who memorized the Koran and was written by Zaid bin Thabit, the first manuscripts of the Koran was successfully recorded and finished in the time of Uthman under the name of the Mushaf Utsmani.
3. Expansion of Islamic territory
Even though the internal condition of the Muslims was chaotic, Abu Bakr continued to carry out expeditions outside of Medina. He did this because it is a mandate from the Prophet.
He appointed a young general, Usamah bin Zaid, to lead an expeditionary force to Syria, learn the history of Islam in Syria here. As a result, he expanded the territory successfully. This shows that Islam is still large and victorious despite being left behind by the Great Prophet, Muhammad SAW.
That is a little story about the first khulafaur rashidin or rashidun caliphate. We can learn many things from him. Starting from the pious attitude, moral tenderness, nobleness, to the determination to defend Islam.
He is indeed known as a gentle and kind person. However, when he became caliph, he could be someone who was very determined and did not play games if there were people who wanted to destroy Islam, both from within and outside.
Hopefully we as Muslims today can become Muslims like him who is totality and sincere to defend the religion of Islam and always ready to sacrifice for Islam. Aamiin ya rabbal ‘alamiin