579. ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; he said: Abu Maʿmar told me; he said: Abu ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, from Mujālid, from al-Shaʿbī, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās declared, “The first person ever to perform the prayer was Abu Bakr.” He then recited the lines of Ḥassān:

If sorrow for a loyal brother comes to mind,
recall your brother Abu Bakr for the deeds he did.
The best of creation—most devout and most just of them all,
save only the Prophet—most faithful to the trust he bore.
The second of the two, the companion whose presence is praised,
and the very first of humankind, in truth, to affirm the Messengers.