The Historicity of Islam’s First Caliph

In Search of Abu Bakr

Medieval-style AI rendering of the Battle of Ajnadayn (634)

According to Islamic Tradition, Abu Bakr was the immediate successor to the Prophet Muhammad, leading the nascent Muslim community from 632 to 634 AD as the first of the Rashidun (Rightly-Guided) Caliphs. The Tradition credits Abu Bakr’s brief reign with two major achievements, both of them military: success in a series of wars against backsliding Arab tribes and initiating the conquests of Roman/Byzantine and Persian territory. There is, however, a serious problem in squaring the Islamic historiography about Abu Bakr with the non-Islamic evidence available for the period in which he is said to have ruled.