Chapter I: Election of Abu Bekr

A.H. XI. A.D. 632.

[Sidenote: Death of Mahomet, 13 Rabi I. A.H. XI., June 8, A.D. 632.]

At eventide of a summer day in the eleventh year of the Hegira, three chief ‘Companions’ of Mahomet might be seen issuing in haste from the Great Mosque at Medîna, where, close by in the chamber of Ayesha, his favourite wife, the Prophet of Arabia lay dead.[4] They were Abu Bekr, Omar, and Abu Obeida. I will first describe each briefly, and then explain the object of their errand.

[Sidenote: ABU BEKR.]

ABU BEKR, now threescore years of age, was somewhat short in stature, of a spare frame, rounded back, and stooping gait. His face was thin, complexion smooth and fair, nose aquiline and sharp, with other features delicate; the forehead high; the eyes deep-seated and far apart; the veins well marked. His scanty hair and beard, now for many years white, was dyed red. The countenance was still in old age handsome; and the expression mild, but wise and resolute. To him faith in the Prophet had become a second nature, and, now that his Master was gone, the disciple lived but to fulfil his will. It was this that nerved a disposition naturally soft and yielding, and made Abu Bekr, THE TRUE,[5] of all the followers of Mahomet, the firmest and most resolute.

[Sidenote: OMAR.]

OMAR, fifteen years younger, differed both in frame and temperament. Broad-shouldered and tall, he towered above the crowd. Though somewhat dark in complexion, the face was fresh and ruddy. He was now bald; and his beard was dyed like his friend’s. His stride was long, and his presence commanding. Naturally hasty and passionate, he would twist his moustache when angry and draw it downwards to his mouth. But time had mellowed temper; and, beneath an imperious manner, he was bland and courteous. Their attachment to Mahomet had, on these two friends, an effect exactly opposite. That which braced the soft nature of Abu Bekr served to abate the vehemence of Omar. Both stood in a like relation to the Prophet, each having given a daughter to him in marriage; Haphsa, Omar’s daughter, was one of Mahomet’s favourite wives; but Ayesha, the child of Abu Bekr, was queen in his affections to the end.

[Sidenote: ABU OBEIDA.]

On these two men at this moment hung the future of Islam. The third, who now accompanied them, ABU OBEIDA, was between them in age. He was thin, tall, and sinewy; bald, and with little beard. Mild, unassuming, and unwarlike, he was yet destined to take a leading part in the conquest of Syria.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Abu Bekr and Omar in the Great Mosque.]

It was the afternoon of the day on which, but an hour or two before, Mahomet had breathed his last. The event had come unexpectedly at the end. Abu Bekr, thinking the Prophet better, had shortly before retired to his house in the suburbs of the city. Called back in haste, he entered Ayesha’s chamber, and kissed the face of his departed friend, saying:--

[Sidenote: Men of Medîna would elect a chief of their own.]

‘Sweet wert thou in life; and sweet thou art in death.’ The mosque was filled with a crowd excited by the voice of Omar, who wildly proclaimed that the Prophet was not dead, but in a trance; and that, like Moses, he would surely return to them again. Abu Bekr, issuing from the chamber (which opened directly from the court of the mosque), put his friend aside with these memorable words:--_Whoso worshippeth Mahomet, let him know that Mahomet is dead indeed; but whoso worshippeth God, let him know that God liveth and dieth not._ He added passages from the Corân, in which the Prophet had said that he would die; and Omar, hearing them as if he had never heard them before, was speechless. The multitude quieted down before the solemn words of Abu Bekr. But just then a messenger hurried up with the report, that the citizens of Medîna--the ANSÂR, had assembled to choose for themselves a chief. The moment was critical. The unity of the faith was at stake. A divided power would fall to pieces, and all might be lost. The mantle of the Prophet must fall upon one successor, and on one alone. The sovereignty of Islam demanded an undivided Caliphate; and Arabia would acknowledge no master but from amongst the Coreish. The die must be cast, and at once.

[Sidenote: Stormy scene in the hall of the citizens.]

