When two years and three months of the Khalifate of Abu Bakr had elapsed, he fell sick in the fourth, and ordered O’mar B. Alkhattâb to be the Emâm [i.e., leader] in the five [daily] prayers of the companions. When his malady increased, and he despaired of life, he ordered a document to be composed on the successorship, and appointed a man to make it known to the people. He took that paper [or, rather, papyrus] to the mosque of his lordship the apostle, in which blessed place the low and the noble assembled. Then he said: ‘O ye congregation of Musalmâns, the Khalifah [i.e., successor] of the apostle of the Lord of the denizens of both worlds [the visible and invisible] has written something on a paper and ordered you to consider it! Will you listen to his words with the audition of acquiescence, and act according to his behests or not? The Mohâjer and Anssâr replied: ‘We all follow and obey him! Read out the contents of the writing.’ The man thereon drew out the paper, and said: ‘On this page is written: I have made O’mar your governor and [my] Khalifah [i.e., successor]; you are to obey him, and not to transgress his commands.’ Some of those present in the assembly hereon said, ‘We hear and obey’; others, however, remained silent, saying neither yea nor nay. Of these latter was Ttolhah B. A’bdullah, who afterwards went to Abu Bakr, and said: ‘I have been informed that thou hast placed the reins of the Khalifate into the hands of O’mar, not caring for the consequences of such a step.’ Abu Bakr answered: ‘Perhaps thou considerest him unworthy of the post, but I have fully investigated the matter, and assert that he is worthy thereof.’ Ttolhah replied: ‘O’mar is a rude and ill-humoured man! It is well known how the people have been aggrieved by him during thy lifetime, but if—which Allah forbid—thou departest to the mansion of eternity, and we are deprived of the sight of thy soul-refreshing person, it may be conjectured what his demeanour towards us will be. Thou wilt undoubtedly be asked in the next world how thou hast provided for the affairs of the subjects, and whom thou hast appointed to be their governor and Khalifah.’ Hearing these words of Ttolhah, Abu Bakr was displeased, and answered him, only after a long pause, as follows: ‘O Ttolhah, thou who threatenest me with the disapprobation and wrath of God the Most High and Glorious, and art concerning thyself with the terror and calamity of death, be aware that when I reach my original abode and the Eternal Sovereign asks me how I have left the people and whom I have appointed over the subjects, I shall reply: “I have made the best of men Khalifah over Thy worshippers, and have appointed the most abstemious individual to be the governor of Thy servants.”’ Then Abu Bakr called O’thmân, and dictated to him his last will, as follows: ‘In the name of Allah the merciful, the clement! This is the last will of Abu Bakr, which he indites at the close of his career, to the effect that he has appointed O’mar B. Alkhattâb to be the Khalifah over the people of Muhammad the elect. If he travels on the path of justice, righteousness and honesty, taking truth and goodness for his motto, as I presume he intends to do, all will be well; if, on the contrary, he changes his character —is remiss in the government of the people, gives way to oppression and injustice—his wickedness will pursue him till the day of the resurrection, on which he will have to account for it, and they who act unjustly shall know hereafter with what treatment they shall be treated.’* Then he called O’mar and uttered pleasant words concerning his investiture with the Khalifate, at the same time adorning his ears with the precious pearls of salutary advice. When O’mar had understood for what purpose he had been summoned, he begged to be excused from accepting so important a post, saying to Abu Bakr: ‘I stand not in need of the Khalifate, but the Khalifate stands in need of one like thee! Thus the throne [masnad] of the Khalifate will remain adorned as if thou wert still thereon, and its pomp and glory will increase.’
With reference to this subject, a statement is on record that when Abu Bakr saw that the time of his departure was at hand he gave a paper bearing his signet to one of his confidants, sending him to the nobles of the Mohâjer and Anssâr with the message that every loyal and obedient Musalmân was to pay homage to the man whose name was written on the said paper. The companions [of the prophet] all assented to this injunction, and when the turn of A’li B. Abu Ttâleb the victorious lion of Allah came, he exclaimed: ‘I pay homage to whoever is mentioned therein, even if O’mar himself has been the writer of the document.’ Some intelligent men, however, are of opinion that these words are not void of improbability.
Some U’lamâ, who were historians—A. h. m. o. t.—have a tradition of Aslam, the freed slave of O’mar, to the effect that O’thmân B. O’ffan being present when the disease of Abu Bakr had become violent, he told him to write the words, ‘The Khalifah after Abu Bakr’; but Abu Bakr having at that moment become unconscious, O’thmân waited awhile, and then added the words, ‘is to be O’mar.’ When Abu Bakr had recovered his consciousness he asked for the paper; he saw the name of O’mar on it, and asked, ‘Who has written this name?’ O’thman having replied that he had done so, Abu Bakr continued: ‘May Allah have mercy on thee and reward thee well! If thou hadst written also thine own name, there would have been no occasion for objections.’ A’li the Commander of the Faithful then said: ‘We shall accept no one except O’mar to be Khalifah.’ Abu Bakr hereon expressed his best wishes for A’li, praised him, and addressed him as follows: ‘We are all officials, but thou art the prince, the Pâdshâh, and the Amir. We are all stars on the firmament of the religion, but thou art the luminous full moon.’ Then he said: ‘I have appointed O’mar to be your governor and Khalifah; no one of you is to withdraw his foot from the circle of obedience to him or to demur to his commands, which deserve to be executed, because he will administer the government skilfully and arrange your affairs perfectly.’
