Section: Notable events that occurred during this year (1)

1. During this year al-Ṣiddīq ordered Zayd ibn Thābit to collect the Qur’an from the lighāf (parchment sheets) (2), the ʿusub (palm-leaf ribs) (3), and from the hearts of men. He did so after the heavy losses suffered by the Qur’an reciters on the Day of al-Yamāmah, as is affirmed in the ḥadith recorded by al-Bukhārī (4).

2. In the same year ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib married Ummāmah, daughter of Zaynab the daughter of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ummāmah’s father was Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ ibn ʿAbd Shams al-Umayyī, who died this very year. She was the child whom the Prophet used to carry during prayer, setting her down when he prostrated and lifting her up when he stood.

3. This year also witnessed the marriage of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb to ʿAtikah bint Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl, his cousin. ʿUmar loved her dearly and admired her. Although he did not forbid her from attending the congregational prayers, he disliked her going out. One night he waited for her on the road in the dark; when she passed, he struck her lightly on the hip with his hand. She returned home and never went out again. Before marrying ʿUmar she had, it is said, been the wife of his [brother] Zayd ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who was martyred, and prior to Zayd she had been married to ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Bakr (who also died while she was still his wife). After ʿUmar’s death al-Zubayr married her; when al-Zubayr was killed, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib proposed to her. She replied, “I would spare you the fate of death,” and refused to marry (5) anyone thereafter, remaining single until she died.

4. In the same year ʿUmar purchased his servant Aslam, who later became one of the leading Successors (tābiʿīn); Aslam’s son, Zayd ibn Aslam, became a reliable and eminent ḥadith transmitter.

5. That year Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) led the people in the Ḥajj, appointing ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān as his deputy in Madinah. This was narrated by Ibn Isḥāq (6) through al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaʿqūb, the freedman of al-Ḥurqah, from a man of Banū Sahm, from Ibn Mājid (7), who said: “Abū Bakr led us in the pilgrimage in the year twelve of his caliphate.” He then related a report concerning legal retaliation for the severing of an ear, noting that ʿUmar adjudicated the case by order of al-Ṣiddīq.

Ibn Isḥāq added: “Some people say that Abū Bakr himself did not perform the pilgrimage during his caliphate; rather, in the season of the year twelve he sent as leader of the Hajj either ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb or ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf.”