Such, no doubt, were the thoughts which occurred to Omar and Abu Bekr on receiving intelligence of the elective conclave; and so, alarmed at the danger, they hastened to the spot, accompanied by Abu Obeida, if haply they might nip it in the bud. On the way they met two friendly citizens coming from the assembly, who warned them of the risk they ran; but, notwithstanding, they hurried on. The men of Medîna meanwhile, gathered in one of their rude halls, were bent upon an independent course. ‘We have sheltered this nest of strangers,’ they cried. ‘It is by our good swords they have been able to plant the Faith. The Chief of Medîna shall be from amongst ourselves.’ And they had already fixed their choice on Sád ibn Obâda, leader of the Beni Khazraj, one of ‘the Twelve’ at ‘the Pledge of Acaba,’ who, sick of a fever, lay covered up at the further end of the hall. At this moment the three Companions entered but just in time, for had the Citizens elected Sád and pledged their troth to him, Medîna might have been irretrievably compromised. Omar, with his native vehemence, was about to speak, when Abu Bekr bade him to be silent, and anticipated him, as Omar used in after days to say, with the same arguments he himself had thought of, and even better. ‘Every word,’ said Abu Bekr, calmly and firmly, ‘which the Citizens had uttered in their own praise was true, but in noble birth and influence the Coreish were paramount, and to none but them would Arabia yield obedience.’ ‘Then,’ cried the men of Medîna, ‘let there be one chief from amongst you and one from amongst us.’ ‘Away with you!’ exclaimed Omar; ‘two cannot stand together’; and even Sád from beneath his covering muttered that to divide the power would weaken it. High words ensued. Hobâb, on the side of Sád, cried out, ‘Hear him not! Attend to me, for I am the _well-rubbed Palm-stem_.[6] If they refuse, expel them from the city. I am the Roaring Lion of the desert, and will devour them up.’ ‘The Lord destroy thee!’ cried Omar; and Hobâb returned the words. The altercation gaining in heat and bitterness, Abu Bekr saw that it must be stopped at any risk; so stepping forward he said: ‘Ye see these two’--and he pointed to Omar and Abu Obeida--‘Choose ye now whichever of them ye will, and salute him as your Chief.’ ‘Nay,’ cried both at once, ‘Thou hast already, at the Prophet’s bidding, led the prayers; thou art our Chief. Stretch forth thine hand.’ He did so, and they struck their hand on his in token of allegiance.[7] Others began to follow their example. ‘Wilt thou cut thine own kinsman’s throat?’ cried Hobâb to a Khazrajite about to take the pledge. ‘Not so,’ he answered; ‘I only yield the right to whom the right is due.’ Whilst they yet hesitated, the Beni Aus, jealous of the rival tribe and of Sád its nominee, spake among themselves: ‘If this man be chosen, the rule will be for ever with the Beni Khazraj. Let us salute Abu Bekr as our Chief.’[8] [Sidenote: Abu Bekr elected Caliph.]The example once set, group after group advanced to place their hand on that of Abu Bekr, till none was left but Sád, who still lay covered in the corner. Acknowledged thus by the men of Medîna, there could be no doubt of Abu Bekr’s acceptance by the Coreish and all the Refugees.[9] He was one of themselves, and the Prophet, by appointing him to take his place, when laid aside, at the daily prayers, had in a manner indicated him as his vicegerent. And so homage was done on all sides to Abu Bekr. He was saluted as the ‘CALIPH,’ or ‘_Successor_ of the Prophet.’

[Sidenote: Burial of the Prophet.]

The night was occupied in preparing the dead for sepulture. The body was washed and laid out, and the grave dug in Ayesha’s apartment, where Mahomet had breathed his last. On the morrow the citizens, men, women, and children, thronged the chamber to look once more upon their Prophet’s face. And then the body was reverently committed to the dust.

[Sidenote: Abu Bekr’s inaugural address.]

The funeral being over, and the court of the Great Mosque still crowded with the mourners, Abu Bekr ascended the pulpit, and, sitting down, was saluted as Caliph by acclamation. Then he arose, and said: ‘O people! Now I am Chief over you, albeit not the best amongst you. If I do well, support me; if ill, then set me right. Follow the true, wherein is faithfulness; eschew the false, wherein is treachery. The weaker amongst you shall be as the stronger with me, until that I shall have redressed his wrong; and the stronger shall be as the weaker, until, if the Lord will, I shall have taken from him that which he hath wrested. Leave not off to fight in the ways of the Lord; whosoever leaveth off, him verily shall the Lord abase. Obey me wherein I obey the Lord and his Prophet; when I disobey, then obey me not. Now, arise to prayer, and the Lord be with you!’ The assembly stood up for prayer, and Abu Bekr, for the first time as Caliph, filled the place of Mahomet.

[Sidenote: Sád declines to swear fealty; and also (probably) Aly for a time.]

Besides Sád, there were few, if any, who refused to do homage to Abu Bekr. According to most authorities, Aly declined to do so until the death of Fâtima his wife, six months afterwards. Zobeir and Talha are also mentioned, but doubtfully.[10] Sád persisted in his refusal; he even threatened to empty his quiver against the usurpers, and then fight against them with his retainers. ‘Let him alone,’ was the advice of those around the Caliph; ‘he is but a single man, and his secession will not signify; but if force be used against him, then his tribe will fight.’ The advice approved itself to Abu Bekr’s forbearing spirit. Sád kept aloof, and never appeared at court or in the mosque. When Omar succeeded to the Caliphate, he presented himself with these words, ‘I love thee not, O Omar!’ and, disappearing, eventually died in Syria.

[Sidenote: The succession, how far provided for by Mahomet; and the precedent now established.]

With Mahomet ceased the theocratic power which, as a prophet, he had exercised; but the kingly functions, as ruler over all Islam, descended to his successor. According to Arabian notions, such a ruler was, like the Chieftain of a tribe, the head and representative of the people, and his nomination was incomplete till confirmed by their homage. Omar, we are told, in after days declared that the irregular election of Abu Bekr (referring apparently to the scene enacted in the hall) should not be drawn into a precedent. It was, he said, an event the happiest in its consequences for Islam, but justified only by the urgency of the moment. What might have been the issue if any son of Mahomet had survived, it is useless to speculate. But certainly the hereditary descent of kingly power was foreign to the sentiment of Arabia. As matters stood, Mahomet seems to have shrunk from anticipating the contingency of his death, and made no preparation for what should follow. But in so far as we may suppose him to have felt his illness mortal and his death impending, the nomination of Abu Bekr to conduct the public prayers (the acknowledged mark of chief or delegated authority) may be held the natural indication of his wish that he should succeed.[11] Apart from the counter-claim of the men of Medîna, there was, in point of fact, neither doubt nor hesitancy in the election, and the counter-claim died away almost as soon as made. The notion of divine right, or even of preferential claim, resting in the Prophet’s family, was the growth of a later age.