The Virtues of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him)

Authored by
Shaykh al-Islam Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Ibn Taymiyyah al-Namari (d. 728 AH)

Critical edition by
Dr. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Muḥammad al-Farīḥ
Assistant Professor, College of Ḥadith
Islamic University

Abstract
All praise belongs to Allah, and may blessings and peace be upon Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allah. To proceed:

In this epistle Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) discusses the virtues of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and of ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with them both). Its synopsis is as follows:

– A distinction must be drawn between the “exclusive characteristics” (khaṣāʾiṣ) in which neither of the two companions shares with the other—such as the Prophet’s affirmation that, were he to take an intimate friend (khall), it would have been Abū Bakr, and his instruction that Abū Bakr lead the people in prayer during the Prophet’s final illness. These are traits unique to Abū Bakr.

– Likewise, the Prophet’s commissioning of Abū Bakr from Madinah to supervise the pilgrimage—so as to uphold the Sunnah and erase the remnants of the pre-Islamic era—falls among the merits and virtues that he shares with others.