Abu Bakar Siddiq was the son of Abn Quhafah, the first caliph of the series of al-Khulafa 'al-Rashidin, ruling in 632-634 (11-13 AH). He was among the first prominent Quraysh to accept the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. The first Caliph was known in history, with many names and nicknames. His real name is Abdullah Ibn Uthman (the title of Abu Quhfah) ibn Amir ibn Ka`ab ibn Sa`ad ibn Taim ibn Murrah al-Taimy. During the Jahiliyah he was called Abdul Ka'bah, then was exchanged by the Messenger of Allah with the name Abdullah. His nickname is Abu Bakr because from the very beginning he converted to Islam. His title was al-Siddiq because he very soon confirmed the Messenger of Allah in various events, especially the events of Isra 'and Mi'raj of the Prophet Muhammad from being sent as an Apostle to the end of his life occupying two important positions, namely as Head of Religion and Head of State. After he died, there were disputes among the Muslims about various major problems. Among the big problems is about replacing the Apostle as Head of State.
Finally, the name of Abu Bakr emerged as a candidate that was generally accepted in all circles through various debates of the Muslims at that time. Abu Bakr was chosen to maintain the status quo, preserve all the relics brought by the prophet Muhammad, and make use of them. The election of Abu Bakr showed good political awareness in the ummah and the rapid election showed that they were determined to unite and continue the work of the prophet Muhammad. As Caliph Abu Bakr had a dual function, namely as a religious leader and concurrently the head of state. Its appearance as a leader is an ad hoc decision (temporary because it is pressured by circumstances) taken by the ummah during a leadership crisis. The Ummah has named the Khilafah system "the righteous Khilafah" or al-Khilifah al-Rashidah. These are the words that explain that this method is the only correct way to replace the position of the Prophet in the view of the Muslims.
The Khalifah Election Process Although the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) knew that his end was near, he did not inform him about how the ummah would continue after his death. He explained that there would be no other Rasulullah as his successor. In accordance with Arabic tradition, he opened the door for the emergence of a new leader. This proves that his distant view and also evidently his followers have learned how to apply the Arab tradition to their new situation. With the death of the prophet Muhammad, a very unique situation in Islamic history ended, namely the presence of a single leader who possessed spiritual and temporal (worldly) authority based on prophecy and inspired by Divine revelation.
Meanwhile, he did not leave a will or message about who among his friends should replace him as the leader of the Ummah. With regard to his successor as Head of State, there was a disagreement among Muslims at that time. This situation endangered the Islamic Ummah in Medina, so the problem of changing leadership was tried to be resolved on the day of the Prophet's death. An urgent meeting conducted by the Khazraj tribe was a major challenge to the integrity of Medina. The issue led to the effort to find the most acceptable candidates for all groups. Each group nominates the Caliph candidate and claims that their candidate is most entitled to the Caliphate. These candidates include Abu Bakr, 'Ali bin Abi Talib and Sa'ad bin' Ubadah. Another dispute took place in Saqifah, namely the Bani Sa'idah meeting hall. This dispute ended with the burning of Abu Bakr as Caliph, after going through various debates.
Actually the nomination of Abu Bakr was met with great resistance from the Ansar and 'Ali bin Abi Talib and his followers. The 'Ali group is the seed of the Shiite group. They argued that 'Ali was the more entitled to hold the position of Caliph. Their reason was that 'Ali was a nephew as well as the Prophet's son-in-law. In addition, it is based on a history known as the hadith Ghadir Khum, that the Prophet had narrated it. They submitted a number of narrations about the virtues of 'Ali. It is said that "I am a city of knowledge while 'Ali is the door'. Or "Me and 'Ali is like Moses and Aaron." The famous Shi'ite teachings, which state that the Messenger of Allah appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor while in Ghadir Khumm, did not need to be seriously considered. Such an event is inherently impossible because there is a tradition among Arabs not to hand over great responsibility to young people and whose abilities are unknown.