It is said that at the time when Abu Bakr made his last will the notables of the period had assembled near his bedside, and imagined that he would, for the sake of consanguinity, appoint to the throne of the Khalifate Ttolhah, who himself also entertained that ambition. In that assembly Ttolhah and those who disapproved of the successorship of O’mar spoke thus: ‘O Khalifah of the apostle of God, decide this important matter with deliberation, because on the day of the resurrection Khalifahs will be examined concerning the affairs of their subjects.’ A’li said: ‘O Ttolhah, we shall obey no one except O’mar. I swear by God that I know him to be the only man able to bear this heavy load!’ Then he enumerated his good qualities, and, turning to Abu Bakr, said: ‘O Khalifah of the apostle of God, what you approve of we also approve of. It is patent to thy contemporaries that thou hast spent thy life in the handsomest manner, and hast always looked with a merciful eye upon the affairs of the nation. May God the Most High reward thee well, and distinguish thee by His pardon!’
A´ayshah says: ‘When the companions [of the prophet] had departed, we came out from the inner apartment and put him to sleep. While he was thus between wakefulness and sleep he heard some disturbance near the door of the house. He opened his eyes, and said to his son: “See who is on the premises, and what all this noise is about.” My brother went out, and returned saying: “There are some professors of Islâm and friends of the apostle who desire to be honoured by being admitted to a last interview.” Abu Bakr having assented, they entered, and he asked them for the reason of their congregating. They replied: “We have heard that thou hast deemed O’mar worthy of the Khalifate, and hast appointed him to govern us; but he is a man very prone to anger and speaks harshly, whereas an administration cannot prosper without kindness and harmony. What answer wilt thou give on the day of the resurrection, which is the day of reckoning, and what excuse wilt thou offer to the Lord of lords? What argument wilt thou adduce when thou art questioned and reproved on this point?”’ A´ayshah continues: ‘Abu Bakr became so incensed with anger at these words that I have never seen him in such a condition; but after his ebullition of wrath had subsided he exclaimed: “You threaten me with the displeasure of the Nourisher of mankind; but if He asks me to-morrow into whose hands I have surrendered the affairs of government, I shall say: I have appointed the best individual of the nation and the most pious of mankind in existence at that time to be the governor and Khalifah over Thy servants. I have given this dignity to a man who prefers Thy approbation to that of the people, and who will never, for the sake of obtaining it, cease to covet Thine.”’ It is said that Abu Bakr, not being satisfied with these words, further enumerated so many of the good qualities of O’mar that all present lauded him and gladly accepted the last will of Abu Bakr, assenting to the Khalifate of O’mar. They had been, as it were, sparks of fire, the heat of which was extinguished by the aqueous words of Abu Bakr, so that they were full of praise for O’mar, and returned to their homes. When the people had left Abu Bakr, he called O’mar, whom he instructed and admonished, whereon he continued: ‘O’mar, if thou actest according to my injunctions, thou wilt love nothing more than death; but if thou actest contrary to them, thou wilt hate nothing more than death, and thou wilt be unable to overcome the terror of it.’ Then O’mar rose and departed from the chamber of Abu Bakr with eyes full of tears. That very night Abu Bakr surrendered his life to the grasper of souls, carrying away the merits of his acts from the abode of perishableness. It is narrated in some chronicles that when the malady of Abu Bakr had overwhelmed him, he said to A´ayshah: ‘My little daughter, thy father is burdened with some debts; wilt thou deliver his neck from them or not?’ She said: ‘Why should I not do so?’ Then he continued: ‘Daughter, death is at hand; nothing of life remains. When the event inevitable to all mortals takes place, and I have tasted the beverage of death, you are, after having done preparing and shrouding my body, to deposit it near the mausoleum of the lord and refuge of apostleship, and to say, “Abu Bakr, the friend of the apostle of Allah, is at the door and craves admittance.” If you obtain permission, you are to bury me in the garden of the illustrious tomb, and the sign of permission will be the opening of the door of the mausoleum without being touched by anyone. If, however, you do not obtain permission, bury me in the Baqii’ cemetery.’ Thereon he uttered the words: ‘We belong to Allah, and unto Him shall we surely return.’* These words he had pronounced on a Sunday, and the next day he departed to the proximity of the Lord of both worlds. When the report of his death spread, great confusion took place in the city of Madinah; the lamentations were great, and the sounds of the wailing population reached the zenith of the sky. When the shrouding and prayers had terminated, the people acted as they had been told, and the bier having been conveyed near to the resting-place of the lord of apostleship, the door of the mausoleum [spontaneously] opened, whereon the blessed body was deposited by the side of the perfumed resting-place of the prince of both mansions, and interred there. It is said that O’mar, O’thmân, and A’bdu-r-rahman the son of Abu Bakr entered the grave, buried the corpse, and, having made the surface of the spot smooth, poured water thereon.
