Lives of the Rightly Guided Caliphs

Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, Successor to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

His given name was ʿAbd Allah—some say ʿAtīq—son of Abū Quḥāfa ʿUthmān ibn ʿĀmir ibn ʿAmr ibn Kaʿb ibn Saʿd ibn Taym ibn Murrah ibn Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy, a Qurashi of the Taym clan (may Allah be pleased with him).

A great many Companions and early Followers transmitted reports from him; among the last of them were Anas ibn Mālik, Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, Qays ibn Abī Ḥāzim, and Murrah al-Ṭayyib.

Ibn Abī Mulaykah and others said that ʿAtīq was merely a sobriquet.

ʿĀʾishah related: “The name his family gave him was ʿAbd Allah, but the epithet ʿAtīq became dominant.”

Ibn Maʿīn said: “He was nicknamed ʿAtīq because his face was handsome,” a view also held by al-Layth ibn Saʿd.

Others said: “He had the deepest knowledge of Quraysh’s genealogies.”

It is likewise reported that he was fair-skinned, slim, with light cheeks, a veined face, deep-set eyes, and a prominent forehead, and that he dyed his grey hair with henna and katam.

He was the first adult male to embrace Islam.

Ibn al-Aʿrābī remarked: “The Arabs apply the word ʿatīq to anything that has reached the pinnacle of excellence.”