Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr

The third caliph Uthman was accused of nepotism by Egyptian rebels. The rebels demanded to dismiss Abdullah ibn Sa'd, the Governor of Egypt and appoint Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as the new governor. In 656, on the demand of the Egyptians, Uthman appointed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as the Governor of Egypt. The rebellion against Uthman had averted as Ali was the guarantor of this deal.[2] As Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was on his route back to Egypt, he founded a rider envoy of Uthman. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and his men searched the rider's personal belongings and founded a letter purportedly of Uthman. The letter instructed the rider to arrest the rebellious leaders who were on their route to Egypt. The letter was actually perpetrated written by Marwan I.[3]

After seeing the letter, Ibn Abi Bakr and his men became furious and marched back towards Medina and took part in the uprising against Uthman.[4] However, after realizing the error, he repented and withdrew from the uprising although he had already led the group of rebels inside Uthman ibn Affan's residence.[5]

The history is related as follows:

A group of seven hundred Egyptians came to complain to Caliph Uthman ibn Affan about their governor Ibn Abi Sarh's tyranny, so Uthman ibn Affan said: "Choose someone to govern you." They chose Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, so Uthman ibn Affan wrote credentials for him and they returned. On their way back, at three days' distance from Madinah, a messenger caught up with them with the news that he carried orders from Uthman ibn Affan to the governor of Egypt. They searched him and found a message from Uthman ibn Affan to ibn Abi Sarh ordering the death of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and some of his friends. They returned to Madinah and besieged Uthman ibn Affan. Uthman ibn Affan acknowledged that the camel, the servant, and the seal on the letter belonged to him, but he swore that he had never written nor ordered the letter to be written. It was discovered that the letter had been hand-written by Marwan ibn al-Hakam.[6]

However another report is as follows: Around the time of mid-day prayers, Uthman was alone inside the house with his wife Naila, reading the Qur'an. Some Egyptian rebels climbed the houses of the neighbors and then jumped into Uthman's. According to the account of al-Waqidi (d. 823), Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr held the beard of Uthman threatening to kill him. Uthman rebuked him and asked him to leave. Muhammad pierced his forehead with an arrow. However, according to another report, Muhammad desisted from killing Uthman after the latter reminded him of his father Abu Bakr. Muhammad then vainly tried defending him from the attackers.

The fourth caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib appointed Kais ibn Sa'd as the Governor of Egypt. However, Ali dismissed Kais and appointed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as the Governor of Egypt. However, Ibn Abi Bakr didn't prove to be a good governor and his rule was weak. Ali himself ruefully acknowledged that he was "an inexperienced young man".[7] Later, Ali dismissed Ibn Abi Bakr as Egypt's governor and appointed Ibn Abi Bakr's childhood friend Malik al-Ashtar as the new governor.[8] However, Malik died on his way to Egypt. The Shi'a and Institute for Shia Ismaili Studies and London's Shi'aism researcher Wilferd Madelung believe that Malik was poisoned by Muawiyah I.[9] After Malik's death, Ibn Abi Bakr was once again assigned as the Governor of Egypt.[8]

Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr's grave in Fustat, Egypt

In 658 CE (38 AH), the Governor of Syria and later Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiya I sent his general Amr ibn al-As with six thousand soldiers against Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. Though Ibn Abi Bakr was defeated, he refused to give up Egypt.[10] 'Amr's soldiers were ordered to capture him, bring him alive to Muawiyah I or kill him. The pro-Umayyad soldier Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj assassinated Ibn Abi Bakr and he was so incensed at Ibn Abi Bakr that he put his body into the skin of a dead donkey and burned both corpses together, so that nothing should survive of his enemy.[8] Some Shi'a accounts say that Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan was actual killer of Ibn Abu Bakr.[11] After Ibn Abi Bakr's assassination, Amr ibn al-As became the Governor of Egypt.[12] Ibn Abi Bakr's grave is located in a mosque in Fustat, Old Cairo in Egypt.