The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—therefore dispatched Abū Bakr as commander of the Pilgrimage that year. He charged him to forbid the circumambulation of the Kaʿbah in the nude and to bar the idolaters from performing the Hajj. For this reason Abū Bakr proclaimed throughout the season: “After this year no idolater shall make the pilgrimage, and no one shall go around the House unclothed.”

He then sent ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib after him to announce the repudiation of the open-ended treaties held by certain idolaters. Abū Bakr remained the leader of the Pilgrimage, while ʿAlī prayed behind him and carried out his orders. The Prophet—peace be upon him—only sent ʿAlī because it was customary among the Arabs that no treaty was concluded or annulled except by the chieftain himself or by a member of his household; he feared that, were he not to send someone of his own family, the idolaters would reject the declaration.

Abū Bakr did not return to Madinah, nor was he removed from any position the Prophet had entrusted to him; every report that claims otherwise is a well-known fabrication.

This appointment over ʿAlī took place after the Prophet’s statement to ʿAlī during the expedition of Tabūk, “Are you not pleased to be to me as Aaron was to Moses?” as has been explained elsewhere. And so he said