While the Ansar group had a meeting at the Balai Rung Bani Sa'idah. They want to appoint Sa'ad bin Ubadah as Caliph. The meeting was finally known by the Muhajirin group. Then Abu Bakr, Umar and Abu 'Ubaidah bin Jarrah went to the meeting room of the Bani Sa'idah. A lot of debate took place at the meeting. Then Abu Bakr offered two Quraysh figures to be chosen as Caliph, namely Umar bin Khattab or Abu 'Ubaidah bin Jarrah. This candidate from the Quraysh was asked to maintain the integrity of the ummah and to avoid longstanding hostility between the two big tribes in Medina, the Khazraj and Aus. The Ansar people seemed very impressed by Abu Bakr's words. Umar did not waste that excellent momentum. Umar began to talk about the profile of the leader they hoped to maintain the integrity of the ummah. Then Umar took Abu Bakr's hand and took his allegiance and declared his loyalty to him as the Caliph. Umar's actions were followed by Abu 'Ubaidah bin Jarrah. But before the two Quraysh leaders recited bai'at, Bashir bin Sa'ad, an Ansar figure from the Khazraj tribe found out saying bai'at to Abu Bakr.
Then the bai'at was followed by the Muhajirin group and the Ansar group present there, including Asid bin Khudair, an Ansar figure from the Aus tribe. There are two main factors that underlie the election of Abu Bakr as Caliph. First, in the general opinion of that era, a caliph (leader) must come from the Quraysh tribe. The two friends agreed on the personal figure (profile) of Abu Bakr as the caliph because of some virtues he had. These virtues include being the first adult male to embrace Islam, he was the only companion who accompanied the Prophet (s) during the Hijrah and while hiding in Sar Cave, he was often appointed by the Messenger of Allah to lead the prayer when he was elderly. He is of royal descent, intelligent and of good character.
As the Caliph, Abu Bakr suffered twice bai'at. First in the Bani Sa'ifah Saqifah, known as Bai'ah Khassah. The second is the Nabawi Mosque in Medina, known as Bai'ah 'Ummah. In essence, the election of Abu Bakr in the Bani Sa'idah Assembly Hall was not much followed by other senior friends, such as Ali bin Abi Talib, 'Uthman bin' Affan, Abd. al-Rahman bin 'Awf, Zubair bin Awwam, Sa'ad bin Abi Waqash, and Talhah bin' Ubaidillah. But their abandonment is not intentional. Instead, the meeting was not planned in advance and only driven by circumstances. The situation was very precarious time, so it requires fast and decisive action. But these senior friends one by one, except for Zubair, volunteered to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr. Zubair needed pressure from Umar to be willing to take Bai'ah. As for Ali bin Abi Talib, just took Bai'at to Abu Bakr, after 6 months his wife Fatimah died. Apart from the disagreement about who has the right to occupy the position of the Caliphate, clearly history has proven that Abu Bakr was democratically elected to be the First Caliph in Islamic history.
The Problems Faced by Abu Bakr The early period of Abu Bakr's reign was marked by a variety of chaos and rebellions, such as the emergence of apostates, active people who claimed to be prophets, rebellions from several Arab tribes and many people who denied paying zakat. The emergence of apostates due to their belief in the teachings of Islam has not been so steady, and the death of the prophet Muhammad shook their faith. The problem of false prophets actually existed since the Prophet (PBUH) was still alive, but the authority of the Prophet (PBUH) shook their hearts to carry out their activities.
The problem of the tribal rebellion was caused by their assumption that the peace agreement was made with the Prophet personally and the agreement ended with his death. They consider that they no longer need to obey and submit to the new Islamic authorities. Whereas those who deny paying zakat are only due to the weakness of their faith. They do not want to pay zakat because they think that zakat is only an improper tribute required by every independent person. This happened because according to the customs of the Arabs, they did not want to submit to anyone other than those who held religious authority. It is in this mounting difficulty that Abu Bakr's magnanimity and fortitude, he expressly stated while swearing, that he would fight all groups who had deviated from the truth, except those who returned to the truth, even though he had to fall in the fight for the glory of Allah's religion. They thought that Abu Bakr was a weak leader, so they dared to make chaos.Â
All groups that rebel and rebel Abu Bakr took decisive action. This assertiveness is supported by the majority of the Ummah. To quell the entire rebellion he formed eleven troops led by a formidable warlord. In a short time, the whole mess can be crushed successfully. Before Abu Bakr sent each of the troops to various destinations, he first sent a letter to the group of people who deviated. In the letter explained that there are flaws that arise in their minds, and called on them to return to the teachings of Islam. Also be warned, what will happen if they still remain in that error.
