The Madīnan School: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān
He is Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām al-Makhzūmī al-Qurashī (raḥimahullāh), one of the Seven Fuqahāʾ of Madīnah. His name is his kunyah; some said his given name was Muḥammad, but the correct view is that Abū Bakr was both his name and his kunyah. Born in Madīnah during the Khilāfah of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. He belonged to the noble Banū Makhzūm of Quraysh.
His grandfather was al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, the brother of Abū Jahl and one of the notables of Makhzūm who accepted Islam and participated in the conquests of Syria. Al-Ḥārith died in the Plague of ʿAmwās in the year 18 AH. After his death, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb married his widow, Fāṭimah bint al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, and took her son ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān (the father of Abū Bakr) into his household. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān was about ten years old at the time of the passing of the Rasūl salallahu alayhi wasallam and was thus raised under the care and discipline of ʿUmar, and he used to say that he never saw a better stepfather than ʿUmar. This upbringing in the house of the Amīr al-Muʾminīn shaped the family’s commitment to knowledge, justice, and worship, and it formed the environment in which Abū Bakr himself was later born and raised.
His father, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith, was one of the distinguished men of Quraysh. He was among the young men selected by ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān to assist in the copying of the official muṣ’ḥafs. He participated in the Battle of the Camel with ʿĀʾishah. ʿĀʾishah herself testified to his excellence when she said that she would have preferred to have remained behind from that journey rather than have ten sons like ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. This statement stands as a powerful witness to the father’s dedication to the Dīn and his high standing in the eyes of the Mother of the Believers.
Abū Bakr inherited this legacy of nobility and piety. In his youth he attempted to join the army of az-Zubayr and Ṭalḥah at the Battle of the Camel, but he and ʿUrwah ibn az-Zubayr were turned back because of their young age. He later lost his eyesight and devoted himself fully to knowledge and worship. He narrated from ʿĀʾishah, Umm Salamah, Abū Hurayrah, ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, and others. He became one of the foremost fuqahāʾ and transmitters of Madīnah.
He was known for his intense worship and was called “Rāhib Quraysh” (the Monk of Quraysh) because of the abundance of his prayer. He used to fast continuously. Abū Dāwūd reported that when he prostrated he would place his hand in a basin of water because of an ailment he suffered. The early authorities praised him highly. Al-Wāqidī said: “He was thiqah, a faqīh, a scholar, generous, and abundant in ḥadīth.” Ibn Khirāsh said: “He is one of the imāms of the Muslims; he and his brothers are cited as examples.” Adh-Dhahabī described him as one who combined knowledge, action, and nobility, and who inherited the high standing of his father.
His major students included Muḥammad ibn Shihāb az-Zuhrī, his own sons (among them ʿAbdullāh, ʿAbd al-Malik, and ʿUmar), and others. He was undoubtedly among the Seven Fuqahāʾ of the Madīnan school.
He died in Madīnah in the year 94 AH (the Year of the Fuqahāʾ), the same year in which several of the great scholars of Madīnah passed away.
(Named by an-Nasāʾī among the Tābiʿīn of the fuqahāʾ of Madīnah, after Sulaymān ibn Yasār.)
