The First to Believe
ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUthmān of Banū Taym — known as Abū Bakr — was a cloth merchant of Makkah, two years younger than the Prophet ﷺ, and one of the few Qurayshīs who had never worshipped an idol or drunk wine in the days of ignorance. He was an expert in the genealogies of the Arabs, which in that society meant he was an expert in people.1
When the Prophet ﷺ told him what had happened at Ḥirāʾ, he did not ask for a sign. The sīrah records that he believed at once, and the Prophet ﷺ later said, “I never invited anyone to Islam who did not show some hesitation — except Abū Bakr; when I told him, he did not hold back or hesitate.”2 It earned him the title the community used ever after: al-Ṣiddīq, the one who affirms the truth without wavering.
He immediately began spending. Five of the ten earliest converts came to Islam through him — ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, al-Zubayr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, and Ṭalḥah — and he spent his fortune buying and freeing enslaved Muslims being tortured for their faith. Bilāl was one of seven. His father, still a pagan, complained that he was wasting money on weak slaves instead of strong men who could defend him; the Qur'an is understood by the exegetes to answer him: “And the righteous one will avoid it — he who gives from his wealth to purify himself, and not [in return] for a favour from anyone.”3
The Second of Two
When the order came to emigrate, the Prophet ﷺ took Abū Bakr with him. They hid three nights in the cave of Thawr while Quraysh searched, and the pursuers came so close that Abū Bakr, looking up, said, “If one of them were to look down at his feet, he would see us.” The Prophet ﷺ answered: “What do you think of two, the third of whom is God?”4
The Qur'an records the episode directly, and it is the only verse in scripture that identifies a Companion by circumstance: “…the second of two, when they were in the cave, when he said to his companion, 'Do not grieve; indeed God is with us.'”5 ʿĀʾishah reported that her father wept the day the Prophet ﷺ announced that a servant had been given the choice between this world and what is with God — because he alone understood immediately that the Prophet ﷺ was speaking of himself.6
In his final illness the Prophet ﷺ ordered that every private door opening into the mosque be closed except Abū Bakr's, and directed him to lead the prayers — an instruction the Companions read, correctly, as an indication of who should lead them afterwards.7
The Day the Prophet ﷺ Died
On the day of the death, ʿUmar stood in the mosque with his sword drawn, telling the people the Prophet ﷺ had not died and threatening anyone who said otherwise. Abū Bakr arrived, went in to the body, uncovered the face, kissed it, and said, “You are dearly beloved to me, alive and dead.” Then he came out, and while ʿUmar was still speaking, said the words that steadied the community: “Whoever used to worship Muḥammad — Muḥammad has died. And whoever used to worship God — God is alive and does not die.” Then he recited: “Muḥammad is not but a messenger. Messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels?”8
ʿUmar said afterwards that when he heard Abū Bakr recite it, “my legs would not carry me, and I fell to the ground — I knew that the Prophet ﷺ had died.” Ibn ʿAbbās observed that the verse had been in the Qur'an all along, but it was as though the people had never heard it until that morning.8
He was chosen caliph, ruled two years, faced down the wars of apostasy, ordered the first collection of the Qur'an into a single copy at ʿUmar's urging, and died in 634. He was buried beside the Prophet ﷺ. Of the property he had acquired in office he ordered it all returned to the treasury, and asked that the milk-camel he had used be sent back after his death.9