Then Abu Bakr fought them, this battle was known as the Riddah war. The Riddah War prioritized those who were reluctant to pay Zakat. The word Riddah or "Apostasy" in this case does not contain the meaning as contained in the law of Fiqh. At that time the Arabs did not turn to Shirik's beliefs. They still recognize the oneness of Allah, it's just that they don't want to pay Zakat. According to them zakat is considered a tax and is felt like an obligation that demeans their dignity. There are also those who consider that the collection of zakat by the Prophet Muhammad SAW alone can clean up and eliminate the mistakes of zakat payers. This happened because of a misinterpretation of one of the verses regarding zakat. Another problem faced by Abu Bakr was the emergence of false prophets. Among those who claimed to be prophets were Musailamah al-Kazzab (from the Bani Hanifa) in Yamamah, Al-Aswad Al-Amsi in Yemen and Thulaihah Ibn Khuwailid from Bani Asad.
Against the group of false prophets, Abu Bakr mobilized his army. The troops sent were successful in their mission. Musailamah was killed at the hands of Wahshi (Murderer of Hamzah's uncle of the prophet in the Battle of Uhud when he was a polytheist). As for Al-Aswad who once called himself Rahman al-Yaman had been killed before that. With this victory, Abu Bakr was able to subdue the entire peninsula and succeed in suppressing the rebellion of the apostates. Progress in Abu Bakr's Government Although the initial phase of the Caliphate of Abu Bakr was filled with chaos, he continued to insist on continuing the plan of the Messenger of Allah to send troops to the Shiria region under the leadership of Usama bin Zaid.
He argued, that it was the plan of the Prophet and in order to strengthen the security of the Islamic region from the invasion of Persia and Byzantium. The political step taken by Abu Bakr was very strategic and had a very positive and successful impact. Furthermore, expanding into the Iraqi and Syrian regions. The expansion into Iraq was led by commander Khalid bin Walid. Meanwhile, Syria was led by Amru Ibn Ash, Yazid bin Abi Sufyan, and Syurahbil bin Hasan. Khalid's troops were able to conquer Al-Hirrah in 634.
However, the Islamic army that was heading for Syria, except for Amru Ibn Ash's army was having a hard time because the opposing party, the Byzantine army, had far greater strength and far more perfect war equipment. To help the Islamic forces in Syria, Abu Bakr ordered Khalid bin Walid to immediately leave Iraq for Syria, and he was given the task of leading the entire army. Khalid obeyed Abu Bakr's instructions. They won the battle, but unfortunately, the victory was not witnessed by Abu Bakr because when the battle was raging he fell ill and soon he died. In addition to efforts to expand Islamic territory, he also contributed to the collection of Al-Qur'an verses which had been scattered all over the place.
This effort was carried out on the advice of Umar bin Khattab. At first, he was rather difficult to carry out this task because it had never been done by the prophet. However, 'Umar gave many reasons. Among the reasons is that many friends who memorize the Qur'an die on the battlefield and are feared that they will be completely used up. In the end, Abu Bakr agreed. Henceforth he assigned Zaid bin Thabit to work on the task of gathering it. Abu Bakr as a companion of the Prophet who tried to emulate he tried as much as possible to improve public welfare. For this reason, he formed the Bait al-Mal institution, a kind of state treasury or financial institution. Its management was left to Abu Ubaidah, a friend of the prophet who was called Amin Al-'Ummah (Ummah Trust). During the time of Abu Bakr, the activities of bait al-mal still remained as in the time of the prophet Muhammad.
In the early stages Abu Bakr became caliph, he gave 10 dirhams to each person. Then in the second stage, he gave 20 dirhams to individuals. The function of Bait al-Mal is to manage state revenue and expenditure responsibly for the maintenance of the public interest. Bait al-Mal is the mandate of Allah and the Muslim community. Therefore, he does not allow income or expenditure contrary to what has been determined by the Shari'ah. In addition to establishing Baitul Mal he also established a judicial institution whose leadership was handed over to Umar bin Khattab.
