96 chapter three
to in the Qur"àn on more than one occasion (Al- ̨abarì). All this
gave Abù-Bakr the pre-requisite for a charismatic Islamic character.
His work afterwards confirmed the genuineness of his image.
Caliph Abù-Bakr, nevertheless, was not innovative; and he did not
seem to want to be otherwise. In his first speech to Muslims as a
caliph he said that he was not innovative but obedient to the word
of God and the Sunnah of His Prophet and that people should obey
him as long as he obeyed them (ibid.). Nevertheless, his control of
the first problem that faced his caliphate, the Apostasy with its eco-
nomic and political implications, was remarkable.
The Apostasy and the Establishment of Islamic Taxation
Shortly after commencing his Caliphate, Abù-Bakr faced the first test
of his leadership: the apostasy revolt “al-Riddah”. No sooner had the
Prophet been declared dead than several tribes revolted and rebelled
against the payment of the Islamic tax, Zakàh. The revolt, which
seemed to have been triggered offby the death of the Prophet, did
not necessarily imply a return to paganism, although some claimed
false prophethood, but it aimed essentially to break away from the
control of the Medìnah government (Al- ̨abarì). For Abù-Bakr this
was not acceptable; the movement was a threat to Islam: a threat
to the unity of Muslims and a threat to the integrity of the religion.
While the threat of the revolt to the political unity of Muslims is
understood, that to the integrity of Islam needs to be explained. In
Abù-Bakr’s view, Islam was indivisible: the five pillars of Islam (wit-
nessing the oneness of God and of Muœammad as His Messenger,
flalah, Zakàh, fasting and pilgrimage for whoever can afford it) must
be accepted as one inseparable set of rules with no differentiation
between Zakàh and others. Abù-Bakr sought support for his view
from the Qur"ànic verses in which Zakàh and flalah (congregational
prayers) are always mentioned together. He therefore viewed the
refusal to pay Zakàh as an illegitimate attempt to divide the essen-
tial values of Islam by, conveniently, accepting some and rejecting
others. Furthermore, it was a breach of a prior commitment that
the rebelling tribes made to the Prophet before his death. For all,
that was not accepted.
Was Caliph Abù-Bakr justified in deciding to fight the rebels even
if they were Muslims? The answer could be negative especially as
we know that the Prophet stated that his followers should fight the