The Rightly Guided Ones 119The Riddah Wars represented Abu Bakr’s conscious effort to
maintain the unity of the Arabs under the eternal banner of Islam and
the centralized authority of Medina, and thus to prevent Muhammad’s
community from dissolving back into the old tribal system. But these
must not be mistaken for religious wars; the campaigns were intended
to reinforce the purely political interests of Medina. Still, the Riddah
Wars did have the regrettable consequence of permanently associat-
ing apostasy (denying one’s faith) with treason (denying the central
authority of the Caliph).
Like territorial expansion and religious proselytization, apostasy
and treason were nearly identical terms in seventh-century Arabia.
However, the relationship between the two has endured in Islam, so
that even today there are some Muslims who continue to make the
unsubstantiated and un-Quranic assertion that the two sins—apostasy
and treason—deserve the same punishment: death. It is this belief
that has given the Ulama in some Muslim countries the authority to
impose capital punishment on apostates, by whom they mean anyone
who disagrees with their particular interpretation of Islam.
Abu Bakr is remembered for one other decision that he made as
Caliph. Claiming once to have heard Muhammad say “We [the
Prophets] do not have heirs. Whatever we leave is alms,” the Caliph
disinherited Ali and Fatima from Muhammad’s property. Henceforth,
the family of the Prophet was to be fed and clothed only through alms
provided by the community. Given that there were no other witnesses
to Muhammad’s statement, this was a remarkable decision. But what
makes the decision even more problematic is that Abu Bakr gener-
ously provided for Muhammad’s wives by giving them the Prophet’s
house as a bequest. He even gave his own daughter, Aisha, some of
Muhammad’s former property in Medina.
Abu Bakr’s actions are often interpreted as an attempt to enfeeble
the Banu Hashim and strip the ahl al-bayt of their privileged status as
Muhammad’s kin. But it also seems likely that in both providing for
Muhammad’s wives and ensuring that their purity would remain invi-
olate, Abu Bakr was signaling to the community that it was Aisha
and the rest of the “Mothers of the Faithful” who were truly the ahl
al-bayt.
Ali was stunned by Abu Bakr’s decision, but he accepted his fate