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What is Ibn Kathīr's Abu Bakr al-Siddiq?
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq is Ibn Kathīr's account of the first caliphate. Ibn Kathīr was a 14th-century historian and Qurʾan commentator, known for his history Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, and this book opens under the heading 'The Book of the History of Islam, Part One'. It begins in the year eleven of the Hijra, when the Prophet died on a Monday and the Friday prayer stood in two towns and nowhere else. It answers the question of what happened next: how the pledge was given to Abu Bakr, how he refused to recall the army the Prophet had sent though every advisor urged it, and how he faced the Ridda.
The 51 chapters follow the Ridda, the wars against apostasy. They cover the dispatch of the army of Usama ibn Zayd, Abu Bakr's resolve to fight the apostates and those who withheld the zakat, the story of Sajah and the Banu Tamim, and the slaying of Musaylima the Liar at Yamāma, where four hundred and fifty reciters of the Qurʾān died in a single morning — the reason the Qurʾān was then gathered from flat stones, palm stalks, and the chests of men. Later chapters follow Khalid ibn al-Walid to Iraq, al-Anbar, Ayn al-Tamr, and Dumat al-Jandal, and record the obituaries of those who died that year.
The book ends where the caliphate does: after two years and three months, with Abu Bakr dying at sixty-three, the age at which the Prophet died. It opens with the passing of the Messenger of God on a Monday in Rabi al-Awwal, the pledge to Abu Bakr in the portico of the Banu Sa'ida and then in the mosque, and the washing, shrouding, and burial of the Prophet on the eve of Wednesday. On Joyful Muslims it is also available in the Arabic original, and in Indonesian, Turkish, and Urdu.
Is there an English audiobook of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq?
Yes. Joyful Muslims publishes the complete Abu Bakr al-Siddiq as an English audiobook (about 6 hours), translated from the Arabic, with a word-synced bilingual transcript. It is Ibn Kathīr's account of the first caliphate in fifty-one chapters, from the Prophet's death through the Ridda to the end of Abu Bakr's two years and three months.
Is it free to listen?
The whole library is open to everyone. Every member gets five hours of listening free each month; Joyful+ removes the time limit.
What does it cover?
Fifty-one chapters on the caliphate of Abu Bakr: the pledge, the army of Usama, the Ridda wars against Musaylima, Sajah, and the apostate tribes of Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen, Khalid's campaigns in Iraq, and the obituaries of those who died in the year eleven.
Last updated 2026-09-11
Inside the book.
Chapters
Word-synced with the narrator.
The first three minutes are transcribed here. In the app, the Living Manuscript scrolls through the entire book in rhythm with the audio — Arabic alongside English.
Living Manuscript
Listen to the full book in the app for the complete Living Manuscript.
The full, word-synced transcript in Arabic and English is in the app.
