It is narrated from Yazid bin Asam that: Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) asked Abu Bakr:
“Am I elder or you?”
He replied: “You are greater, more respected and better than me and I am more aged than you.”1
Allamah Amini says: Are you not amazed at this fabrication, which iscounted as a lie? How is the report of Yazid bin Asam from Prophet correct,when this man did not even meet the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.)? He died in101 or 103 or 104 A.H. at the age of 73 years. Thus, his birth was after a longtime after the passing away of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.).
Moreover, when was Abu Bakr elder to the Prophet? His Eminence(s.a.w.a.) was born in the year of elephant and Abu Bakr was born three yearsafter the year of elephant.
Saeed bin Musayyab has written that:
“During his Caliphate, Abu Bakr reached the age of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.)and like him, died at the age of sixty-three years.”
Ibne Qutaibah has written in Al-Marif:2
“Historians have consensus that Abu Bakr lived upto the age of sixty-threeyears; on the basis of this Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) was elder to Abu Bakr tothe extent of his Caliphate.”
It is mentioned in Sahih Tirmidhi3 that Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) passed away at the age of sixty-five years.4