Statement regarding the Islam of Abu Bakr
When the Saheeh of Muhammad bin Saad bin Abi Waqqas is placed before
us, and Tabari has quoted it in his Tarikh1 through authentic chains of narrators,
and trustworthy reporters narrate, I cannot issue any comment about it. Ibne Saad
says: I asked my father: “Was Abu Bakr from the first Muslims?” “No,” he
replied: more than fifty persons embraced Islam before him, but his Islam was
superior to that of ours.”
What should I say when Abu Ja’far Iskafi Mutazali, who is remote from the
Shia world, says:2
“Jahiz has reasoned for the Imamate of Abu Bakr and his being the first
Muslim. If this reasoning were correct, Abu Bakr himself on the day of Saqifah,
would have argued through it; but he did not do that; on the contrary, he held the
hands of Umar and Abu Ubaidah Jarrah and said: I choose one of them for
Caliphate. You may pay allegiance to whichever of them you like.
Also, if the reasoning of Jahiz were correct, why Umar said: Allegiance of
Abu Bakr was sudden and without any premeditation, and Almighty Allah kept
its harm away. Why anyone, during the time of Abu Bakr or after that did not
argue through it?
We don’t know of anyone who made such claim for Abu Bakr; on the
contrary majority tradition scholars believe that he became Muslim after persons
like Ali Ibne Abi Talib, his brother, Ja’far, Zaid bin Haritha, Abu Zar Ghiffari,
Amr bin Ambasa Salmi, Khalid bin Saeed bin Aas, Khabbab bin Arat. If we
ponder on authentic traditional reports with proper chains of narrators, we will
see that each of them are unanimous that Ali was the first to embrace Islam.”
As for the report narrated from Ibne Abbas, in which he says: “Abu Bakr
was the first to embrace faith,” we should know that there are numerous reports
from Ibne Abbas as opposed to this report.3
Yes:
وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ كَذَّبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُ
“And who is more unjust than one who forges a lie against Allah, or gives the lie to the truth when it has come to him?”4
Note: Perhaps people with discernment would notice differences in the number of years, after which Ali (a.s.) is supposed to have embraced Islam: three, five, seven and nine.5 Therefore, we present the following justification:
As for three years
Perhaps it implies three years from declaration of prophethood till publicizing of the call6 ; because the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) from the beginning of
his call, propagated secretly and in the fourth year publicized his call.
As for five years
Perhaps it implies two years7 between revelation of verse:
ٱقْرَأْ بِٱسْمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ (١)
“Read in the name of your Lord Who created.”8
Till the revelation of the verse:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْمُدَّثِّرُ (١)
“O you who are clothed!”9
In addition to three years of secret invitation from beginning of declaration
of prophethood after time gap till revelation of:
فَٱصْدَعْ بِمَا تُؤْمَرُ
“Therefore declare openly what you are bidden.”10
And
وَأَنذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ ٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ (٢١٤)
“And warn your nearest relations,”11
During these years there was no one with the Prophet, except Khadija and Ali.
In my opinion, it implies that Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) propagated secretly for five years. This is just as mentioned in the book of Imtaa.12
As for seven years
In addition to numerous reports narrated through authentic channels, there are other reports as well which support this:
One is the report from Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) quoted from Abu Ayyub, who says that Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) said:
“Angles invoked blessings on me and Ali for seven years, because we prayed together for seven years without there being anyone else with us.”13
Another is the tradition of Abu Rafe, who says: “Ali prayed secretly for
seven years and some months before all others.”14 And this period is the same as
the years of the call of Prophet, which includes period from beginning of call till
prayer became obligatory; because without any contradiction, prayer became
obligatory on night of Meraj.
And according to Muhammad bin Shahab Zuhri, Meraj occurred three years
before Hijrah and Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) also remained in Mecca for ten years.
Throughout these seven years Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) worshipped God and
prayed with Prophet and during that period they used to go to Shebe Abu Talib
and Hira to worship, till God wanted they continued in this condition.15 This continued for three years till the verses:
فَٱصْدَعْ بِمَا تُؤْمَرُ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ (٩٤)
“Therefore declare openly what you are bidden and turn aside from the polytheists.”16
وَأَنذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ ٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ (٢١٤)
“And warn your nearest relations,”17
were revealed. After that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) declared his call in the
gathering of Bani Hashim, but none but Ali (a.s.), gave a positive reply. At that
time Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) declared Ali (a.s.) as his brother, successor,
Caliph and vizier.18 No one accepted his call for a long time, except for persons,
countable on fingers of the hand as opposed to the enemies from Quraish and
other opponents.
In addition, the faith of those, who embraced Islam during that period, was
limited to dual confession of faith and abstaining from worship of idols and they
had not developed the capacity to purify their selves. On the contrary, the faith of
Ali (a.s.) was such that he walked step by step with Prophet, he was continuously
in his company, during which the Prophet taught him the method of worship and
other obligations.