It is said that Abu Bakr had died of some poisoned food brought to him by a Jew, he having eaten of it with Hâreth B. Kaldah; both of them died, however, only after the expiration of one year. According to some traditions, the last words spoken by Abu Bakr were the following: ‘Cause me to die a Moslem, and join me to the pious.’ In the versified abridgment of Ebn Jauzy, the following statement occurs [in Arabic]: ‘The Khalifate of Abu Bakr amounted to two years and four months less four nights.’ In the ‘Ghoniah’ it is said [also in Arabic]: ‘The period of his Khalifate amounted to two years and thirteen nights or ten nights. His birth took place three years after the year of the elephant.’* The name of Abu Bakr was A’bdullah B. O’thmân, whose cognomen was Abu Quhâfah. His holy and prophetic lordship had once said to Abu Bakr, ‘Thou art liberated from hell fire,’ and he was also called A’tyq. It is known for a certainty that Abu Bakr was the most abstemious and humble of the adherents of the people of Muhammad. While he was Khalifah he dressed in woollen clothes, whereas many Arab magnates and princes of Yemen who paid him visits arrived with costly ornaments and wore gold embroidered garments; but when they beheld his ascetic clothing, humility, and dignified presence, they considered it suitable to abandon their ornaments and pomp, and to imitate him. This statement is confirmed by the fact that Dhu-l-Kalagh, the Hemyarite, who was at that time the ruler of the Hemyarites, arrived in Madinah with some of his tribe, his relatives and one thousand of his slaves. He wore elegant clothes, and had a costly diadem on his head; but when he beheld Abu Bakr’s mode of life and simplicity of demeanour, he relinquished all his pomp and ornaments. He went so far that his relatives saw him one day in Madinah walking about with the hide of a sheep thrown over his shoulder. They said: ‘O Mâlek, thou hast put us to shame, and made us despicable among the Arabs! What costume is this which thou hast donned?’ He replied: ‘Your desire is that I should be in Islâm the same vain-glorious prince I was in the time of ignorance! By no manner of means! Let it be known to you that perfect obedience to God is not attainable except by means of humility such as to obtain the approbation of God.’
The virtues and laudable qualities of Abu Bakr are more numerous than the writing reed could enumerate; it will, however, record some expressions of A’li the Commander of the Faithful, which he uttered after the demise but before the interment of Abu Bakr, with his eloquent and pearl-shedding tongue, in the assembly of the Mohâjer and Anssâr, as follows, according to the reports of intelligent men: ‘He excelled everyone in correctness of speech, his intellect was more penetrating than that of others; he was more conversant with the transaction of business and skilled in negotiations, taking upon himself duties as light which others considered burdensome, and speedily arranging affairs in which others were tardy. He was a true friend, faithful companion, and having chosen to associate with the apostle of Allah, spent everything he possessed to serve him. He attained such proficiency and certainty in the religion that his arguments were cogent, and the light of his foresight was marvellous. His heart being void of calumny and hypocrisy, the strong and the weak were equal in his sight when deciding matters of the religious law, and the nearer the contact of anyone was with him, the farther was the possibility of opposing him. He was a Khalifah towards whom no one manifested disloyalty. He was eloquent, but sparing of words when circumstances required it, although even then every word he uttered was salutary, thus confirming the statement of the apostle who had said: “Abu Bakr is of weak body, but strong in his duty to Allah. He is humble and despicable in his own opinion, but great in the sight of Allah, and honoured by the believers. In his behaviour nobody can detect an inclination to calumniate persons or an occasion to be calumniated, as he was a true and sincere friend. His commands were wise and brief, his transactions meek and foresighted, his decisions resolute and learned.” O Khalifah of the apostle of God, thou art more exalted than that we could deplore thy death according to thy merits! Not only the dwellers on earth feel the calamity of thy loss, but even the denizens of the celestial spheres sympathize with us. We belong to Allah, and unto him we shall return. I swear by God that no loss has been more grievous to the professors of Islâm after that of the apostle of Allah than that of thee, and that none more deplorable will take place, nor will there be any mourning harder to bear than the present one; but when the arrow of fate has been discharged, refuge can be obtained only under the shield of resignation. May God the Most High have mercy on thee, and not deprive thee of His reward!’